Tim Walz, the far-left Democratic governor of Minnesota who was just selected as Border Patrol chief Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election, appears to have misrepresented details about his reenlistment in the Army National Guard, leading at least one former colleague from 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery in southern Minnesota to accuse Walz of engaging in “defamation.”
Waltz, 60, enlisted in the Army National Guard more than 40 years ago when he was 17 and served for 20 years before being discharged.
“What kind of leadership is that?”
Shortly after his discharge, the September 11 attacks occurred, and Waltz reenlisted a few weeks later. In April 2005, Waltz was promoted to master sergeant, and retired again the following month to launch his ultimately successful congressional campaign.
That’s when his side of the story becomes compromised.
First, sometime in early 2005, Waltz and other members of his battalion received word that they would soon be deployed to Iraq. Waltz, the highest-ranking NCO in the unit, then abruptly retired in May, leaving the unit without a designated leader.
Thomas Berenz, a former member of Walz’s unit and now a retired master sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard, said he deployed in Walz’s place and fought in Iraq for nearly two years while Walz remained at home campaigning.
“I thought, what a leadership move if this person quits, if I say I’m not going to do it,” Berens told AlphaNews in 2022. “If the company says they’re sending people to Iraq and the foreman says, ‘I’m not going,’ what does that mean for the 500 people who work at that plant?”
Another problem with Waltz’s May 2005 discharge is that it was several months short of the four-year mandatory service period and more than two years short of the six-year mandatory period.
but, Alpha NewsThe investigation ostensibly reviewed Waltz’s discharge and service reports, but found that Waltz had initially committed to six years of service when he reenlisted in September 2001, meaning his contract with the Army National Guard was not due to expire until September 2007.
In apparent violation of that document, Waltz claimed that when he retired in 2005, he had served four years as promised.
“After completing 20 years of service in 2001, I reenlisted after 9/11 to serve my country for another four years, then discharged the year before my unit deployed to Iraq to run for Congress,” Walz wrote in the Winona Daily News in 2006.
“Waltz lied in his campaign pamphlets about retiring as a master sergeant. That’s not true.”
Waltz also appears to have lied about his military retirement rank: According to screenshots shared by Alpha News, Waltz was promoted to master sergeant just weeks before he retired, and he previously bragged on his campaign website that he had retired at that rank.
“When he was a congressman, the words were just there. He bragged that he was a retired master sergeant, the highest-ranking person in the history of the House,” Berens said.
However, Waltz did not complete the training or necessary coursework to become a command sergeant major at the U.S. Army Sergeant Major Academy. Discharge documents It was later revised to say he retired at the rank of sergeant major, not master sergeant.
A National Guard source told AlphaNews that Waltz can use the title of master sergeant but cannot be considered retired with that title.
“Mr. Walz lied in his campaign pamphlets about retiring as a master sergeant. That’s not true,” said Tony Wenzel, a retired platoon sergeant with the Minnesota Army National Guard.
“Tim Waltz has been demoted to the rank of Sergeant and will receive full retirement benefits as a result.”
“This is truly stolen valor,” Behrens argued, “and I don’t know anyone else who has done what he did.”
Finally, after Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey asked Walz, who had already been elected governor, to send in the National Guard to help quell violent BLM riots in 2020, Walz belittled many of his fellow Guard members, calling them mere teenage “cooks,” despite having served in the National Guard for decades.
“I don’t think the mayor knew what he wanted,” Walz said. August 2020“I think the mayor said, ‘We’re calling in the National Guard. Great. We’re going to have a big, trained force.’ No, we’re just going to have a 19-year-old cook.”
Rioters ultimately burned down the police station and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Victimized Citywide.
“If he had gone to Iraq, he’d still be hiding under his desk, because that shows his cowardice,” Berenz said of Waltz.
Behrens, Wenzel and others who served in the Minnesota Army National Guard say they have tried for years to correct Walz’s record of military service so voters are not misled.
“There is no way I can vote for Tim Walz for governor because he has abandoned his fellow soldiers,” Wenzel said in 2018.
Asked for comment, a spokesman for Walz told AlphaNews, “Typically, these types of partisan political attacks only come from people who have never even served in uniform.”
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