Tim Walz (Democrat), the governor of Minnesota and now Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, has made his 24-year military career a key cornerstone of his political persona. Walz has referenced his time in the Minnesota National Guard many times, but some of his comments have come under renewed scrutiny as potentially misleading.
In addition to filing his retirement papers after it became clear his unit would be deployed to Iraq, Waltz also made statements that implied he had served in combat when he had not, and said he retired as a master sergeant when in fact he had.
Minnesota National Guard explanation “Because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major College,” Waltz was unable to maintain his senior rank upon retirement.
Harris’ Campaign website page An article introducing Waltz as a running mate incorrectly repeated his military rank as “the son of an Army veteran and himself a former master sergeant in the Army National Guard.” The Harris campaign later corrected Waltz’s rank.
Waltz was once sent to Italy.
“The weapons of war that I carried in war, I can make sure they are only carried in war,” Walz had previously told the crowd while calling for gun control in a video promoted by the Harris campaign.
Washington Free Beacon Reported In 2009, David Toole, an Iraq War veteran and former Sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard, told staff that then-Congressman Waltz was misrepresenting his military record by claiming to be a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, a U.S. military operation that originated in and was primarily focused on Afghanistan. Like Iraq, Waltz did not serve in Afghanistan.
“Senator Waltz clearly claims to be an Enduring Freedom veteran. No one disputes the fact that he is not an Afghanistan or Enduring Freedom veteran, so this is a pretty serious issue,” Tour told staffers, who agreed that using the OEF veteran designation could confuse voters.
Waltz has deployed once to Italy in support of OEF, but was not in a combat zone during that operation.
2008, Waltz Approved There was a passage about him in a book about the election in which he was incorrectly described as a “National Guardsman who served in Afghanistan.”
In 2004, Waltz was photographed outside a George W. Bush rally holding a sign that read “Veterans of Enduring Freedom Support Kerry.”
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