How a candidate's military service can help or hurt their campaign

Consider This from NPR

By most measures, the new Democratic ticket has had an impressively smooth launch.
But there is one caveat to that — controversy over how vice presidential nominee Tim Walz described his military service.
A spokeswoman for the Harris-Walz campaign has said in a statement that the Democratic vice-presidential nominee "misspoke" when talking about his military service.
Walz, who served for 24 years in the National Guard, had made a comment that sounded like he had been to war.
Walz's Republican opponent, JD Vance, pounced on that comment to accuse Walz of what's called "stolen valor," a serious charge among veterans.
But there's also a history of playing politics with military service – one that's been used in past elections.
Is Tim Walz guilty of deliberately misrepresenting his military record or the victim of a familiar political smear tactic?
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