The battalion commander of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s former Minnesota Military Nationwide Guard unit issued a scathing message to Vice President Kamala Harris’ working mate amid mounting “stolen valor” accusations, in response to media stories.
“I do not regret that Tim Walz retired early from the Minnesota National Guard, did not complete the Sergeants Major Academy, broke his enlistment contract or did not successfully complete any assignment as a Sergeant Major. Unwittingly, he got out of the way for better leadership,” John Kolb wrote on Fb, the Every day Mail reported.
Kolb served as a lieutenant colonel of the 1st Battalion, one hundred and twenty fifth Area Artillery from 2005 to 2007, the Minnesota Nationwide Guard exhibits on its web site. Walz served in the identical battalion till 2005, when he retired forward of the battalion deploying to Iraq that very same 12 months.
Kolb now works as an lawyer in Minnesota. Fox Information Digital contacted Kolb for affirmation on the Fb publish and extra touch upon Walz’s army service however didn’t obtain a reply previous to publication.
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Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, speaks throughout a marketing campaign occasion on Aug. 7, 2024 in Detroit. Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz are campaigning throughout the nation this week. (Andrew Harnik)
Walz has come underneath mounting criticism for “stolen valor,” together with veterans slamming him for saying he’s a “retired Command Sergeant Major.” Walz had earned the rank of command sergeant main earlier than his retirement, however his rank was diminished months after retiring to grasp sergeant, as he didn’t full the required coursework with the U.S. Military Sergeants Main Academy.
The “retired Command Sergeant Major” rank was promoted by the Harris marketing campaign till final week, when it modified Walz’s biography to learn that he “served as a command sergeant major.”
Walz retired from the Minnestoa Military Nationwide Guard in 2005 after 24 years of service. He then launched a profitable congressional marketing campaign and was sworn in as a member of the U.S. Home representing Minnesota in 2007.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks earlier than President Biden at Dutch Creek Farms, Nov. 1, 2023 in Northfield, Minnesota. (AP Photograph/Abbie Parr)
Kolb continued in his social media publish that he doesn’t have a touch upon Walz retiring early, because it was “his right to retire early,” however that he’s fraudulently utilizing the retired command sergeant main rank.
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“By all accounts and on the record, he was a competent Chief of Firing Battery/Gunnery Sergeant and First Sergeant. I cannot say the same of his service sitting, frocked, in the CSM [command sergeant major] chair. He did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9,” he stated.
“He did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9,” Kolb wrote within the reported social media publish. “It is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title. I can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, it does not make me a pilot. Similarly, when the demands of service and leadership at the highest level got real, he chose another path.”
Folks take their seats forward of Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally together with her newly chosen vice presidential working mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in Philadelphia on Aug. 6, 2024. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
“’It is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title,” Kolb continued. “I can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, it does not make me a pilot. Similarly, when the demands of service and leadership at the highest level got real, he chose another path.”
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Kolb tagged retired Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends within the publish, in response to the Every day Mail, who changed Walz within the battalion when he retired, and lauded the veteran as a “great leader.”
“Thomas Behrends was the right leader at the right time. He sacrificed to answer the call, leaving his family, business and farming-partner brother to train, lead and care for soldiers. He earned the privilege of being called Command Sergeant Major,” he wrote.
“Like a great leader he ran toward and not away from the guns.”
Behrends has been sounding the alarm about Walz’s army profession since final week, when Harris first introduced the Minnesota governor as her 2024 working mate.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appeare on stage collectively throughout a marketing campaign occasion on the Liacouras Heart at Temple College on Aug. 6, 2024 in Philadelphia. Harris ended weeks of hypothesis about who her working mate can be, deciding on the 60-year-old Midwestern governor over different candidates. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Photographs)
“He’s used the rank that he never achieved in order to advance his political career,” Behrends instructed Fox Information host Laura Ingraham final week. “I mean, he still says he’s a retired command sergeant major to this day, and he’s not. He uses the rank of others to make it look like he’s a better person than he is.”
Studies of Kolb’s Fb publish have since unfold throughout social media, together with Donald Trump Jr, former President Trump’s son, writing, “Tim Walz’s Battalion Commander absolutely destroys him over his Stolen Valor. How long is the leftwing media going to keep ignoring all of this?”
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The Harris marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for touch upon Kolb’s publish.
