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Tim Walz Caught In ‘Stolen Valor’ Controversy, Demoted From Military

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[Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Walt RasingerBy
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In a political landscape where valor and integrity are paramount, recent accusations against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz have ignited a firestorm of controversy. As Walz takes on the role of vice presidential candidate for the Democrats, claims of “stolen valor” from his time in the military have surfaced, raising questions about his integrity and commitment to service.

Governor Tim Walz has long touted his military service as a cornerstone of his political identity.

In 2004, for example, he formed an “Enduring Freedom Veterans For Kerry” political protest group, implying that he saw combat.

However, veterans have recently accused him of misrepresenting his military record, specifically regarding his service in Iraq. According to The New York Post, Walz retired from the military just before his deployment to Iraq, a decision that left many questioning his courage and commitment, particularly Thomas Behrends who had to go in his place.

“I needed to hit the ground running and take care of the troops — and tell them we were going to war,” Behrends said of the 500 soldiers under his command. “For a guy in that position, to quit is cowardice.”

A farmer in Brewster, Minnesota, Behrends labeled Kamala’s vice presidential pick as “a traitor.”

“When your country calls, you are supposed to run into battle — not the other way,” the retired command sergeant major told The Post Tuesday. “He ran away. It’s sad. He had the opportunity to serve his country, and said ‘Screw you’ to the United States. That’s not who I would pick to run for vice president.”

Walz has long claimed to have “served in war.”

In 2004, when he was launching his career, the then-congressional candidate appeared to claim he served in Iraq despite never going on deployment there.

A Bloomberg profile from 2004 stated, “At the time, the Iraq War was ongoing (and going badly), and he stood out as Command Sergeant Major Walz, a 24-year veteran of the Army National Guard, recently returned from serving in Iraq as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. He’d retired to teach high school and coach football.

In 2005, Democrats were reeling, laid low by the previous three elections: George W. Bush’s Supreme Court-aided presidential win in 2000; Republicans’ history-defying 2002 midterms, when the party in power gained congressional seats; and Bush’s 2004 reelection, in which he’d transformed the popular image of his Democratic opponent, John Kerry, from famous Vietnam War veteran to rich windsurfing snob who ate pizza with a knife and fork.

To counter the impression that they were effete, Democrats, with Rahm Emanuel leading the congressional campaign committee, went out and recruited dozens of young veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Walz was one of them.

Although the focus of my profile and much of the subsequent news coverage was on Walz’s military background, what stood out about his candidate skills as we traveled around Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District was that he possessed a sort of Holy Trinity of Normal. As a coach, teacher and veteran he could talk to anybody about anything (even reporters!) and relate to them not as a grasping, needy pol angling for their vote, but as something like the opposite: an amiable guy you might meet at a barbecue who just happened to be running for the US House.”

In reality, Walz was demoted and did not retire as a command Sergeant Major and never served in war. “The Minnesota National Guard confirmed Wednesday that Gov. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate, was demoted and did not retire as a command sergeant major like he has claimed for years, including on his official gubernatorial biography.

While Walz temporarily held the title of command sergeant major 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,” Army Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, the Minnesota National Guard’s State Public Affairs Officer,” told Just the News.

Before a rally, Walz was questioned by reporters about stealing the valor of combat veterans, but like Kamala Harris, he refused to speak to the media.

Not that the media will mind much. They’re on the same side. In another example of Soviet-like news editing, Bloomberg went back and edited a ten-year-old story to protect the Democratic nominee.

This is the third time in the past few months that a major media outlet has “edited” embarrassing facts about Democrats in stories published years ago.

Two weeks ago, Axios received major criticism after it tried to edit a story in 2021 proclaiming Harris to be the Biden Administration’s “border czar.”

“The Trump campaign and Republicans have tagged Harris repeatedly with the ‘border czar’ title — which she never actually had,” reporter Stef Kight wrote.

Fox News explained that “critics pointed out Axios reported in 2021 that Harris was ‘appointed by Biden as border czar.’ Another 2021 Axios report, by Kight herself, was headlined, ‘Biden puts Harris in charge of border crisis.’

Left-leaning fact-checker PolitiFact also got in on the action, calling a Republican claim about her being the border czar ‘mostly false,’ and part of an effort to “link her” to her own administration’s immigration policy.”

While the media has bent over backward to shield Harris from criticism over her handling of the border, some members of her own party have condemned her failures in dealing with immigration. In July, six Democrats joined Republicans in the House of Representatives to condemn Harris for the Biden administration’s border policy.

[Read More: Democratic Preying On Mentally Ill To Get Votes]

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