Both Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) and Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) have distinguished military records. But clashes over the specifics of his years in the military were quickly sparked between his camps this week, after the vice presidential race was scheduled.
Vance, who served in the Marines, fired the first shot Wednesday at Walz, who served 24 years in the National Guard. The Republican presidential candidate accused his Democratic rival of “stolen valor” for abandoning service before being deployed to Iraq and claiming he served in a war.
“I wonder, Tim Walz, when have you been to war?” Vance said at a campaign stop in Michigan. “He hasn’t spent a day in a combat zone… I would be embarrassed if I were him and lied about my military service like he did.”
Vance appeared to be referring to a Walz clipthat the Harris campaign shared on social media, in which the governor says when talking about gun control: “We can ensure that these weapons of war, which I carried in war, are only carried in war.”
Walz did not serve in combat. The Hill has reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment. Walz’s defenders have pointed out that Vance admitted in his memoirs that he also never saw actual combat and that Walz never misrepresented his position.
Jacob Thomas, communications director and spokesman for the progressive veterans group Common Defense, said it was “strange and desperate” to attack a fellow veteran’s military record.
“That just doesn’t seem like a winning message,” he said. “We don’t need to spend this time beating each other up about things that don’t matter. We all serve. And like I said, frankly, this smacks of desperation.”
Walz and Vance stand out as veterans of the national tours, the former since the late Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) ran for president in 2008. Former President Trump avoided the military draft during the Vietnam War after being diagnosed with bone spurs, and Vice President Harris did not serve in the military.
Either man would be the first veteran to serve as president or vice president since President George W. Bush, a former lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard.
For Harris and Trump, choosing a veteran with a notable military record was likely a factor in selecting their vice presidential candidates, said Matt Bennett, executive vice president for public affairs at the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way.
“I think it was a factor, but not the factor,” Bennett said. “I don’t think Harris or Trump said, ‘We need a veteran.’ I think they said, ‘Oh, the fact that he’s a senior is definitely a positive.’”
Walz, who grew up in Nebraska, enlisted in the Army National Guard at age 17 to help pay for college after graduating from high school in 1982. During his years of service, he was deployed to Italy in support of US Army operations. US against terrorism in Afghanistan. He also responded to natural disasters such as floods and tornadoes on American soil.
Walz retired after 24 years at the rank of sergeant major and later became the highest-ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress when he won his first election in 2006. He would become the top Democrat on the House Committee on Security Affairs. Veterans.
“He knows our community better than many elected leaders, period, and has a track record of fighting on behalf of his fellow veterans,” Allison Jaslow, CEO of America’s Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistansaid of Walz’s time in Congress.
“He’s also someone I know from working on Capitol Hill,” she added. “Our organization has had a long relationship with Governor Walz. He was there fighting side by side with us for the post-9/11 GI Bill.”
Jaslow also told The Hill that Walz’s time in the National Guard gives him “a unique look at that component of our overall force in a way that many other elected leaders” don’t have, which she said could be valuable given the increase of the National Guard. responsibility on the southern border.
But less than a day after the announcement that Walz would join Harris on the Democratic ticket, attacks from the right came fast and furious.
Critics latched onto the fact that Walz left the army before his unit was deployed to Iraq, suggesting he withdrew to avoid serving in a war zone.
“When Tim Walz was invited by his country to go to Iraq, do you know what he did?” Vance said at the campaign event in Michigan. “He abandoned the Army and allowed his unit to function without him.”
And Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Florida) likened Walz’s departure from the National Guard to “a great team’s quarterback walking away from his team right before going to the Super Bowl.”
“I have never heard of a commander or sergeant major walking away from his unit before getting into range,” he said in a video posted on social platform X.
Kevin Poindexter, a Republican Party political strategist based in Minnesota, said he had “a lot of questions” about what he called deployment evasion.
“It’s going to make folks in the veteran community take a second look at what’s going on there,” he said. “Everyone followed their orders and served the country instead of [Walz who] headed for DC and left his troops alone in the process.
Supporters of Walz, who served in an artillery unit, which damaged his hearing, say he was preparing to run for Congress when he honorably retired from military service before his unit’s deployment.
Mark Mellman, a Democratic national strategist, said the attacks don’t “make any sense.”
“Are they sending people in their 40s to Iraq? I don’t think so,” he said. “The man served in the National Guard for [24] years, I don’t think anyone can reasonably say, ‘Well, you really had to make it to 28.'”
On a infographic circulated online by Vote Vets, a liberal veterans political group, the organization rejected the GOP’s accusations, saying Walz submitted his retirement application months before his unit’s deployment, which was fully equipped.
Critics also criticized Walz for his position, which he described throughout his political career as sergeant major. Although Walz was promoted to sergeant major while in service, he was demoted to sergeant major upon retirement since he did not complete certain training to maintain that rank. However, the National Guard approved the higher rank upon retirement because he served under it.
But the barbs hurled at Walz because of his service may be tempered by the fact that Vance himself never saw combat and the heavy criticism Trump has received for avoiding the military altogether.
Vance, who served in the Marines from 2003 to 2007 and was deployed to Iraq, said in his memoir that he never saw actual combat and that he worked in the public affairs department during his deployment.
“Let’s be clear, you served honorably, including 6 months in combat in a public affairs unit,” said Alexander Vindman, the Trump whistleblower and retired Army lieutenant colonel. wrote Wednesday on X.
“Walz retired after 24 years and achieved the rank of sergeant major. I don’t think you want to compare service records.”
Trump received four deferments during the education war and then a medical discharge for bone spurs, a diagnosis that New York Times report suggests it was “a favor”.
“He doesn’t understand what service is because he’s too busy taking care of himself,” Walz said of Trump at a campaign stop on Wednesday.
In a statement to The Hill, Harris’ campaign defended Walz’s record.
“After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired Veterans Affairs and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform – and as Vice President of the United States he will continue to be a relentless advocate for our veterans and military families,” the campaign said.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
