Tim Walz served in the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery after transferring from the Nebraska National Guard. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)
Criticisms have mounted that Walz retired just months before his battalion deployed to Iraq as war raged in the Middle East following the 9/11 attacks. Walz put in his papers for retirement at least five months before his battalion received deployment orders, according to the Minnesota National Guard.
"He subverted the chain of command, and he went around the chain of command. The brigade [sergeant] major had no clue. These are all important facts, and he did it to continually feather his own bed… That was the shameful part of it," retired Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Herr told Fox News last week.
While former Minnesota National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Julin appeared to bolster criticism that Walz retired as the unit prepared to deploy during an interview with CNN. Julin said the battalion – "including my boss, commander, and the command team" – had multiple meetings to discuss deployment months before Walz sought retirement.
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The grieving mom of Sgt. Kyle Miller, who died at the age of 19 in 2006, also issued a scathing response regarding Walz’s retirement just before the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery unit deployed to Iraq.
"My son wasn’t even 21 years old. He couldn’t even buy alcohol. Yet he took the step to serve our country while Walz found the best way to run away," Miller’s mother, Kathy Miller, told the Daily Mail last week. Kyle Miller was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq while he was deployed by Walz’s former battalion.
"It was the coward’s way out."
After retiring, Walz launched a successful congressional campaign, and served as a member of the U.S. House representing Minnesota from 2007 until 2019, when he was then sworn in as the Gopher State’s governor. Harris announced last Tuesday that she selected Walz to join her on the 2024 ticket, after speculation that she would choose Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly as her running mate.
Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler refuted Gov. Tim Walz's 2018 claims that he once carried weapons "in war." (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
"[The public affairs officer] said the rank changed because Walz retired before completing coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy along with other requirements associated with his promotion," the article explained.
Last week, the Harris campaign updated its biography for Walz to omit a reference that he is a "retired Command Sergeant Major," updating the bio to show Walz "served as a command sergeant major."
Walz has also come under fire from veterans who say he misrepresented serving in a combat zone. Walz was deployed to Italy in 2003 to assist U.S. operations in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, but has never served in a combat zone.
In one video shared by the Harris campaign last week, Walz declared he wants to ban guns like the ones he "carried in war."
Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, arrive at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Criticisms from veterans on Walz’s military career, however, stretch back years, only surfacing at the national level after Harris named him as her running mate.
"Tim Walz has embellished and selectively omitted facts and circumstances of his military career for years," Behrends and Herr wrote in a letter published by the West Central Tribune in 2018.
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"When the nation called, he quit. He failed to complete the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy. He failed to serve for two years following completion of the academy, which he dropped out of. He failed to serve two years after the conditional promotion to Command Sergeant Major. He failed to fulfill the full six years of the enlistment he signed on September 18th, 2001. He failed his country. He failed his state. He failed the Minnesota Army National Guard, the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, and his fellow Soldiers. And he failed to lead by example. Shameful," the pair continued.
Walz is anticipated to join Harris in Chicago next week, where the Democratic National Convention will be held ahead of the final stretch before Election Day.
Fox News Digital's Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/veterans-increasingly-calling-out-walzs-military-record-shameful