Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has recently come under fire, facing accusations of stolen valor. For years, there has been speculation regarding the truth behind Gov. Walz’s military service before his involvement in politics. As the 2024 race heats up, scrutiny toward the character of all candidates has become increasingly prevalent.
At one point, Walz’s website biography claimed that he had retired from the Minnesota Army National Guard as a command sergeant major, leading the governor to claim the title of highest-ranking member of Congress to serve in the military. However, reports indicate that he did not complete the requirements to serve at that rank, leading him actually to be ranked as a master sergeant.
Walz’s bio stated, “After 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Walz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005. Tim won his first election to the United States House of Representatives in 2006 and was re-elected for another five terms serving Minnesota’s First Congressional District in Southern Minnesota.”
Disputing this claim, the Minnesota National Guard’s State Public Affairs Officer, Army Lt. Col. Kristen Augé told Breitbart News that he had not achieved the rank purported in his bio. “He retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy,” she said.
Furthermore, two retired Army Command Sergeant Majors, Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr, published a 2018 letter claiming Walz was “conditionally promoted” to Command Sergeant Major in 2004 but later failed to meet the requirements to officially earn the rank. They alleged that Walz had signed an agreement that he would meet the requirements but never managed to do so.
Moreover, Walz has been criticized for retiring from the National Guard after his unit was issued orders to deploy to Iraq. “In early 2005, a warning order was issued to the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, which included the position he was serving in, to prepare to be mobilized for active duty for a deployment to Iraq,” they wrote.
The retired Army Command Sergeant Majors continued, “On May 16th, 2005 he quit, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war. His excuse to other leaders was that he needed to retire in order to run for congress. Which is false, according to a Department of Defense Directive, he could have run and requested permission from the Secretary of Defense before entering active duty; as many reservists have. If he had retired normally and respectfully, you would think he would have ensured his retirement documents were correctly filled out and signed, and that he would have ensured he was reduced to Master Sergeant for dropping out of the academy. Instead he waited for the paperwork to catch up to him. His official retirement document states, SOLDIER NOT AVAILABLE FOR SIGNATURE.”
Behrends, who replaced Walz on the deployment when he quite, recently addressed the controversy, explaining his motivations for exposing the truth. “The public needs to know how pathetic his leadership was as a National Guardsman,” he said. “He abandoned us. What the hell kind of leader does that? As soon as the shots were fired in Iraq, he turned and ran the other way and hung his hat up and quit.”
Behrends further stated, “He was saying that and there were campaign letters coming in the mail saying that. They said, right on there, he’s a retired command sergeant major. Just tooting his own horn, hanging on the coattails of people that actually are command sergeant majors that went through all the process and put all the time in.”
Watch Walz refusing to address stolen valor accusations below:
Featured image credit: Office of Governor Tim Walz & Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Governor_Tim_Walz_Veteran_Home_Speech_-_53828998284.jpg
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