A man who served under Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) in the Army National Guard is backing the vice presidential candidate’s service record, claiming Walz made the decision to retire before his unit received deployment orders.
Al Bonnifield, who served 22 years in the Minnesota National Guard, told NewsNation’s Joe Khalil that Walz, like many of the men in his unit, suspected they might be deployed soon but received no such official order when he decided to retire.
“He told us he wanted to run for Congress and he was in a difficult situation because he was sure we were going to go to Iraq,” Bonnifield said. “We had no orders. We haven’t had any kind of requests.”
Bonnifield added that Walz struggled with the decision and spoke with his fellow soldier for 30 to 45 minutes about “’what do I do? Where can I be a better person to the soldier? Where can I be a better person for Minnesota? Where can I be a better person for America?’”
Others who served with Walz said similar things.
Joe Eustice, who served with Walz for years, said The Washington Post that although he disagreed with the governor’s policy, he did not avoid combat duty and was a good soldier. At the time Walz left the unit, Eustice told the station there was only speculation that the unit might be deployed.
“In addition to there being a rumor, we were not notified that we would be deployed,” Eustice told the Post.
Republicans on Wednesday attacked Walz, who served 24 years in the National Guard, for leaving the service before deploying to Iraq.
“When Tim Walz was invited by his country to go to Iraq, do you know what he did?” Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio), former President Trump’s running mate, said at the campaign event in Michigan. “He abandoned the Army and allowed his unit to function without him.”
But Bonnifield strongly rejected the claim that Walz abandoned his unit, calling it “wrong” and “bulls.”
And after Walz retired, Bonnifield said there was “a little bit of remorse” in the unit, given that he trained many of them over a decade.
“He was our go-to person. He had the answers. He was also a father figure to us. If we had a problem we needed to talk to someone, he was there.”
Walz would later contact Bonnifield and his brother and have the two meet to discuss ways to better promote veterans affairs issues in Congress, he said.
Walz would later become the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
