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“Senator JD Vance of Ohio accused Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota [last] Wednesday of quitting the Army National Guard two decades ago to avoid being deployed to Iraq and of exaggerating his service record to claim falsely that he had served in combat…
“Mr. Vance also seized on a remark by Mr. Walz in a video clip that the Harris campaign had promoted on social media on Tuesday, in which the governor told a crowd about support for gun control, saying that ‘we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.’ Mr. Walz never served in combat, however.” New York Times
The left defends Walz, arguing that he should be praised for his service.
“Let’s start with the attempt to ‘swiftboat’ Tim Walz for what J.D. Vance termed ‘stolen valor.’ The charge, recycled from Republican claims during Walz’s first campaign for governor, is that Walz left the Army National Guard in order to avoid being shipped to Iraq. In fact, he retired in order to begin his first campaign for a House seat, months before there was ever an order for his unit to ship out. But more important is the context…
“Walz joined the Guard as a 17-year-old, served for 24 years, and ascended to the highest enlisted rank as command sergeant major. Unlike the life story of John Kerry in 2004, which made him vulnerable to the Swift Boat takedown, serving in the Guard was never central to Walz’s political persona.”
Robert Kuttner, American Prospect
“Walz served for 24 years — much longer than the four years Vance served in the Marine Corps… Walz left the Guard in May 2005 because he had decided to run for Congress. His unit did not receive a mobilization order until August of that year, and it did not deploy to Iraq until March 2006. As he approached retirement, Walz indeed served as a command sergeant major — though he held that rank in an ‘acting’ status, having not completed all the coursework required for permanent promotion…
“Did he carry a weapon ‘in war’ [as he said in 2018?] Not as most people understand those words. Walz was deployed in 2003 when U.S. forces were fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but his unit was sent to Italy to protect U.S. assets there. Like Vance’s noncombat role in Iraq, this counts as wartime service. But Walz was not in a war zone. He should make that plain… The smear campaign against Tim Walz is stale and cynical.”
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post
“Walz has dedicated his political career to helping other veterans. As the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, veterans had no finer and more tenacious advocate than Walz. Every veteran service organization and veteran leader knows he is one of our own… And he always has our back, from the new GI Bill expansion way back in 2008 to the Clay Hunt SAV Act in 2016 to countless fights in between…
“I’d like to live in an America where nobody attacks a veteran's service or tries to compare one term of service to another. Every person who volunteers to wear the uniform has done something for our country that 99% of the public has not. And that should be respected — whether they’re a Navy SEAL hunting Osama Bin Laden or a cook making breakfast for other troops stateside at Fort Liberty. Service to our country is honorable. And one of the most dangerous jobs in America, whether you’re combat deployed or training back home.”
Paul Rieckhoff, MSNBC
The right is critical of Walz, arguing that he appears to have exaggerated his military record.
The right is critical of Walz, arguing that he appears to have exaggerated his military record.
“There’s nothing wrong with being in the military and not being deployed to a war zone. Plenty of members of the military were never deployed to a war zone, and we thank them for their heroic service. There is a problem when you lie about it… Somehow, almost every article from 2007 to 2018 about [Walz] included the lie he was actually in Afghanistan or Iraq. There are many, many [examples]. He actually endorsed a book that claimed he was in Afghanistan.”
Ben Shapiro, Daily Wire
“In [a] March 2016 sitdown, Walz’s biographical information and military résumé are read back to him, and in it, [C-SPAN host Greta] Brawner describes Walz as having ‘served with his battalion in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.’… As anyone who has appeared in television interviews knows, biographical details such as those read by [Brawner] are almost always provided to the interviewer by the interviewee…
“Over the years, there has been an ongoing pattern of friendly journalists calling Walz a veteran of combat zones, variously, in Iraq or Afghanistan… How is it that all of these mistakes happen in the same direction? Why is there a consistent pattern of third parties, acting in good faith, getting the idea that Walz has served in a combat zone?…
“I have strained to give Walz the benefit of the doubt in the controversy over his military service. But it is getting increasingly hard to believe that the widespread inaccuracies and mischaracterizations about Walz’s record are merely a series of unrelated misunderstandings that have nothing at all to do with Tim Walz.”
Mark Antonio Wright, National Review
“Walz, as the battalion’s command sergeant major, would certainly have had early insight on whether a mobilization was likely in the months before he retired… Walz’s retirement in the months before his unit went to war surprised and rankled fellow soldiers. And it is worth noting that it is not at all unusual for national guardsmen and reservists to run for public office while staying in uniform…
“As early as 2006, Tom Hagen, an Iraq veteran, wrote to the Winona Daily News stating ‘that Walz quickly retired after learning that his unit—southern Minnesota’s 1-125 FA Battalion—would be sent to Iraq. For Tim Walz to abandon his fellow soldiers and quit when they needed experienced leadership most is disheartening.’…
“And in 2009, two Minnesota National Guard Iraq veterans confronted Walz campaign staffers about their concerns about Walz’s characterizations of his service… These former soldiers are entitled to their opinion and deserve to be listened to.”
The Editors, National Review
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