Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz served in the U.S. National Guard for 24 years. He even re-enlisted after 9/11 to serve once again. Yet the circumstances around his retirement – and the way he has presented his military service since retiring – have caused an uproar over whether he has misled about his service.
Here are examples of Walz making a claim about his service that is not supported by the facts.
His Official Government Biography
As of this writing, Walz’s biography on the Minnesota government’s website says, “After 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Walz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005.”
Walz briefly held the position of command sergeant major as a conditional promotion, provided he adhered to several stipulations, including one that he serve a specific amount of time after that promotion, which Walz failed to do. Thus, his rank reverted back to what he was before that conditional promotion: Master sergeant, which is still rank E8 out E10 and a major accomplishment.
The Minnesota National Guard, for which Walz served, confirmed that at the time of his retirement in 2005, Walz was a master sergeant “for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”
His Official Vice Presidential Campaign Biography
Walz’s biography on Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign website originally said he was a “retired command sergeant major,” Politico reported. That bio now says he “served as a command sergeant major.”
Saying He’s A “Retired Sergeant Major” In An Interview
During an interview in 2018 while running for governor of Minnesota, Walz said he was “a retired sergeant major,” even though he is a retired master sergeant.
WATCH: More stolen valor from Kamala’s VP pick Tim Walz:
Tim Walz on August 10, 2018: “I’m a retired sergeant major.”
Fact check: Walz NEVER completed the coursework for the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. pic.twitter.com/fFUzQRyQ6e
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) August 8, 2024
Calling Himself A “Retired Command Sergeant Major” In An Address To Troops
In 2009, then-Rep. Walz sent a farewell message to soldiers deploying to Iraq, and called himself a “retired command sergeant major.”
2009. Congressman Tim Walz sends a farewell message to some soldiers actually deploying to Iraq.
In the message, Walz claims that he is a “retired Command Sergeant Major.”
Lying about one’s rank in a farewell message to soldiers deploying is about as dishonorable as it gets. pic.twitter.com/f7AIqPK8ky
— MAZE (@mazemoore) August 8, 2024
Telling People He Carried Weapons “In War”
Walz said in a video shared by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign that he supports limits to the Second Amendment. In the clip shared online, he says, “We can make sure that those weapons of war – that I carried in war – are the only place where those weapons are at.”
WATCH BEN SHAPIRO’S ‘SCAMALA: KAMALA HARRIS UNMASKED’ ON DAILYWIRE+
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, as a member of the military who specialized in artillery, would have experience with the weapons he is talking about, but he never carried them “in war” as he never saw combat. Even CNN correspondent Tom Foreman called out Walz’s misleading statement, which would seem to indicate he had been in combat.
“Walz did make a comment, speaking to a group — he’s done it a couple of times, where he has used language that suggested that he carried weapons in a fighting situation,” Foreman said on Wednesday, according to Fox News.
“There is a difference between being in a combat area, being involved in a time of war, and actually being in a position where people are shooting at you,” Foreman said, adding that there “is no evidence that at any time Governor Walz was in the position of being shot at, and some of his language could easily be seen to suggest that he was. So that is absolutely false when he said that about gun rights out there.”
Calling Himself An “Enduring Freedom Veteran” At A George. W. Bush Protest
In 2004, Walz organized a protest against then-President George W. Bush, The Washington Free Beacon reported. In a photo from that event, Walz can be seen holding a photo that says “Enduring Freedom Veterans for Kerry.” Operation Enduring Freedom is a reference to the War in Afghanistan that began after the September, 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S.
But Walz never went to Afghanistan – he was sent to Norway and Italy in roles supporting the Afghanistan War, yet the mention of OEF leads people to assume he was in Afghanistan, which he was not.
In 2009, an Iraq war veteran mentioned this photo to Walz staffers and used it to suggest Walz may have violated Stolen Valor laws.
Implying He Served In Afghanistan In His First Campaign Announcement
During his first campaign in 2006, in which he ran for congress, Walz’s announcement indicated he was a “veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom,” in another example of Walz implying he had been to Afghanistan.
Tim Walz’s VERY FIRST CAMPAIGN was built on a lie https://t.co/8Q5udHoZMs pic.twitter.com/CmDkwUtUJE
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) August 8, 2024
Saying He “Deployed In Support Of Operation Enduring Freedom” On C-SPAN
During an appearance on C-SPAN in 2007, Walz claimed he “deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom,” again implying he went to Afghanistan when he was actually in Italy.
STOLEN VALOR gets worse for Kamala Harris’ VP pick…
Here is @Tim_Walz on CSPAN back in 2007 on his military service:
“𝐈 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟐𝟒 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥-𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐦𝐚𝐧.
— Kylie Jane Kremer (@KylieJaneKremer) August 7, 2024
In Josh Green’s Articles Featuring Profiles Of Walz
In this example, it is unclear whether Walz is to blame for the misleading phrases, or the veteran Bloomberg reporter Josh Green. In a 2006 profile for the Atlantic, Green wrote that Walz left Minnesota “to serve overseas in Operation Enduring Freedom,” a clear implication that Walz went to Afghanistan.
Green also wrote that Walz was confronted by Bush staffers during his protest against the war, and said he had asked the Bush staffers if “they really wanted to arrest a command sergeant major who’d just returned from fighting the war on terrorism.”
And on Tuesday, Green wrote for Bloomberg that Walz served “in Iraq as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.” Bloomberg has since stealth edited the line to say that Walz had served in Italy instead of Iraq. Green posted the correction on his X account.
My Walz newsletter yesterday wrongly stated he’d served in Iraq — he didn’t. He served in Italy. My error. Story has been corrected online and on the terminal: https://t.co/H7ct8Rj7Yp https://t.co/r581UO90oc pic.twitter.com/yD3b8udiiR
— Joshua Green (JoshuaGreen.bsky.social on 🟦) (@JoshuaGreen) August 7, 2024
