Tim Walz Accused Of Stolen Valor By Other Members Of His Unit

“You abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq,” Mr. Vance said.

Mr. Vance based his accusations on a Facebook post from 2018, and a paid letter to the editor to The West Central Tribune that same year in which the writers, Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr, both retired command sergeant majors in the Minnesota National Guard, accused Mr. Walz of “conveniently retiring a year before his battalion was deployed to Iraq.”

The criticisms were first leveled by Mr. Behrends and Mr. Herr during Mr. Walz’s first campaign for governor.

But Joseph Eustice, a 32-year veteran of the national guard who led the same battalion as Mr. Walz and served under him, said in an interview on Wednesday that the governor was a dependable soldier and that the attacks by his fellow comrades were unfounded.

“He was as good a soldier as you’d find, and to have two former sergeant majors say that he wasn’t, it’s just not true,” Mr. Eustice said, adding that he disagreed with Mr. Walz’s politics and most likely would not vote for him in November even though they were friends.

Mr. Eustice recalled that Mr. Walz’s decision to run for Congress came months before the battalion received any official notice of deployment, though he said there had been rumors that it might be deployed.
You mean a writer was paid for his work? Or are you lying about even that?

Are these:

Facebook post from 2018, and a paid letter to the editor to

supposed to be links? They lead to nothing, and this is not the first time I've seen that on your posts. Are you faking links? What a pathetic asshole.

Have fun in ignore land, Crusty.
 
Vance also accused Walz of feigning a record in active combat: "[Walz] said - and he was making a point about gun control - he said, ‘we shouldn't allow weapons that I used in war, to be on America's streets.' Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when you ever in war?"

The senator actually misquoted Walz in his screed. In the clip Vance was referencing, Walz says that he "carried" weapons in war, not "used." Given that Operation Enduring Freedom was a part of the post-9/11 War on Terror, and that Walz was deployed to Italy under it - and likely had a service weapon - the claim that he is engaging in "stolen valor" holds little water.

Vance spoke on Wednesday as if he served more honorably than Walz, noting that he went to Iraq "I did it, I did what they asked me to do and I did it honorably," he said The senator was deployed for six months in Iraq as a combat correspondent in 2005 as part of the Marines' Public Affairs office. He - like Walz - never engaged in active combat and has stated that he was "lucky to escape any real fighting," during his deployment.
 
Walz has spoken at length about his service in the past, and it's not the first time his political opponents have attempted to diminish his service. The claim that Walz abandoned his unit to avoid fighting in Iraq was leveled against him in 2018 and 2022, during his campaigns for the governorship and reelection, largely by former state Sen. Scott Jensen and Thomas Behrends - a former National Guardsman who was deployed to Iraq after Walz's retirement.

In 2022, former battalion commander Joseph Eustice, who served with Walz, told the Star Tribune that the accusations against Walz stemmed from ill-informed or "sour-grapes" soldiers who were passed over for promotions. "He was a great soldier," Eustice told the Tribune. "When he chose to leave, he had every right to leave … The man did nothing wrong when he chose to leave the service; he didn't break any rules."


In 2018, Al Bonnifield, who served under Walz in the Guard, told MPR News that Walz "talked with us for quite a while on that subject [of retiring]. He weighed that decision to run for Congress very heavy. He loved the military, he loved the Guard, he loved the soldiers he worked with."

Walz told the outlet that "once you're in, it's hard to retire. Of my 40 years or 41 years, I had been in the military 24 of them. It was just what you did … So that transition period was just a challenge."

"I know that there are certainly folks that did far more than I did. I know that," Walz added. "I willingly say that I got far more out of the military than they got out of me, from the GI Bill to leadership opportunities to everything else."

Twenty-four years of service is nothing to sneeze at, and Vance is running alongside a known draft dodger who has repeatedly disparaged veterans and Gold Star families. If Vance wants to critique a man's honor, he should start with his running mate.


 
I have seen no evidence of a "paid letter," but you are free to provide proof, or continue to slander real combat vets. Gosh, I wonder which you will choose . . .
“You abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq,” Mr. Vance said.

