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The race to define U.S. vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris‘ newly minted running mate is on, and while a seemingly coordinated barrage of legacy media outlets have touted Minnesota governor Tim Walz‘s “folksy demeanor” – his military record has come under withering scrutiny from multiple members of the military community.
Walz served in the Army National Guard for 25 years – retiring in 2005 just months before his first congressional campaign. According to Republican vice presidential pick (and U.S. Marine Crops veteran) J.D. Vance, Walz’s retirement was an effort to avoid an imminent combat deployment.
“When the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it,” Vance said at a recent campaign event. “I did what they asked me to do, and I did it honorably and I’m very proud of that service. When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him.”
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Minnesota woodworker and former National Guard soldier J.R. Salzman, who deployed to Iraq on the tour Walz would have participated in, took to X to denounce the governor.
“I served in the Minnesota National Guard with him,” Salzman wrote. “He literally abandoned us when we were about to be deployed to Iraq. He’s a coward and should be treated as such.”
Retired Minnesota Guard command sergeant major Thomas Behrends told the New York Post he was forced to assume Walz’s role as the deployment loomed.
“I needed to hit the ground running and take care of the troops — and tell them we were going to war,” he told the paper.
Behrends spoke negatively of senior enlisted personnel leaving their unit prior to a deployment, saying “for a guy in that position to quit is cowardice.”
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There has also been controversy surrounding Walz’s claims of having left the Army a command sergeant major. A command sergeant major is the most senior enlisted member of a color-bearing Army unit, and while Walz was promoted to the rank, lieutenant colonel Kristen Augé told Newsweek Walz left the Army as a master sergeant “because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”
Soldiers who do not complete the requisite coursework to attain their ranks are automatically demoted, but Walz has consistently published campaign material indicating he was discharged as a command sergeant major.
As if all of this wasn’t sufficiently troubling for the newly minted Democratic No. 2, Walz is also facing scrutiny for having repeatedly insinuated that he had seen combat.
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“We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at,” Walz said during a speech pushing gun control that the Harris campaign promoted on X earlier this week.
CNN fact-checker Tom Foreman disputed these claims on live television, saying there was “no evidence that at any time Governor Walz was in the position of being shot at, and some of his language could easily be seen to suggest that he was.”
“So that is absolutely false when he said that about gun rights out there,” Foreman added.
Walz is also facing scrutiny for implying he deployed to Afghanistan. A 2006 press release issued by his congressional campaign referred to him as “a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.” He was also pictured campaigning for former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry holding a sign identifying himself as an “Enduring Freedom Veteran for Kerry.”
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When Washington Free Beacon reporter and self-proclaimed “never Trumper” David Thul asked Walz’s staffers about the claims in 2009, one staffer told Thul she was “not aware” Walz had served in Afghanistan – while another “acknowledged that constituents could get the false impression” he had served there.
Walz was stationed in Italy during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Walz has also worn ball-caps sporting the insignia of the U.S. Army Special Forces, which has drawn the consternation of a number of members of this elite force’s online community.
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Hey @Tim_Walz, this you? Do you often wear our crest even though you were only National Guard with zero deployments, never went through SFAS or the Q course, and by all accounts never even worked with Special Forces?
— Green Beret Nap Time (@GBNT1952) August 7, 2024
Stolen valor much? pic.twitter.com/5Jw0ebCk7I
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“For those of you saying it’s just a hat. It is not just a hat,” wrote X user Green Beret Nap Time.
“Anyone who has served knows that you do not wear the hat of a unit you were not a part of while you served,” he added. “You wouldn’t wear a Vietnam Veteran hat if you were not a Vietnam Veteran. This is no different.”
While surrogates for the Harris-Walz campaign have emphasized Walz’s decades of service in rebutting the claims stolen valor, the campaign itself quietly tweaked the language on its website this morning. Walz’s bio previously termed the governor a “retired Command Sergeant Major in the Army National Guard,” but now says Walz “served as a command sergeant major.”
As of this writing, Walz’s gubernatorial bio still describes him as “Command Sergeant Major Walz.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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28 comments
Despicable.
You are so right. These Republican attacks on a decent man are despicable! The polls are baring that out, friend.
Don’t worry! We will never go back! When we fight we win!
I’m one of the republicans that find Waltz despicable. MAGA
This story is bullshit. Quit carrying water for Trump.
What did Vance do in the Marines, and how long did he serve? His “service” was nothing compared to Walz’s long career.
Walz let Minnesota burn.
It’s almost like this MAGA blog is working for the Harris/Walz 2024 campaign.
