Republican Rep. Cory Mills (Fla.) has on multiple occasions claimed that he was "blown up" twice overseas and campaigned on the biographical assertion that he was "wounded twice while deployed." His story does not, however, add up.

When called out this week for alleged "stolen valor," the scandal-plagued congressman shared a letter from an old comrade in an apparent effort to validate his narrative. This attempt to bolster his account does not appear to have gone as planned.

The narrative

Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, then-congressional candidate Cory Mills released a campaign advertisement highlighting his supposed bona fides. A quarter of the way through the ad, Mills refers to his formative experiences in the Middle East.

'Unreal.'

Mills states in the ad, "I was hit not once but twice with improvised explosive devices and explosive formed projectiles. After you take a hit like that, you don't know if you're going to survive or not."

During that stretch of the video, a large graphic appears at the center of the screen stating, "WOUNDED TWICE WHILE DEPLOYED."

Screenshot: YouTube, Cory Mills

Keen observers have questioned the veracity of the "wounded twice" claim in the campaign advertisement as well as Mills' repeated assertion that he was "blown up twice" while serving as a defense contractor in Iraq.

Mills' congressional bio states, "While serving abroad, he was struck twice in 2006, once with an improvised explosive device (IED) and once with an Iranian explosively formed projectile (EFP), which resulted in numerous casualties."

RELATED: Cory Mills' Bronze Star document raises serious concerns about stolen valor, Rep. Mace says

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

Mills told C-SPAN in 2023 that he "was blown up twice by roadside bombs in 2006."

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.) shared a video of Mills' claims to X on Monday, writing, "Beginning to think nothing Cory Mills says is true. This guy has been parading himself around as some sort of U.S. Army special ops covert Ranger sniper James Bond 007 elite commando for years and it's not even remotely close."

'Was it some severe maiming wound? No.'

"He was an ambulance driver mainly in the motor pool," continued Mace. "Medics work hard to save lives! Why wasn’t that good enough? But instead he fabricated his resume, and stole stories from men who either gave their life for their country and can’t speak now or can’t speak for themselves due to their injuries."

"Total Stolen Valor. And this guy sits on the House Armed Service committee?" added Mace. "Unreal."

The admission

Mills' "blown up twice" claims appear to be in reference to two incidents that took place in Iraq: a roadside bombing that occurred on March 15, 2006, and a roadside bombing that took place on April 19, 2006.

Blaze News previously confirmed that Mills was present at the first incident. However, photographic evidence and sources have called into question the congressman's recollection of events and alleged injuries.

Mills, discussing the first incident, revealed the extent of his injuries in his April interview with Blaze News.

"I ended up hitting my head," said Mills. "Was it some severe maiming wound? No. I've got the actual document that shows where I was hit."

RELATED: Stolen valor? Veterans dispute Cory Mills’ record: 'He fooled a lot of us'

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

"I had a concussion. So a concussion isn't being wounded? Knocking your head off an actual armored vehicle door and having to go get treated and have three days down, that's not being wounded, right? So what is your definition? Do I need to lose an arm? Do I need to be shot in shrapnel? Just tell me. Tell me what your definition of wounded is. Because apparently, [traumatic brain injury] is not an external wound," said Mills.

After Mills suggested that he had sustained a Purple Heart-qualifying wound, Blaze News asked Mills for clarification whether he had indeed suffered a traumatic brain injury.

"No, actually I just got reviewed by the PA and the doc there, and they basically told me, 'Monitor yourself over the next 24 hours,' and then — which I did — and then 72 hours later, I was cleared to be able to return back to work."

"So you weren't wounded, then," said Blaze News.

"According to them, I had a severe concussion. That's all they wrote up," said Mills.

'That blood on Cory was not Cory's.'

When Blaze News later pressed Mills on the twice-wounded claim and asked whether, in the second incident in which a vehicle was hit by an explosion, he was in the affected car, Mills answered, "No."

"We were on the team that [was] actually there," said Mills. "We helped to try and pull everyone out and actually get the bodies transferred."

"Were you wounded then?" asked Blaze News.

"No, I wasn't wounded on that," said Mills.

Scott Kempkins, one of Mills' then-colleagues who suffered injuries in the second incident, previously told Blaze News that Mills was "absolutely not wounded."

"I got hit in the shoulder, the neck, and the leg," Kempkins said. "And then the guy in the turret took a little bit of shrapnel to the side of his face. That was it. Cory's vehicle was already around the corner and about 50 yards down the street. It would have been impossible for him to be wounded."

While Mills has referred to blood on his pant leg in a photograph taken after the mission as supposed confirmation of an injury, one of his colleagues told Blaze News that the blood did not belong to Mills.

An appeal to doubt

In response to Rep. Mace's Monday tweet, Mills shared the photograph of him apparently wearing another man's blood along with a July 16, 2025, letter from Paul Sovitsky, Mills' team leader in Iraq when he was working for DynCorp International on the State Department's World Personal Protective Services program.

'If Cory is claiming he was wounded in both, that's probably a stretch.'

Sovitsky's letter did not support the "twice wounded" claim but gave Mills a possible out regarding his "blown up twice" narrative.

"I understand that there may be a question as to what 'blown up' means to the military contractors that served in Iraq and Afghanistan," said the letter. "It refers (in contractor speak) to being in a motorcade struck by improvised explosive devices."

"It does not necessarily mean that you are physically 'blown up' or even seriously wounded," added Sovitsky.

RELATED: 5 former colleagues of Rep. Cory Mills say he told them he became a Muslim — as girlfriend claims Blaze News report 'entirely untrue'

Courtesy of Scott Kempkins. An image apparently taken after the April 2006 roadside bombing.

Sovitsky, who was in the vehicle with the congressman when their motorcade was ambushed by a command-detonated IED, subsequently told Blaze News that "with all of Cory's train wrecks, no one needs to lie about what he did."

"I don't think there was any question about the first explosion," said Sovitsky, who indicated he had asked for the letter not to be made public, and called Mills a "human train wreck."

Sovitsky lent credence to Mills' claim of an injury in the first roadside attack, telling Blaze News that the congressman complained of a "throbbing" head after their Suburban was raked with bullets and swept by a shock wave.

Sovitsky cast doubt, however, on whether Mills sustained an injury in the second roadside bombing, referring to indications that he was around 50 yards away at the time.

"If Cory is claiming he was wounded in both, that's probably a stretch," Sovitsky told Blaze News. "He did provide aid. He even got blood on his pants treating — I believe it was Scott Kempkins, who got a big wound in his shoulder."

When Blaze News noted that Mills had shared the photograph where his pant leg was bloodied as if to insinuate that was his injury, Sovitsky said, "No, no, totally a lie."

"That blood on Cory was not Cory's," added Sovitsky.

Blaze News has reached out to Mills for comment.

While Sovitsky acknowledged that the congressman proved effective and helpful at the time, he noted, "If the beef on Cory is that he has lied about his military service and exaggerated his contractor service, you can't fix that by then telling a lie."

"In court, the minute you can impeach some part of, you know, a witness' testimony, their entire testimony ... has to be questioned," said Sovitsky. "And I want Cory to pay the price for his lies and screwing people over."

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