Vice President JD Vance sparked outrage after comparing a Purple Heart–decorated U.S. Senator disabled by her Iraq War service to the titular character in Forrest Gump.

Vance, 41, posted the remark on X Wednesday amid a heated exchange between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Tammy Duckworth during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, where the two clashed over U.S. military action in Venezuela.

“Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing is like watching Forrest Gump argue with Isaac Newton,” the vice president wrote.

“Thank God we have a Secretary of State who knows his facts AND has the patience of Job. Great job,” Vance added in a follow-up post, which had been viewed roughly half a million times as of publication.

Vance’s reference to the Oscar-winning 1994 film—whose main character, played by Tom Hanks, has significant physical and intellectual disabilities—comes after Duckworth lost both legs and partial use of her right arm while serving in Iraq in November 2004.

Duckworth, then a 36-year-old combat pilot, was flying a Black Hawk helicopter back to a military base roughly 50 miles outside Baghdad when a rocket-propelled grenade pierced her aircraft, nearly killing her, according to her website. Despite her injuries, she served another decade in the U.S. Army, retiring as a lieutenant colonel before eventually becoming a senator representing Illinois.

Meanwhile, Vance—who also counts himself a vet—served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps Public Affairs Office. His service included a single six-month deployment to Iraq, during which—by his own admission—he did not see combat. He later used GI Bill benefits to attend Yale Law School.

In her rebuff, Duckworth took aim at Vance’s boss’s lack of combat experience.

“Forrest Gump ran toward danger in Vietnam. Your boss ran to his podiatrist crying bone spurs,” Duckworth wrote, referring to Donald Trump’s multiple Vietnam War draft deferments, including a questionable medical exemption for bone spurs.

She continued: “Petty insults at the expense of people with disabilities won’t change the fact that you’re risking troops’ lives to boost Chevron’s stock price. It’s my job to hold you accountable.”