Mr. Vance based his accusations on a Facebook post from 2018, and a paid letter to the editor to The West Central Tribune that same year in which the writers, Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr, both retired command sergeant majors in the Minnesota National Guard, accused Mr. Walz of “conveniently retiring a year before his battalion was deployed to Iraq.”

The criticisms were first leveled by Mr. Behrends and Mr. Herr during Mr. Walz’s first campaign for governor.

But Joseph Eustice, a 32-year veteran of the national guard who led the same battalion as Mr. Walz and served under him, said in an interview on Wednesday that the governor was a dependable soldier and that the attacks by his fellow comrades were unfounded.

“He was as good a soldier as you’d find, and to have two former sergeant majors say that he wasn’t, it’s just not true,” Mr. Eustice said, adding that he disagreed with Mr. Walz’s politics and most likely would not vote for him in November even though they were friends.

Mr. Eustice recalled that Mr. Walz’s decision to run for Congress came months before the battalion received any official notice of deployment, though he said there had been rumors that it might be deployed.
I have seen no evidence of a "paid letter," but you are free to provide proof, or continue to slander real combat vets. Gosh, I wonder which you will choose . . .
“You abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq,” Mr. Vance said.

Mr. Vance based his accusations on a Facebook post from 2018, and a paid letter to the editor to The West Central Tribune that same year in which the writers, Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr, both retired command sergeant majors in the Minnesota National Guard, accused Mr. Walz of “conveniently retiring a year before his battalion was deployed to Iraq.”

The criticisms were first leveled by Mr. Behrends and Mr. Herr during Mr. Walz’s first campaign for governor.

But Joseph Eustice, a 32-year veteran of the national guard who led the same battalion as Mr. Walz and served under him, said in an interview on Wednesday that the governor was a dependable soldier and that the attacks by his fellow comrades were unfounded.

“He was as good a soldier as you’d find, and to have two former sergeant majors say that he wasn’t, it’s just not true,” Mr. Eustice said, adding that he disagreed with Mr. Walz’s politics and most likely would not vote for him in November even though they were friends.

Mr. Eustice recalled that Mr. Walz’s decision to run for Congress came months before the battalion received any official notice of deployment, though he said there had been rumors that it might be deployed.

Why lie?

They work.

bye


Swiftboaters Liars.
 
He'd be okay, but wouldn't persuade any conservatives to vote D...he's a gun controller.
LOL! We both know that the candidate that would persuade Conservatives to vote D does not exist. That's what make me laugh at all this...everyone has already made up their minds, no one is having any epiphanies--Right OR Left.

Kabuki politics...but entertaining. My point with Kelly is that it would have been quite hard to attack him credibly..while Walz is easier to talk shit about~
 
He was Command Sergeant Major and he told people he retired as a Master Sergeant "because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy."
Why doesn't it say that on his state webpage bio?

And the part in quotes is from Army Lieutenant Colonel Kristen Augé, the state public affairs officer for Minnesota National Guard -- NOT Walz.

You're lying now. Leftists just can't help but lie.
 
It's their politically biased opinion, nothing more.

I'll bet none of the "people who served with him" ever asked him that question. If he chose to run for political office that was his decision and only his decision...so you can mind your own damn business.
Walz could one day be President. His character IS our business. That you don't believe so speaks volumes about you -- and none of it complimentary.
 
Why doesn't it say that on his state webpage bio?

And the part in quotes is from Army Lieutenant Colonel Kristen Augé, the state public affairs officer for Minnesota National Guard -- NOT Walz.

You're lying now. Leftists just can't help but lie.
This surfaced ages ago during early campaign.. DO your homework troll
 
Walz could one day be President. His character IS our business. That you don't believe so speaks volumes about you -- and none of it complimentary.
His character is far better than a flipflopping ex-hillbilly or an adulterous liar.

The fact that in the 24-hours after his VP announcement Democratic voters like me poured in 36 million dollars to the campaign.
 
Walz could one day be President. His character IS our business. That you don't believe so speaks volumes about you -- and none of it complimentary.
Walz was and is a proven leader. People like you and creepy weirdo Vance fear him.

Character? Trump supporter arguing character? LOL

and Vance the fake hillbilly?

Too funny

The Prosecutor vs the Convicted Felon, Sexual Predator/Rapist
 

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