Information from the US Department of Defense shows that Tim Walz could not possibly have known before his retirement that his unit would be deployed.
It is unlikely that Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, knew his unit would receive mobilization orders shortly after his retirement in 2005, sources in the Minnesota National Guard told the Herald.
Since announcing that he would run alongside Vice President Kamala Harris on the party’s ticket, Walz has been heavily criticized for his decision to retire after 24 years of service in various National Guard units while his battalion was reportedly under orders to deploy or was about to receive orders, and for his use of the rank of “Command Sergeant Major” in his campaign messages.
According to several official sources within the MNG, however, Walz had already earned that rank and needed either the gift of prophecy or a time machine to use the deployment as an excuse to retire from the service. His retirement date in May 2005 came months before the 1st-125th Battalion, 1st Combat Brigade, learned of the mobilization and nearly a year before the unit actually deployed to Iraq, where its deployment was a historically long 22-month deployment.
According to Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, the MNG’s state press secretary, Walz served “from April 8, 1981, to May 16, 2005.” During that time, “he held several positions in the Field Artillery, including fire battery chief, operations sergeant, first sergeant, and capped his career as battalion command sergeant major.”
“Governor Walz served in the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, Minnesota National Guard after transferring from the Nebraska National Guard in 1996. While serving in Minnesota, his military occupational specialties were 13B – a gun crew member who operates and maintains cannons, and 13Z – master sergeant of field artillery. In Nebraska, he served as 11Z – master sergeant of infantry and as 71L – administrative specialist,” Augé said.
Walz’s official retirement date in May came nearly two full months before the 1-125 Field Artillery learned it would likely be mobilized. An official order was not issued until a month later, about 90 days after Walz left the service, according to information provided by Lt. Col. Ryan Rossman, the MNG’s director of operations.
“The 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, Minnesota National Guard received an alert order to mobilize to Iraq on July 14, 2005. The official mobilization order from the Department of the Army was received on August 14, 2005,” Rossman said.
The unit was mobilized on Oct. 12 – nearly five months after Walz left the service – and deployed in late March 2006 after training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, Rossman said. That’s a full 10 months after Walz returned to civilian life.
Any claims that Walz’s unit was warned of a possible deployment before the July 14 mobilization order are questionable, according to Defense Department officials, as they are merely repeated and misguided rumors from the barracks.
First, nearly every unit and member of the U.S. military faces a possible deployment in the future and is constantly training for that inevitability. Second, the U.S. Army’s current practice of officially informing a unit of an impending deployment via a “notification of procurement” was only instituted in 2009. In 2005, any indication of a unit’s possible mobilization that came out of U.S. military headquarters was considered unofficial and subject to change until the actual mobilization order was issued.
In addition, according to Col. Scott Rohweder, MNG chief of staff, Walz would have had to coordinate his plans with his unit commander in order to retire. There is no evidence that Walz’s commanding officer did anything to prevent or delay his request for retirement.
“We value all citizens who serve in our armed forces. Each soldier’s service path is unique and when they decide to leave the military, it is a personal decision. Less than 1 percent of Americans serve in our nation’s armed forces and an even smaller percentage reach retirement eligibility. We are grateful for citizens who commit to serving, whether under their first contract or for 20 years. When a soldier reaches 20 years of service, they can apply for retirement, even if they have time left on their contract. Their application will be reviewed and must be approved by leadership,” Rohweder told the Herald.
In addition, Walz had apparently returned home from a mobilization and deployment—the entire duration of which occurred while he was perfectly entitled to return his retirement papers—and the deployments ended just over a year before he began the process of leaving the military.
“Governor Tim Walz was mobilized on August 3, 2003 with the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, Minnesota National Guard, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The battalion supported security missions at various locations in Europe and Turkey. Governor Walz was stationed in Vicenza, Italy during his deployment. He returned to Minnesota in April 2004,” said Augé.
His retirement announcement also came after his years of service in the artillery resulted in “bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus,” according to a medical committee Walz was brought before in 2002 for his injuries. Walz had to undergo ear surgery to insert artificial bones in 2005.
Further allegations that Walz misrepresented his rank are also unfounded, according to MNG. Walz did indeed wear the stripes of a Command Sgt. Major on the day he officially took off his uniform for the last time, but because he was unable to complete the 750 hours of coursework required to meet the conditions of Army Regulation 600-8-19 before retiring, he cannot be paid the retirement bonus for that rank.
“He retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for retirement reasons because he had not completed additional courses at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy,” Augé said.
All of this contradicts claims to the contrary made by Republican vice presidential candidate and U.S. Senator JD Vance, who himself served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps and claims that Walz is misrepresenting his military service.
“Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not,” Vance said last Wednesday. “I would be ashamed to say that I lied about my military service like you did.”
Originally published:
