Under “intense enemy fire” in Iraq in 2003, Rep. Cory Mills rushed to the aid of two soldiers who had been struck, applied emergency life-saving care at the “great risk to his own life,” helped evacuate them and saved their lives, according to the document that recommended the Florida lawmaker for a Bronze Star.
Mills was awarded the star after January 2021. Four years later, five people who served with him — including two of the men the document says Mills saved in different incidents — say they have no recollection of Mills being at the incidents listed on the form.
“He didn’t save my life,” Private First Class Joe Heit, who is cited by name on the recommendation form as one of the soldiers Mills saved, told NOTUS. “I don’t recall him being there either.”
NOTUS reviewed the Department of the Army Form 638 prepared for Mills — the document used to recommend soldiers for awards. The form lists four of Mills’ “achievements.” The document says he exhibited “exceptional bravery” during Operation Iraqi Freedom, saved the lives of Heit and Corporal Alan Babin, saved in a separate incident Sergeant First Class Joe Ferrand, who had been “grabbed by an enemy insurgent,” and was a “dedicated mentor and leader” who shared his knowledge with junior medics.
Mills “routinely exposed himself to enemy fire” and displayed “extraordinary heroism,” the form reads. The Daytona Beach News Journal previously cited this form in August 2024, which the newspaper said Mills shared with them.
In a statement to NOTUS, Mills said “No soldier writes their own DA Form 638. It is a recommendation for award and soldiers cannot recommend themselves. The form must be reviewed and signed by commanding officers.” Mills did not directly answer a question about who wrote the form.
Mills’ former colleagues’ on-the-record recollections of his involvement in the war offer new insight into the accusations of stolen valor that have dogged Mills in recent years. Some of these accusations have circulated from political opponents of Mills on social media and blogs. Mills, who has said he wants to run for senator in Florida, has repeatedly relied on his military record to elevate his profile. Now, questions around his Bronze Star have been relayed to the Office of Congressional Ethics, according to a source with direct knowledge of a complaint sent to the office.
The complaint, which NOTUS reviewed, was also sent to the Department of Justice, a U.S. attorney’s office in Florida and the FBI, the source said. A second source said they received a visit from the FBI and the Army Criminal Investigation Division about the claims on Mills’ form. Last year, the OCE referred Mills to the House Ethics Committee to investigate his business practices. The House Ethics Committee declined to comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida said it was “unable to confirm or deny” that it received a complaint referring to Mills’ Bronze Star, or that it was investigating such a complaint. The OCE did not respond to a request for comment. Mills said in the statement to NOTUS that he was not aware of any investigation regarding his Bronze Star.
Retired Brigadier General Arnold Gordon-Bray, who approved Mills’ recommendation for a Bronze Star, told NOTUS that he did not “care about” any of the achievements listed on the form before signing it. The operations were “at such a high level” of frequency that awards were submitted and approved in collective batches. Gordon-Bray wasn’t involved with Mills directly during the deployment, but was part of the administrative process to approve his award after the fact.
“I approved his 638 as a complete the record,” Gordon-Bray told NOTUS in a text message.
At least two of the individuals Mills is credited with saving on his Bronze Star recommendation document have disputed the listed version of events.
The DA Form 638 says that Mills, “while under intense enemy fire, came to the aid of two fallen comrades, Corporal Babin and PFC Heit, who had been struck by enemy fire.”
“At great risk to his own life,” the Form 638 continues, “he applied emergency life-saving medical care to both soldiers and assisted in their evacuation back to US Forces, saving the lives of both soldiers.”
Heit not only denies that Mills was the one who provided aid to him, but disputes this version of events. While he was shot, the injuries were not “life-threatening,” he said.
A bullet had shattered his glasses, he said, and he had chunks of glasses in his eye. But he was sewn up by the battalion surgeon. Heit’s telling of the incident is consistent with a 2004 Washington Post story, which detailed the event and described Heit as “dazed and a little bloodied, but otherwise fine.”
Heit is out of the service now, but told NOTUS he recalls the day vividly. He also claims he was ordered to stay silent about the nature of the incident; he was shot by friendly fire, not enemy fire as it’s listed among Mills’ “achievements,” Heit said.
