One thing is crystal clear: Kamala’s VP pick, Tim Walz, did not serve our country in a war zone. He did not serve in Afghanistan, He did not serve in Iraq. He didn’t even serve in the Balkans, which the Minnesota National Guard did multiple tours to during the early 2000s.
But the Harris-Walz campaign’s official Twitter account released a video on Tuesday of Tim Walz saying he was in war:
In a call to disarm law-abiding citizens of their right to keep and bear arms, Tim Walz said, “We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war.”
What is he talking about?
In May of 2005, Tim Walz was the senior enlisted soldier of 1-125 FA in New Ulm, MN. That unit was on the cusp of deploying to Iraq, which ended up being a historic deployment that lasted 22 months and resulted in the deaths of many heroic Minnesotans.
Walz suddenly retired from the military before the unit received its activation orders, a move that caught senior leadership of the 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division by surprise. Because of his high rank (at the time) and his responsibility to lead troops, he left a vacuum in the unit’s deployment readiness.
That’s when senior leadership went to Sergeant Major (SGM) Thomas Behrends to ask if he could fill the void that Walz left. After discussing with his family, Behrends stepped up to the plate and became the new Command SGM of 1-125 FA and deployed with them to Iraq.
This stolen valor does not sit well with our community. I never knew Tim Walz in the eight years I served as an officer with the MN Army National Guard, but I know a lot of people who did, including CSM (R) Doug Julin, who I served with in Iraq and validates CSM (R) Behrends’ account of the details surrounding Walz’ shameful, sudden retirement.
Walz’ sudden retirement is also the reason he officially retired as a Master Sergeant, instead of a Sergeant Major – one rank lower and less retirement pay. The Democrat’s use of the “Command Sergeant Major” rank for Walz has received scrutiny and was clarified by the Minnesota Army National Guard’s records department. The Harris-Walz campaign just retracted the SGM rank in Walz’ bio on their website.
War veterans do not think very highly of soldiers, who have never deployed, abandoning their leadership post to dodge a deployment. But even worse than that, those who stand in front of crowds and say they went to war, have crossed a line that is unforgivable.
Walz refused to make the sacrifice so many of us did. He refused to deploy to a war zone where you don’t know if you are coming home the next day. Despite this clear cut cowardice and stolen valor, he’s being praised by Team Kamala and they hope to put him in the White House, one heartbeat away from being the Commander-in-Chief of the world’s greatest military.
If you are interested in more of the story, we just interviewed CSM (R) Behrends on our show:
