WASHINGTON — Democratic candidate for vice president Tim Walz Served in the National Guard for 24 years, rose through the ranks of the conscripts and was honorably discharged. It’s a file seen as one of his political strengths. Republicans are trying to turn it into a weakness.
They have drawn criticism from former National Guard members who criticized Walz, the Minnesota governor, for coming out of retirement in 2005 to run for Congress, shortly before his unit was deployed to Iraq, and for exaggerating the rank he held after leaving the service. They have also pointed to a comment Walz made that implied he had seen combat when he had not.
It’s a risky strategy for Republicans that has drawn comparisons between Walz, who served decades in the military, and former President Donald Trump, who receive a series of postponements to prevent him from serving in Vietnam. One of those attempts was made with a letter from a doctor stating that he had bony spurs in his feet.
Walz’s supporters reject such criticism as politically motivated and a disparaging critique of the sacrifices he and other troops have made. The Kamala Harris-Walz campaign has defended his record, saying he has been “a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform.”
The criticism is not so much about Walz’s record, but rather about the way he described his time in uniform and how he ended his term.
An Associated Press analysis of Walz’s statements as a candidate for Congress, as a congressman and as governor shows that Walz has been alternately precise and careless about key details.
A look at the findings
“I am a retired sergeant major,” Walz said 2006 as he campaigned to defeat the six-term Republican senator in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District.
That statement was not true.
Walz briefly served as a command sergeant major, but that was not the rank he held when he retired. That distinction — serving as a command sergeant major but not retiring in that position — may seem small to civilians. To those in uniform, it is not.
Rank is revered in the military. Known as an E-9 in military jargon, a command sergeant major is the pinnacle of performance in the army corps.
“There’s a reason there’s so much fear among military personnel that’s perhaps lost on the general population,” said retired Minnesota Army National Guard Col. John Kolb. “The rank of command sergeant major, that E-9 rank, is sacred. It’s rare.”
By military standards, Walz’s 24 years of service are substantial. He could have retired almost three years earlier. But it is the circumstances surrounding his retirement and how it coincided with his political ambitions that have drawn attention.
In January 2005, Walz attended a boot camp in Minnesota for people interested in a career in progressive politics. A month later, Walz announced that he was considering a run for Congress. Walz’s battalion was notified of a possible deployment to Iraq.
In a press release from his campaign, Walz said he would remain in the race for Congress, “whether I’m in Minnesota or Iraq.” Less than two months later, on May 16, 2005, Walz retired from the National Guard.
Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, seized on a comment Walz made in a 2018 video posted on social media in which Walz said, “weapons of war that I carried in the war.” Vance, who served as a corporal in the Marine Corps, accused Walz of lying about being in a war zone when he had never been there.
Harris’ campaign said Walz “defeated” himself in the video and “made the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms.”
Walz and other Guard soldiers were deployed to Italy in 2003 to secure the base in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the Pentagon’s name for the war in Afghanistan.
For many Democrats, the Republican attacks on Walz are an eerie repeat of the tactics they used to smear their 2004 presidential candidate, John Kerry, by questioning Kerry’s leadership as a swift-boat commander in Vietnam.
But the effort to turn Walz’s National Guard credentials into a political liability may remind voters that Trump never joined the military and has previously expressed contempt for those who did serve, according to a 2020 report. Trump has denied the claim.
Vance was deployed to Iraq as a military journalist. After four years, he left the Army for college and later a career in venture capital and as a bestselling author.
Walz’s supporters dismiss the criticism as politically motivated attacks that belittle the sacrifices he and other troops have made.
Harris’ campaign said in a statement that Walz “has been a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform — and as vice president of the United States, he will continue to be a tireless champion for our veterans and military families.”