Asked about Heit’s claims, Mills said in his statement that it was “true” that Heit “did not have life threatening injuries.”
The platoon sergeant, Sergeant First Class Chris Painter, corroborated Heit’s story. The Army did not respond to a request for comment on the nature of the gunfire.
“I can pretty much confirm 100% Cory Mills was not up at the bridges at the location of the everything,” Painter texted NOTUS. “Now, if he came to the company position to assist in escorting Babin to the BN aid station I don’t know but he wasn’t at the bridge [where] it all happened I do know that.”
A third soldier on the ground that day, who requested anonymity to avoid retribution, told NOTUS that Mills was not there that day and confirmed both Heit’s and Painter’s version of events.
When NOTUS asked where he was when Heit and Babin were injured, Mills attributed the discrepancies to the chaos of the day.
“I was on the ground,” Mills said. “It was a chaotic day and understandable that others may have different recollections of events.”
Painter said that two others assisted in the medevac. Mills was not one of the individuals he listed.
One soldier who did assist was Henry “Hank” Barbe, a medic who had to fly in on a helicopter to assist evacuating Babin, according to The Washington Post’s 2004 account of the incident. Barbe told NOTUS that he has no recollection of Mills flying in with him and no memory of Mills being on the battlefield that day giving life-saving aid to the soldiers.
“From what I understand about Mills is he might have been in the unit. I don’t remember him being involved in the medevac,” Barbe said. “To be fair, I was worried about the patients. I don’t remember him, and from what I understand, other people don’t remember him.”
To this day, Babin is “dealing with the effects of that day,” his mother, Rosie Babin, texted NOTUS.
“What we know: The fallen paratrooper was Joseph Heit, whom we have met, and was a guest in our home in 2004. Joseph felt very guilty that he had received a minor wound, but Alan had been grievously wounded rushing to help him. Neither he, nor the medic who evacuated Alan, Hank Barbe, have ever mentioned to us a ‘friendly fire’ scenario,” Rosie Babin said in the text.
“Alan has been called a war hero for immediately leaving a covered position to rush to render aid — by many with whom he served, including his Brigade Commander Arnold Bray and Division Surgeon Dan Irizarry. He became my hero for the battle he fought in his hospital bed day, after day, after day,” she continued.
Babin has no memory of his service shortly before he was wounded, nor his time hospitalized, his mother told NOTUS.
Mills’ involvement in another incident cited on his Bronze Star recommendation form has also been questioned.
Sergeant Joe Ferrand is cited in the third listed achievement on Mills’ DA Form 638.
“During combat operations in Baghdad SGT Mills’ unit came to the aid of a friendly US Unit that was pinned down by intense enemy fire emanating from a building; bounding forward under murderous enemy fire SGT Mills team gained and maintained fire superiority on the enemy, entering the building SGT Mills Platoon Sergeant, SFC Ferrand was grabbed by an enemy insurgent, jumping into action SGT Mills threw himself at the enemy insurgent and subdued him,” the document says.
Ferrand called the description of Mills’ involvement a “fabrication” in a written statement submitted to government officials as part of the complaint that NOTUS reviewed. He “was not involved in any claims that Cory Mills makes about me,” Ferrand wrote in the statement. He adds that it is “false…The act never took place.”
Asked to respond to Ferrand’s written statement, Mills said, “Again, I was on the ground, but I’m not in position to dispute different recollections during chaotic wartime events. The DA Form 638 was reviewed and signed by commanding officers.”
Ferrand did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
It’s routine for service members serving overseas to be recommended for an award that encompasses their work during a deployment. Bronze Stars, however, are awarded “in connection with military operations against an armed enemy,” according to the statute.
Mills, who flipped Florida’s seventh district in 2022, has consistently presented his military experience as a large part of his political persona. He mentions it in his campaign ads, participates in public military events and celebrations, and sits on the House Armed Services Committee. His congressional website cites his Bronze Star, saying that being “an Army Combat Veteran and Bronze Star recipient,” shaped Mills’ “perspective on the importance of preserving constitutional liberties and defending against all threats.”
Questions around the veracity of his military record, now elevated to investigatory government bodies, are unlikely to go away.
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Reese Gorman is a reporter at NOTUS. John T. Seward is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.