Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, has come under fire from former military colleagues for allegedly ducking out on a deployment to Iraq in 2005.
Walz, who was just announced Tuesday as Harris’ running mate, is already being touted by liberal media outlets, including Newsweek, as “the longest-serving military veteran to be a vice presidential nominee.”
The 60-year-old served 24 years in the Army National Guard, where he reached the rank of command sergeant major.
The Newsweek account included praise from retired Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who wrote on X that those who reach that rank “know what they’re doing.”
“They uphold standards. They speak their minds to all ranks (private to generals). They’re not afraid of getting bad news because they know how to fix things when they go wrong …
Trending:
“While I don’t know the details of @GovTimWalz career wearing the cloth of our country, just the fact that he volunteered to serve and wore the CSM rank tells me a lot about him.”
However, at least some of those who do know Walz and who served in the military with him raised questions about his actions when it came time for his unit to deploy.
In September 2022, when Walz was running for re-election as governor, independent Minnesota news outlet Alpha News quoted retired Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Julin as saying, Walz “abandoned his soldiers” in 2005.
Julin, who retired from the Minnesota National Guard in 2012 with 35 years of service, described “a backdoor deal” that allowed Walz to skip his unit’s deployment to Iraq.
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He said Walz insisted early in 2005 that he would be going on the deployment, despite talk of running for Congress.
Julin told Alpha News that Walz confirmed “I’m going forward” with the deployment.
“Then out of nowhere in June of 2005, Tom Behrends is there as the new CSM,” Julin recalled.
“Julin said he was most upset with how it was handled because Walz didn’t come to him as brigade command sergeant major, the position he held at the time,” Alpha News reported.
“He went around my authority to get out of the position. I probably would have told him, ‘No, you’re going on the deployment,’” Julin told the outlet.
“As soon as the shots were fired in Iraq, he turned and ran the other way and hung his hat up and quit,” said Tom Behrends, a retired command sergeant major who replaced Gov. Tim Walz on a deployment to Iraq.https://t.co/WthN26TnSc
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) August 6, 2024
Julin told Alpha News that Walz’ pulling out of the deployment “set a tone.”
“Soldiers are thinking, ‘What does he know that I don’t know?’ That’s the kind of message it sends,” he told Alpha News.
“I don’t know anybody that wanted to go to war then, but we went because we were tasked to do it,” Julin added.
Julin told the outlet that Walz “uses the military to promote himself when he abandoned his soldiers.
“He let the soldiers down. How can you be entrusted to be the governor of Minnesota when if something is not to your liking, you quit or you serve yourself and not others?”
Tom Behrends, the man who replaced Walz on the deployment, told KSTP-TV in a 2022 interview that Walz was conditionally promoted to command sergeant major in September 2004.
“After a few weekend Guard drills and being notified we were going to war, he quit in May of 2005. What kind of leader does that?”
Tim Walz ‘embellished’ military career ‘for years,’ dropped from National Guard unit ahead of Iraq deployment https://t.co/uENnPDkFBU pic.twitter.com/WooALalHcC
— New York Post (@nypost) August 6, 2024
Behrends told Alpha News in a September 2022 video interview that Walz “abandoned us.”
“I mean, what the hell kind of leader does that?” Behrends said.
“As soon as the shots were fired in Iraq, he turned and ran the other way and hung his hat up and quit.”
“It’s stolen valor is really what it is,” Behrends said of Walz’ actions.
In response to the retired soldier’s remarks, Walz told KSTP at a 2022 event dedicating a Medal of Honor memorial, “I don’t know if Tom [Behrends] just disagrees with my politics or whatever, but my record speaks for itself, and my accomplishments in uniform speak for itself, and there’s many people in this crowd, too, that I served with.”
“It’s just unfortunate.”
