A former battalion commander for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s Minnesota Army National Guard unit sent a scathing message to Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate amid growing accusations of “defamation,” according to media reports.
“I have no regrets that Tim Waltz retired early from the Minnesota National Guard, did not complete Sergeant Major Academy, violated his enlistment contract, or did not complete his duties as a Sergeant Major. He unwittingly made way for better leadership,” John Kolb wrote on Facebook, according to the Daily Mail.
According to the Minnesota National Guard’s website, Kolb served as a lieutenant colonel with 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery from 2005 to 2007. Waltz served with the battalion until 2005, when he retired before the battalion deployed to Iraq.
Kolb, who now works as an attorney in Minnesota, contacted Fox News Digital for clarification on the Facebook post and for additional comment about Walz’s military service, but did not respond before publication.
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Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota governor Tim Walz speaks at a campaign event in Detroit on Aug. 7, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz have been campaigning across the country this week. (Andrew Harnick)
Waltz has come under fire for alleged “defamation,” with veterans criticizing him for claiming to be a “retired master sergeant,” a position he held prior to his retirement from the military, but was demoted to sergeant a few months after his retirement for failing to complete required courses at the U.S. Army Sergeant Major Academy.
The rank of “retired master sergeant” was promoted by the Harris campaign until last week, when Waltz’s biography was subsequently changed to say “served as master sergeant.”
Walz retired from the Minnesota Army National Guard in 2005 after 24 years of service. He then ran a successful congressional campaign and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007 as a representative for Minnesota.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks before President Biden at Dutch Creek Farm in Northfield, Minnesota, on November 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Abby Parr)
Kolb, in a social media post, said he would not comment on Waltz’s early retirement because “early retirement is his right,” but that he was misusing his retired rank of master sergeant.
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“By all accounts and records, he was a competent gunnery captain/gunnery sergeant and first sergeant. However, his performance while sitting in the CSM and serving in dress uniform does not reflect that. [command sergeant major] “Mr. Chairman, he has not earned the status of E9 and has not successfully completed his duties as an E9,” he said.
“He never earned the rank of E9 nor completed any missions as an E9,” Kolb said in a social media post. “His continued clinging to that title is an insult to the enlisted corps. You can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, but that doesn’t make you a pilot. Similarly, when the demands of the highest levels of service and leadership became a reality, he chose a different path.”
People take their seats before a rally with Vice President Kamala Harris and newly selected vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in Philadelphia on August 6, 2024. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
“His continued clinging to that title is an insult to the NCO corps,” Kolb continued. “You can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, but that doesn’t make you a pilot. Similarly, when the demands of the highest levels of service and leadership became a reality, he chose a different path.”
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In his post, Kolb named retired command sergeant major Thomas Berens, who replaced Waltz in the battalion after his retirement, and praised the veteran as a “great leader,” according to the Daily Mail.
“Thomas Behrens was the right leader at the right time. He made sacrifices to answer the call and entrusted his family, business and farming partner brothers with the training, guidance and care of his Soldiers. He earned the honor of being called Master Sergeant Major,” he wrote.
“Like any great leader, he ran to the gun, not away from it.”
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Behrens has been sounding the alarm about Walz’s military record since Harris first announced the Minnesota governor as her 2024 vice presidential candidate last week.
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appeared on stage together during a campaign event at Temple University’s Liacoras Center in Philadelphia on Aug. 6, 2024. Harris selected the 60-year-old Midwestern governor over other candidates, ending weeks of speculation about who her running mate would be. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
“He used a rank he never earned to further his political career,” Behrens told Fox News host Laura Ingraham last week. “He still says he’s a retired master sergeant, which he’s not. He’s using other people’s ranks to make himself seem like a better person than he is.”
Reports of Kolb’s Facebook post spread across social media, with President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., writing, “Battalion Commander Tim Waltz is totally at fault for his ‘stolen hero story.’ How long will the left wing media continue to ignore all of this?”
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The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about Kolb’s post.
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