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Veterans are ripping Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner after resurfaced posts showed him calling the Army “full of fat, lazy trash” and mocking a soldier who was shot multiple times in combat before receiving a Purple Heart.
“I am a decorated veteran, and people need to understand what serving in the Army cost me: congestive heart failure, bilateral hearing loss, COPD, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, hypothyroidism and PTSD,” Holland “Ricky” White, a Vietnam War veteran who served in the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade, told Fox News Digital.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, also known as “The Herd,” was one of the first ground combat units to deploy to Vietnam, where it endured some of the war’s most intense fighting.
“I understand ridicule better than most. I was ridiculed not only as a Vietnam veteran, but as a black man as well,” White continued. “I lost friends over there, and it still hurts to talk about them. I often ask God, ‘Why did You spare me and not my friends?’ I believe God wasn’t done with me when I came home, and that’s why I continue trying to make a difference today.”
“That is why comments like Graham’s are so offensive,” White said.
PLATNER IN THE HOT SEAT AS MAINE VOTERS RIP HIS ‘HORRIBLE’ COMMENTS AMID REDDIT SCANDAL
Graham Platner, the Democrats’ presumptive Senate nominee in Maine, holds an energy event in Ellsworth, Maine on Monday May 11, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
The backlash adds to a mounting controversy over Platner’s deleted Reddit account as the veteran-turned-oyster farmer seeks to challenge Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in one of the nation’s most closely watched 2026 Senate races. Platner has leaned heavily on his military background in pitching himself to Maine voters, but the resurfaced posts threaten to derail his campaign as his use of slurs, embrace of socialism and criticism of the armed forces come under scrutiny.
Perhaps Platner’s most…
