A former member of the National Guard unit in which Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz once served slammed Walz’s actions in leaving the unit.
Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends sounded off in 2022 as Walz, now the Democratic Party’s vice presidential candidate, was in the middle of his successful campaign to be re-elected governor of Minnesota.
“He abandoned us,” Behrends said in an interview with Alpha News posted to YouTube.
“I mean, what the hell kind of a 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.”
Walz spent 24 years in the National Guard, according to USA Today, beginning with the Nebraska National Guard in 1981. He then served in the Minnesota National Guard from 1996 to 2005. Walz has said he re-enlisted in the Guard after the 9/11 attacks.
In an extensive 2018 Facebook post, Behrends and fellow retired Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Herr said, Walz “has embellished and selectively omitted facts and circumstances of his military career for years.”
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In the post, they alleged, “In early 2005, a warning order was issued to the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, which included the position he was serving in, to prepare to be mobilized for active duty for a deployment to Iraq.”
They wrotee, Walz said he would go on the mission, but “it appears that was a lie”
“On May 16th, 2005 he quit, betraying his country, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war,” they wrote.
The post said Walz did not need to quit to run for Congress, but the two men wrote that Walz “slithered out the door.”
The post said that if Walz’s story is to be believed, the four-year hitch he said he signed up for, which they claimed was actually six years, would have expired on Sept. 18, 2005.
“Why then did he ‘retire’ on May 16th, 2005, before his supposed four-year enlistment was up? And he makes it sound like he ‘retired’ a year before his battalion deployed to Iraq; when in reality he knew when he ‘retired’ that the battalion would be deployed to Iraq,” they wrote.
“The bottom line in all of this is gut wrenching and sad to explain. When the nation called, he quit.” they wrote.
“He failed his country. He failed his state. He failed the Minnesota Army National Guard, the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, and his fellow Soldiers. And he failed to lead by example,” they wrote.
“On top of that he failed to uphold the seven Army Values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. Traitorous, fraudulent, and shameful.”
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio condemned Walz over the allegations.
“I mean, your job as a senior enlisted guy in a unit is to keep your people safe. That’s not a job you can switch out of on a moment’s notice. So if he abandoned his troops before they went to Iraq or wherever … absolutely shameful,” Vance said, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
