Tim Walz, the newly minted vice president candidate, is now facing a growing controversy surrounding his military service. Walz served in the Minnesota National Guard but it’s now been revealed that he left his unit when he was told he would be deployed to Iraq. He received a demotion as a result.
Walz’s moment came when his unit received orders to deploy to Iraq. Matt Funicello explains that Walz’s enlistment was cut short when he asked for an early retirement. He was administratively demoted to one rank for violating his promise to complete the training course.
Walz enrolled to improve his professional prospects and get better benefits. Vance, on the other hand, was the ultimate volunteer. He chose a service that he knew could lead to deployment to Iraq. Vance went to Iraq when he was ordered. Walz, his senior noncommissioned officer, quit his job and sent his men to Iraq when he was ordered there.
Men who served alongside Walz have already come forward to voice their dissatisfaction with his decision. Here’s one example.
Here I am on our Iraq deployment with the Minnesota Army National Guard, the very same deployment @Tim_Walz bailed on. https://t.co/FNEhq3FHFM pic.twitter.com/unfNptN2Oi
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) August 7, 2024
Walz’s decision to abandon his men so that he could pursue a career in politics was bad enough. But I wouldn’t call it a scandal. Later, a video emerged of Walz claiming valor and stealing it by saying he had been to war. Ironically, the official Kamala campaign account posted it on social media.
Gov. @Tim_Walz: I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war,… pic.twitter.com/3IVaXi2RP2
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 6, 2024
WALZ: The NRA can give me a good kick in the shin. I served 25 years in the Army, and I hunt. And I returned the money. Tell me what you have done. I’ve voted for common-sense legislation to protect the Second Amendment. But we can also do background checks. We can study the effects of gun violence. We can ensure that the weapons used are only used in war.
Harris-Walz’s supporters immediately responded by claiming that it was a simple slip of the mouth. They claimed that he had spoken off-the-cuff, and was merely referring to his general service in the military, without necessarily claiming he went to war, (despite saying so).
If that were the end, then maybe that excuse would have been enough. But that’s not all. Jordan Schachtel’s bombshell report, released on Wednesday afternoon, has brought this scandal to the forefront.
Wow, this is wild. (Also OEF was Afghanistan, NOT Iraq.)
Walz should be forced to confirm or deny whether he misled Bloomberg’s @JoshuaGreen, who is still reporting to this day that Walz did a tour in Iraq.
And Green should come out and say whether he was misled.
This is false… https://t.co/CmDrwyJBxR pic.twitter.com/30MpUhpCut
— Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) August 7, 2024
Green talks about a visit by former President George W. Bush in 2004 to the state of Georgia. Walz’s hometown. A protesting Walz, who was still in the military at the time, told the reporter that he demanded to speak with the then commander-in-chief.
Green writes that “Walz paused for a second and asked Bush staffers whether they wanted to arrest an ex-command sergeant who had just returned from the war against terrorism.”
Schatchel points out in his article that the first mention of Walz being in Iraq may have been Joshua Green the reporter who wrote the profile. This assumption could be the reason for the initial mention. It would be strange given the high standards of editorial at such a publication, but at least it’s possible that Walz didn’t inform Green about his service in Iraq.
But what about the second mention? This one can’t be explained by saying that an overzealous journalist just fell off his skis. Green is describing exactly what Walz said to him about his supposed refusal to enter a George W. Bush event in 2004. (This claim appears to have been largely invented, but this is another story.) There is no other logical reason.
Green, now working for Bloomberg, is still of the opinion that Walz was in Iraq. He made the same claim the day Harris chose the governor as her running mate. This does not read like an assumption made by a journalist. Walz appears to have told Green this.
Green still believes that Walz fought and served in the war. He wrote in a Bloomberg article on Tuesday that Walz had served “in Iraq, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.”
Tim Walz, who was marketed as an upstart veteran politician, created a false concept that implied heroism during the war on terror. In reality, Walz had never been in or near a conflict.
Walz’s scandal won’t go away. From what I hear, these are just the first of many revelations about his career. I don’t whether the Harris campaign did not bother to vet Walz or if they just were arrogant. But there is a lot more coming.
