Rank Has The Weight Of Responsibility

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been tapped for the Vice President position for the Democrat Party by presidential candidate Kamala Harris. As soon as this was announced, members of the Minnesota National Guard wasted no time hitting the airwaves. Tim Walz served 24 years in the Minnesota National Guard and retired at the rank of (E8) Master Sergeant. 

Interviews with former service members of the Minnesota Guard were peppered with terms like deserter, fraud, and Stolen Valor. In the months prior to the Guard Unit's orders to deploy to Iraq in 2005, Tim Waltz put in his papers and retired from the National Guard. Walz was in the temporary position of (E9) Command Sergeant Major, a key figure within the Guard. Walz needed to remain in that position for two more years and complete a CSM course, to make the rank permanent.

Instead, once the word came down for the Unit to get ready to deploy to Iraq, pending specific orders that would arrive months later, Tim Walz took off and quit, leaving the Guard hanging without a CSM, the highest-ranking enlisted man in any military unit, a crucial position. Walz retired at the permanent rank of an (E8 pay grade) Master Sergeant to avoid going to Iraq. If he had stayed, he would have retired at the CSM (E9 pay grade).

Tim Walz jumped into politics, and in campaign speeches claimed he was a retired CSM, that he had carried weapons in war. He stated that he had deployed to Iraq and had seen a soldier’s body loaded onto a plane at Bagram Airfield in Iraq, but Bagram is in Afghanistan, not Iraq.

This is why active and former military take extreme exception to false claims of valor, for lies about valor are the ultimate lie, a disgrace that must be exposed and held accountable; such statements and claims are a Federal crime. 

The Stolen Valor Act of 2013, claims of service, awards, rank, and combat for gain are fraud, subject to fines and punishment. Tim Walz claims of valor is a crime. This reveals the character of this individual - if he will lie about his military service, what else will he lie about?

*Newsweek, Was Tim Walz Deployed to Bagram Airfield? Here Are the Facts, by Tom Norton, 13 August 2024. 

Note: Author served in U.S. Army, 1972-77.