What you say makes sense, but I think the chances of Sarah Palin being that articulate and precise are slim to none. Given the way she speaks, I think she can be understood to mean what you describe - "Say what you want about me, but I raised a combat vet, and no one can take his service away from him, or my pride in his service away from me." To me, when placed in context, that's pretty much what she meant. Her speech patterns generally are reflective of that, I think.

She definitely could have said it better - but it's unlikely that she would. Her constant rhetorical imprecision is one of my many issues with her as a politician.