A veteran who served with Kamala Harris working mate Gov. Tim Walz accused him of embellishing his time within the service and abandoning his unit simply earlier than they deployed.
In an interview Wednesday on “The Ingraham Angle,” Ret. Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends, who mentioned he was a member of Walz’s battalion, scolded the Minnesota governor for deceptive the American public about his navy profession.
His service concluded when he retired from his unit within the Minnesota Nationwide Guard proper earlier than they deployed to Iraq in 2005, the New York Publish reported. The Minnesota Nationwide Guard instructed Fox Information Walz’s unit was not given deployment orders to Iraq till July and he had put his retirement papers in 5 to seven months previous to his retirement in that Might 2005.
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Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune by way of Getty Pictures)
Requested about Trump working mate Sen. JD Vance’s accusation that Walz is responsible of “stolen valor,” the Nationwide Guard veteran instructed Fox Information host Laura Ingraham that it is “far darker than a lot of people think.”
“He’s used the rank that he never achieved in order to advance his political career,” he mentioned. “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.”
Questions emerged about Walz’s rhetoric surrounding his time within the service after Vice President Kamala Harris introduced him as her working mate on the 2024 Democratic ticket.
Walz is described as a retired “command sergeant major” in his governor’s web site biography and has additionally claimed he carried a gun “in war,” regardless of by no means experiencing energetic fight.
Ingraham, nonetheless, mentioned the Minnesota Nationwide Guard instructed the “Angle” he retired as a grasp sergeant.
“To most people, that would mean that he was actually in combat, carrying a weapon in a combat zone and getting combat pay and in a dangerous and hostile environment where he is getting shot at,” Behrends mentioned.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
“I mean, if he thinks Italy was a combat zone or a war zone, and he was carrying that in war, he’s delusional,” he added.
Behrends mentioned Walz had been promoted to command sergeant main in 2004, however claimed he was required to serve two further years or the promotion can be void.
His early retirement terminated the promotion, lowering his rank to grasp sergeant, Behrends mentioned.
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“What he did, basically, was he quit. He didn’t complete that condition of doing two years after graduation, so he gets reduced to a master sergeant, and that’s what he is right now, is a retired master sergeant.”
In assertion to Fox Information, Military Lt. Col. Ryan Rossman, Minnesota Nationwide Guard’s director of Operations, defined Walz’s rank on the time of his retirement:
“He was technically a Command Sgt Major when he deployed to Europe with his battalion but to RETIRE as a CSM you have to go through a final course which he had not completed so from a benefits perspective the Army retired him as a Master Sgt (lower enlisted rank.) But according to National Guard records he was a Command Sgt Major technically when deployed. The lower rank was as a result of benefit requirements and a technicality.”
The marketing campaign issued a press release on the matter: “After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired Veterans Affairs and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform — and as our Vice President of the United States, he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families.”
The response did not sit effectively with Behrends.
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“From what I get from the soldiers that I went to Iraq with, probably 98% of them are completely against him embellishing his record,” he mentioned. “Don’t try to make it look like you were a command sergeant major. Don’t try to make it look like you were going to some place that was in support of Operation Enduring Freedom… that’s just all embellishment and lies to try to make things look better.”
Tom Schilling, who additionally mentioned he was a member of Walz’s battalion, slammed his actions as “dishonorable” throughout an interview on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“I have my stories about what he did to the military, when he left us like that, and I was kind of like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Schilling mentioned, recalling his response when he heard Harris tapped Walz as her working mate.
“We all did what we were supposed to do, we did the right thing, and it’s dishonorable what he did,” Schilling mentioned. “He left somebody else to take over his spot. He just ditched us.”
Walz’s crew didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from “The Ingraham Angle.”
