This letter comes after Allegretti spent the past two days hammering his opponent in the G.O.P primary for passing out campaign photographs of himself wearing military ribbons that he did not earn. Grimm says he was weaing the ribbons that he was entitled to and called Allegretti a "petulant child."

Now the Iraq Veterans for Congress have weighed in, and have come down strongly on Grimm's side, saying that medals are often awarded only to be removed later once the military does a more thorough review.

"That kind of thing happens all the time," said Kieran Lalor, the founder of the group. "It's not like the movies where five minutes after your done fighting the enemy the Commanding Officer is pinning a medal on your chest.  Perhaps if Allegretti spent some time in uniform he'd know this and wouldn't be such a whiney brat."

The IVC isn't exactly neutral in this--the group has endorsed Grimm and sent money his way. And Lalor dismissed as well the veterans who stood behind Allegretti at the news conference where he first made the charge against Grimm.

"You can always scrap together a critical mass of veterans to stand behind you," he said.