Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Democrat), who has been nominated as Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, has listed a higher rank on his official resume than the rank he held when he retired, drawing criticism and accusations of defamation from some veterans.
Waltz served in the Minnesota Army National Guard and retired at the rank of Sergeant (E-8). However, his biography on his official website lists a higher rank in which he served briefly, but which was ultimately revoked because he did not meet all of the requirements for that rank. However, his biography suggests he retired at the rank of Command Sergeant (E-9).
His official biography states:
After serving 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Waltz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005. Tim was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006 and was re-elected to five additional terms representing Southern Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District.
Lt. Col. Kristen Auger, state spokeswoman for the Minnesota National Guard, confirmed to Breitbart News that Waltz was not discharged as an E-9.
He retired as a sergeant major in 2005. He was excluded from benefits because he did not complete additional courses at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
Retired Army Command Sergeants Thomas Berens and Paul Herr wrote in the letter: Published November 2, 2018, West Central TribuneAccording to local news outlets, Waltz was “conditionally” promoted to master sergeant on Sept. 17, 2004, but later failed to meet the promotion requirements and the promotion was subsequently voided.
“On September 17, 2004, he was conditionally promoted to master sergeant. The conditions were explained to him during counselling and he signed a consent form and certificate. If the conditions were not met, the promotion would be void and would be as if it never happened,” they wrote.
They then said he resigned after his unit received orders to deploy to Iraq.
In early 2005, warning orders were issued for his unit, the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, to prepare for active duty for deployment to Iraq.
On May 16, 2005, he resigned, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its soldiers in limbo as they prepared for war without a senior NCO. His excuse to other leaders was that he needed to retire to run for Congress. This was false, as Department of Defense directives allowed him to run and seek permission from the Secretary of Defense before entering active duty, which many reservists did. If he had retired normally and respectfully, one would think that his retirement papers would have been properly filled out and signed, and he would have been demoted to Sergeant Major for dropping out of military academy. Instead, he waited for the papers to catch up with him. His official retirement papers read, “Soldiers not allowed to sign.”
On September 10, 2005, Master Sergeant Waltz, who had been conditionally promoted, was demoted to Sergeant Major. It took a while for the system to catch up with him, as this was uncharted territory. Literally no one was quitting their job or dropping out of the military academy. Except for him.
In November 2005, the battalion was conducting combat training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, when a retired Master Sergeant Waltz made an offer: He offered to raise funds for a bus trip home for the battalion for Christmas that year.
The 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion deployed for 22 months from 2006 to 2007. During this time, they were restricted by Army regulations from speaking out against candidates for public office. In November 2006, he was elected to the House of Representatives.
They wrote:
He claims to be the highest-ranking military officer to have ever served in Congress. Yet, after less than eight months, he was conditionally promoted to Master Sergeant, resigned before completing his duties, and was demoted to Sergeant Major upon retirement. True, he served at that rank, but was never qualified for it, and will receive retirement benefits at the next lower rank. I’ll let you be the judge.
Behrens has since spoken out about Walz on various occasions, including to AlphaNews on Sept. 6, 2022, when he slammed the governor for canceling the deployment.
“As soon as the gunfire rang out in Iraq, he turned and ran the other way, hung up his hat and quit,” Berens said.
Berenz said he replaced Walz in the Iraq deployment after he resigned.
“The public needs to know how dismal his leadership of the National Guard has been,” he said. “He failed us. What kind of leader can do that? As soon as the shooting started in Iraq, he turned around and ran, hung up his hat and quit.”
Behrens then deployed to Iraq for about two years, during which time Walz ran for Congress and began calling himself “master sergeant.”
According to AlphaNews, Berenz said that before raising the issue publicly, he had expressed his concerns to Walz and sent letters to Washington in 2016, but all of his letters went unanswered.
“That’s what he said, that’s what he said in his campaign letters, that’s what he said in his campaign letters, that he’s a retired master sergeant. He’s just bragging and he’s just basing himself on the people who actually went through all the process and put in all the time to be a master sergeant,” Berens told the outlet.
“This is truly stolen valor. I don’t know anyone who has done anything like what he did,” Behrens said.
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