Keep up the good work ;-)
You know the GOP is deep in the doo doo when they are rehashing some silly crap like this.
Some guy that retired after 24 years in the military being scolded by a rich fat loser who pretended he had bone spurs. You can’t make this stuff up anymore.
Waltz is a loser.
Except for all the elections he’s won and the State title he brought home as a coach.
But, sure, the VP pick on the ticket in the lead is a ‘loser’.
According to the felon you can’t wait to vote for, people in the military are ‘losers’. Did you mean he’s a ‘loser’ for serving?
This is Satan choses Baal as his running mate.
Trump’s disastrous press-conference yesterday is what should have any adult with eyes and ears concerned. The guy sounded like a toddler lying its ass off trying to impress its fellow pre-schoolers. Trump is just plain dumb on top of being a convicted felon.
I’m voting for that felon.
I wouldn’t expect ignorant white trash to do anything else.
Bless your heart
White trash love criminals.
Good! Because felons can’t vote for themselves!
You have a candidate who appears before an African-American audience in Chicago and questions the race of his biracial opponent, then flits off to Georgia where he makes personal attacks on its very popular Republican Governor, and a VP candidate who insults childless American women. Now this. The Democrats don’t need to run their own ads, just report the latest pronouncements of Trump and Vance.
Let the Republicans run on the military service issue. Considering “Mr. Heel Spurs” history on the issue, it will be like Herbert Hoover running on the economy in 1932.
Well, this attack landed like a popcorn fart.
What’s next? Walz is trying take your guns away?
Ok Opie, now tell us about JD “Mandel’s'” wartime experience as a public affairs correspondent. How about a refresher on ol’ Bone Spurs’ service?
All this does is amplify his message that NOBODY NEEDS TO BE WALKING THE STREETS WITH WEAPONS OF WAR. Keep talking about it.
While as an anti-communist, I’m NOT a fan of the Che Guevarra T-shirt wearing, uber-socialista Tampon Tim, also known as Tim Jung Waltz (and former host of the hit leftist TV show, “Who Trans my Ride?”) But intellectual honesty matters: as an actual in-theatre combat operation veteran, I don’t think Tim’s public- facing representations really quite rise to the level of “stolen valor”….it’s at worst a lazy, schmalzy embellishment of a nitwit communications major working on the campaign, with a few off-the cuff asides deployed by Herr Waltz. Wearing medals you didn’t earn or claiming unit affiliations you never had is more of a stolen valor thing. Wearing a baseball cap with a special forces insignia is an invitation to an ass kicking in bar in Coronado or Fayetteville if you aren’t on the teams, but outside of that, I just don’t view it as stolen valor – unless you are actually claiming to be in special forces. A Command SGT. Major and a Master Sgt are still both E-9s…the former being a slightly more prestigious credential enhancement over the latter if we are talking about National Guard units. On the other hand, I do have an issue with the quick “exit stage left” a few months before deployment, after telling the junior troops you are with them all the way…that is generally viewed as selfish or worse- cowardice.
Master Sgt is an E-8.
I live in Minnesota. Walz (pronounced “waltz” NOT “walls”) has been spending, spending, spending Minnesota taxpayer money to fund his “dream” of the White House under the guise of social programs. He is as radical as they come. He is a socialist using Minnesota as the template for the great reset of America. Harris is no more than Biden ever was … a puppet-on-a-stick dunce who can read script. They’re touting Walz as this even-keeled homespun down-to-earth grandpa. He stood by and watched Minneapolis burned, pillaged and plundered in 2020, afraid to do the right thing by putting a stop to it. He’s willing to sell his soul for the power. But it won’t stop there. It will never be enough for him. He’s a liar, a con and a coward.
“He’s a liar, a con and a coward”
Trump is literally all of those things, so why is he better than Walz (no ‘T’ in there), “Lori” from “Minnesota”?
Who said anything about Trump? Why do you assume anyone against the radical leftbis a Trumpee? Shut the F up. You know squat, you F’ing idiot troll.
@CongareeCatfish
A nuanced, coherent reply. Sadly, a rarity. Well done.
You are doing your damnedest to get sued for defamation, aren’t you?
The trolls are out in overdrive. LOL! How’s the weather “over there”?
The entire Harris run has been very interesting from the get go. No nomination process, just a woman who had zero support in the 2020 process who is not allowed to speak off-script. Now Walz, who beyond his stolen valor issues, let his cities burn for days before calling in reinforcements and also imposed draconian COVID-19 lock downs that included a number you could call to report your neighbor for not complying. As an Independent, I just can’t get behind either one of these people.