Senator richard blumenthal military service

Connecticut Attorney General and leading Democratic candidate for U.S. SenateRichard Blumenthal never served in Vietnam -- a revelation that contradicts a central claim in Blumenthal's political narrative, according to a new report.

A New York Times investigation found that Blumenthal received at least five military deferments from to and records show he enlisted in the Marine Reserve -- a move that "virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam," according to the Times.

The military record also suggests Blumenthal made every effort to avoid going to war, the Times found.

The embarrassing findings are fully against what has become an accepted belief about the State's top prosecutor: That he served as a Marine Sgt. during the war.

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Blumenthal said to a pro-military group at an event in Norwalk in March , the Times reported.

“And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we c