Veterans who served with Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz in the National Guard criticized him on Monday over his service, calling him an “impersonator.”
Since Walz was announced as Kamala Harris‘ running mate, critics have scrutinized his military record and alleged that he has made misleading statements about his service with the National Guard. Figures including GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance have also accused Walz of “stolen valor” for calling himself a retired command sergeant major.
Walz served in Minnesota’s National Guard for 24 years, reaching the rank of command sergeant major, but that rank was later removed due to the failure to complete needed coursework. Walz’s title was then reduced to master sergeant.
Appearing in a Monday interview with Megyn Kelly, four National Guard veterans who served alongside Walz, Tom Behrends, Paul Herr, Tom Schilling, and Rodney Tow, spoke on and criticized Walz for his previous statements on his service.
In the in-depth hour-long interview, when asked by Kelly about Walz’s rank and “how does it make you feel,” Behrends took aim at the governor, calling him a “military impersonator.”
“You know this guy is a military impersonator with that…like you said he’s a retired command sergeant major, he said it so many times that it just makes a person sick hearing. Yeah the state of Minnesota said he can say he served as a command sergeant major, which he has never said ‘I served as a command sergeant major’, he blabs that he is a retired one,” Behrends said.
Herr then remarked that Walz is a “habitual liar” stating that “he lies about everything. He lies about stuff that doesn’t even make sense.”
“We have stolen valor [because] people make decisions that are cowardly, and they come back and they try to live vicariously by robbing…all the other soldiers of all the benefits…and all the sacrifices,” Herr added.
Newsweek has reached out to Walz’s campaign spokesperson and the Harris campaign via email for comment.
Minnesota Governor and 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz speaks at the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Convention at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center on August 28, 2024, in Boston, Massachusetts. Veterans who served with Walz in the National Guard criticized him on Monday over his service, calling him an “impersonator.”
Joseph Prezioso / AFP/Getty Images
In addition to Walz’s rank, critics have also alleged that Walz falsely claimed that he was deployed to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan as part of the National Guard.
Walz, who served with the Minnesota National Guard from 1981 to 2005, was sent overseas only once and not in a direct combat role. He then did not deploy to Iraq in 2005 as he decided to leave the Guard to pursue his political career.
When asked about Walz not deploying, Herr also aimed Walz, stating that not going into the trenches is a “morale crusher” and is “morally indefensible.”
However, some Democrats have also pushed back on the attacks including Democratic Representative Adam Smith, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.
When asked about the deployment, Smith pointed towards the timeline of when Walz decided to leave, adding that it is “an absolute lie” to claim Walz did not want to deploy.
“He decided to run for Congress in February. He got out of the military in May, and his unit was called up in July, and I believe didn’t deploy until, like, six months after that,” Smith told Kelly in a previous interview. “He did not get out of the National Guard because he didn’t want to deploy. To claim that is an absolute lie.”
The veterans’ comments come after Walz was asked in his joint interview with CNN on Thursday about his military service and a previous comment he made about carrying weapons “in war”, responding, “I said, we were talking about in this case—this was after a school shooting—the ideas of carrying these weapons of war and my wife the English teacher told me my grammar is not always correct. But again, if it’s not this, it’s an attack on my children for showing love for me, or it’s an attack on my dog.”
Walz added, “The one thing I’ll never do is I’ll never demean another member’s service in any way. I never have and I never will.” Walz was never in combat, and the Harris campaign previously commented that he “misspoke” when saying “in war.”
