Former commander and retired Army Command Sergeant Major Doug Julin acknowledged Friday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, now the Democratic vice presidential candidate, knew about the Iraq deployment for months, well before he decided to retire and miss it.
Julin also said that Waltz, who was then the battalion’s command sergeant major, had committed to leading the battalion into Iraq, but later learned that Waltz had bypassed Julin and contacted someone two ranks above him to get approval to leave before he actually deployed.
In an interview with CNN, Julin said he and other senior officers were informed of the planned deployment to Iraq in the fall of 2004.
So I want to start back in the fall of 2004, what we received, the commander of the 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division Brigade Combat Team and I, was what’s called a procurement notice, or “NOS.” We were notified that we would be alerted to go to Iraq within the next year or so, so we were going to start preparing our teams, we were going to start assembling our teams and starting the process.
Julin said he then met with the battalion’s commanding officer, Waltz. Julin did not say exactly when the meeting took place, but suggested it was sometime before February 2005. At the time, Waltz was the battalion’s senior NCO leader, a position called “command sergeant major.” Julin said Waltz held that rank conditionally. (Waltz ultimately retired at the lower rank of sergeant major because he did not meet the requirements for sergeant major, but has since falsely claimed to be a retired command sergeant major.)
“From there, we [1-125th Field Artillery Battalion]”We introduced ourselves and let them know what’s going on. We don’t know the details, but we’ll deal with it,” he said.
He recalled that at a meeting in February 2005, Walz told him he had announced his intention to run for Congress.
Around February 2005, my superior and commander [and] The command team scheduled an all-hands meeting at Camp Ripley, Minnesota, where the battalion sergeant major, battalion commander and staff could all meet face-to-face to conduct team-building events and launch the concept there.
Governor Tim Walz, then Sergeant Major Tim Walz, was in that meeting. At the end of the meeting, he wanted to talk to me, and we sat down and talked one-on-one, and that’s when he let me know. He said, “Just to let you know, I’m running for Congress. I haven’t been elected or appointed yet, but I just wanted to let you know.”
Julin said the division had received warning orders, a preliminary order before a formal order, and that when he spoke with Waltz again the following month, Waltz confirmed he would lead the battalion into Iraq.
He said:
The next month, March of 2005, maybe a month or so later in April, we had another meeting at Camp Ripley. This time Tim Waltz was there, and we had a meeting, and we all discussed who was going to do what, when, where, who was going to do what, what missions were coming up, how we were going to handle it, how we needed to build our team. Again, throughout this entire period, we were doing what we called team building to move forward into Iraq.
After the meeting, Tim Waltz came in and sat down with me because I had spoken to him before. I said I needed to know his answer then. He came in, we sat down and we talked. He told me, “I’m not being nominated. I’m going forward with the battalion.” I said, “Okay. Let’s get started. We’ve built a team. And we’re starting to build a team there.”
Julin said he learned at the next meeting in June 2005 that Waltz was not available and had been replaced by Master Sergeant Tom Behrens. It was then that he learned Waltz had “resigned.”
“The person who approved this is two levels above me in the NCO corps and should have called Tim Waltz back to me to discuss why he wasn’t moving forward now after he had already told me he was,” Julin said.
Jurin said if Waltz was an “early, low-ranking” figure, it would be understandable that he wouldn’t have been aware of the process.
“Tim Waltz knew the process and the procedures. He went around me, went beyond me and basically got somebody to back him up and get out of there. It was just a backdoor process that he did against me,” Julin said.
Jurin said he thought Waltz might have rejected his request to retire and walked around him and said, “No, it’s too late. You’re moving on.”
Julin said that while formal orders to deploy were not given until later, Waltz was clearly aware of the planned deployment long before it happened.
Julin stated bluntly: “Well, people say they didn’t know he was going to come forward. [to Iraq]… Yes, he knew he was going to go forward. Had he received the orders already? No, he hadn’t received them at that time.
CNN reached out to the Harris-Waltz campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
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