Tom Schilling, a veteran who served in the same battalion as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said Walz “abandoned” him and other soldiers before deploying to Iraq in 2005.
“We all did what we had to do. We did the right thing,” Schilling said Wednesday on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime.” “What he did was disgraceful. He gave his position to somebody else. He abandoned us.”
“It would be a disaster if he became commander in chief,” Schilling said of Walz, who was named Kamala Harris’ running mate this week.
Waltz is Governor Walz, who describes himself as a retired “master sergeant” in his biography on his website, claims to have carried a gun “in wartime” despite never having served in combat. Walz retired from the Minnesota National Guard before deploying to Iraq in 2005.
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Tom Schilling, a veteran who served in the same battalion as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said Walz “abandoned” him and other soldiers before deploying to Iraq in 2005. (Fox News)
The Minnesota National Guard told Fox News that Waltz’s unit did not receive orders to deploy to Iraq until July and that Waltz submitted his retirement papers five to seven months before his scheduled discharge in May 2005.
“I guess he knew he wasn’t a good leader and he wanted to do something else, and we got a really good leader in Sergeant Behrens,” Schilling said.
Maj. Thomas Behrens, a former sergeant who served with Waltz, also publicly disagreed with Waltz’s description of his military career.
“He used a rank that he never earned to further his political career,” he said of Walz on Fox News. “I mean, he still says he’s a retired master sergeant, but he’s not. He’s using other people’s ranks to make himself seem like a better person than he is.”
Lt. Col. Ryan Rothman, the Minnesota National Guard’s chief of operations, detailed Waltz’s service in a statement to Fox News: “Mr. Waltz served in several positions in the Field Artillery, including gunnery chief, operations sergeant and first sergeant, and concluded his career as a battalion command sergeant major. Mr. Waltz retired with honorarium as a sergeant major in 2005 after not completing additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeant Major School.”
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The campaign previously issued a statement regarding the controversy surrounding Gov. Walz’s military record: “After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 to run for Congress, where he served as Commissioner of Veterans Affairs and worked tirelessly on behalf of our military members. And as Vice President of the United States, he will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of veterans and military families.” (Glenn Stubb/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
“When you look at the leadership that Walz has shown to Minnesota,” Schilling said, reflecting on Walz’s policies during the 2020 riots and COVID-19, “I’m thankful he wasn’t over there, otherwise we would have been bringing home a lot more body bags. Tom Behrends has been a great leader and saved a lot of lives for us.”
Asked about Waltz’s reported claim that he carried a weapon during the war, Schilling said it was “stolen valor.”
“Another stolen valor,” he said. “It’s something he invented to get ahead in politics.”
The Harris-Walz campaign previously issued the following statement regarding the controversy surrounding Governor Walz’s military record: “After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 to run for Congress, where he served as Secretary of Veterans Affairs and was a tireless advocate for our military members. And as Vice President of the United States, he will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of veterans and military families.”
Waltz deployed to Italy on August 3, 2003 as part of the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He was stationed in Vicenza, Italy during his deployment, returning to Minnesota in April 2004.
The campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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Fox News’ Yael Harron and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
