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Pete Buttigieg reacts to Vance's comments on Walz's military service
Tim Walz - Wikipedia
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Military service
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Walz during Army Basic Training, 1981
With his father's encouragement, Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard the day after he turned 17.[4][13] His father had served in the Korean War and paid for his education degree with the G.I. Bill,[13] and he wanted his son to have the same opportunity.[13]
Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years after enlisting in 1981.[32] During his military career, he had postings in Arkansas, Texas, the Arctic Circle, New Ulm, Minnesota, Italy, and elsewhere.[32] He trained in heavy artillery.[32] During his service, he worked in disaster response postings following floods and tornadoes and was deployed overseas.[32] In 1989, he earned the title of Nebraska Citizen-Soldier of the Year.[33][34][35]
In 2001, Walz completed the 20 years of service needed for retirement from the Guard, but he reenlisted after the September 11, 2001 attacks.[36] In August 2003, Walz deployed with the Minnesota National Guard to Vicenza, Italy, for nine months to serve with the European Security Force as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.[37][38][39] Walz attained the rank of command sergeant major near the end of his service[40] and briefly was the senior enlisted soldier of 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery Regiment.[41] His decorations included the Army Commendation Medal and two Army Achievement Medals.[42][43]
In February 2005, Walz submitted official documents to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.[44] In March, the National Guard announced a possible deployment to Iraq within the next two years for Walz's battalion.[45] Walz publicly said he would deploy if called upon.[46] He retired from military service in May 2005, and Fox News reported that the Minnesota National Guard told them Walz had submitted his retirement papers five to seven months before he retired.[37][45][47] He later explained that he wanted to focus on his campaign for Congress and did not want to violate the Hatch Act, which forbids some political activities by federal government employees.[44][45]
During his political career, Republicans, notably Donald Trump Jr., Charlie Kirk, and Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance, have used the timing of his military retirement as a smear campaign that has been compared to swiftboating.[45][48][49] A National Guard colleague, Joe Eustice, recalled that at the time Walz retired, his unit's deployment was only a "rumor" and not yet confirmed, while his enlisted superior, Doug Julin, said that Walz bypassed his retirement approval, instead receiving retirement approval from two higher-ranked officers.[50][51][52] The Minnesota National Guard confirmed that Walz retired two months before his unit was officially notified in July 2005 of its future deployment to Iraq; it deployed in March 2006.[36][53]
Walz was trained on, carried, and used weapons of war when the U.S. was at war, but he did not deploy to an active combat zone during his service.[54] At a meeting about reducing gun violence in 2018, Walz argued for some kinds of reform and said "We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at."[55] Responding to the phrase "carried in war", Vance noted that Walz hadn't served in combat and accused him of “stolen valor”.[36][56] The Harris campaign responded that Walz “misspoke”.[55]
Though he was a command sergeant major at the time of his retirement, Walz's final military rank for retirement benefit purposes is master sergeant, as he had not completed the required academic coursework to remain a command sergeant major by his final day of service. The downgrade of one rank was effective from the day before his military retirement.[32][44] A public affairs officer for the Minnesota National Guard in 2018 said it was "legitimate for Walz to say he served as a command sergeant major", while Walz's former battalion commander, John Kolb, described his usage of the title as "frocking".[57] A reference to Walz on his official campaign website as a "retired command sergeant major" was later updated to read he "once served at the command sergeant major rank".[5
