He liked the money and benefits.
Going some place dangerous?
Not so much.
Steal a little valor, steal some votes...
Whatever looks good on the résumé. Maybe nobody will be fact checking.
Just that the people he was working beside in the Minnesota National Guard got a little tired of the blowhard puffery and called in to set the record straight.
Honor is a hard concept for some people to grasp.
I don’t see where it mattered to his political career. If it was just rank, 90% of voters would not recognize the difference in rank and the 10% who did would have thanked him for his service and would have been impressed with the actual rank attained. It’s the blatant lying about seeing action that ticks people off.