![Retired Air Force Capt. Eric Grote attends a "Salute to the Military" event in Des Moines, Iowa, where Ron Paul spoke. Retired Air Force Capt. Eric Grote attends a "Salute to the Military" event in Des Moines, Iowa, where Ron Paul spoke.](http://web.archive.org./web/20111230211416im_/http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/12/29/paul_desmoines14_9955140.jpg?t=1325201425&s=3)
Retired Air Force Capt. Eric Grote attends a "Salute to the Military" event in Des Moines, Iowa, where Ron Paul spoke.
![Retired Air Force Capt. Eric Grote attends a "Salute to the Military" event in Des Moines, Iowa, where Ron Paul spoke. Retired Air Force Capt. Eric Grote attends a "Salute to the Military" event in Des Moines, Iowa, where Ron Paul spoke.](http://web.archive.org./web/20111230211416im_/http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/12/29/paul_desmoines14_9955140.jpg?t=1325201425&s=51)
Retired Air Force Capt. Eric Grote attends a "Salute to the Military" event in Des Moines, Iowa, where Ron Paul spoke.
A claim by Ron Paul's presidential campaign, and confirmed by the fact-check website PolitiFact, asserts that the Texas congressman has received more donations from active military personnel than the other GOP candidates combined.
That's intriguing, given that Paul is the only candidate calling for significant cuts in military (not defense, he says) funding, the closing of overseas bases, and the use of military force "very sparingly."
NPR photographer Becky Lettenberger and I headed to the Iowa State Fairgrounds this week to speak with members of the military attending Paul's "Salute to the Military."
Among the boisterous crowd of well over 500 people who gathered in the cavernous Knapp Learning Center to listen to Paul, we found an active military man and two veterans who told us why the candidate's military message resonated with them.
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