During Tim Walz’s own 2005 campaign for Congress, the then-candidate touted that he would go to Iraq if deployed, but Walz later famously left the National Guard to avoid deployment, according to information obtained by The Washington Post.
The March 2005 press release made no mention of Waltz’s impending retirement at the time and came well before local media reported on Waltz’s possible deployment.
Instead, the congressman’s campaign said that while he was in the National Guard at the time, he would go to Iraq if called upon, but added that he was committed to continuing his campaign.
“While his duties in Iraq may overlap with his campaign work for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, Walz is committed to continuing his campaign,” the campaign said in a statement.
Democrats claim Walz told the National Guard he wanted to retire in 2004. press release He made no mention of any such plans, and instead appeared to be trying to garner support for the possibility of being sent to war.
The campaign announcement quoted Waltz as saying, “As Command Sergeant Major, I am responsible for not only preparing the battalion for Iraq, but also deploying when called upon. Whether in Washington, D.C. or Iraq, I am committed to serving my country to the best of my ability.”
The press release suggests that Waltz was playing two-faced: trying to draw attention away from his military service, but not intending to serve long enough to go to Iraq, critics say.
He surprised his battalion members by deciding to resign just before the deployment, a sticky situation that has become the crux of a controversy since the Minnesota governor became Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ running mate.
Waltz retired from the National Guard in May 2005, just two months after the press release was issued, after his unit had reportedly received mobilization and “stop-loss” orders in July 2005, meaning he could no longer be excused from military service for reasons other than illness.
His unit, the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, was reportedly mobilized in October of that year and deployed to Iraq in late March 2006.
Waltz’s unit spent 17 months in Iraq and suffered three casualties.
Waltz served 24 years in the Nebraska National Guard from 1981 to 1996 and the Minnesota National Guard from 1996 to 2005, but never saw combat and only deployed to Italy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Afghanistan war and Norway in support of NATO.
Thomas Berens, a former Minnesota National Guard sergeant major who was tasked with preparing the 1-125th Battalion’s 500 soldiers for combat following Waltz’s retirement, told The Washington Post that Waltz acted underhandedly and “without anyone knowing” by submitting his retirement paperwork to a higher-ranking official.
Waltz’s hasty retirement from the military when pressured to serve in the Iraq War — a war he made a major part of his House campaign — is just one of many controversies surrounding how Kamala Harris’s running mate has portrayed his military record.
Walz has come under fire in recent weeks for comments he made while serving as a senior sergeant in the National Guard.
The rank was recently removed from his biography on the Harris-Waltz campaign website, but was ultimately stripped at the time of his discharge after he failed to complete the necessary coursework for promotion. Waltz was demoted to sergeant major upon discharge.
The Minnesota governor has also faced accusations that he “stole bravery” from combat veteran and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance over his portrayal of his time in the National Guard.
“What bothers me about Tim Waltz is this rubbish story of stolen heroism. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not,” Vance, a Marine Corps veteran, said earlier this month. “I’d be embarrassed if I were him and lied about my military service like he did.”
Harris’ campaign acknowledged last week that Walz had “misrepresented” his military service in 2018 when he suggested he had served in combat.
“We can confirm that the weapons of war that I carried in the war are the only place those weapons are kept,” Waltz said. He said this while calling for stricter gun control.
On Tuesday, Walz told an audience at Tulane University in Louisiana, referring to recent attacks on his exaggerated military record.[s] Never belittle someone else’s work record.
