Tim Walz has been accused of lying about his military rank by his National Guard successor for ‘political gain,’ private letters have revealed.
Walz, who is currently serving as the Governor of Minnesota, joined the National Guard after high school and served 24 years in the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, rising to the rank of command sergeant major.
The now 60-year-old, who is Kamala Harris’s recently-announced running mate, retired in 2005 – months after being warned that the battalion would be deployed to Iraq.
Walz left to run for Congress, and he was elected to office in 2006.
Private letters addressed to Walz from his National Guard successor, Tom Behrends, from 2016 have accused the Governor of lying about his rank for political gain.
Tim Walz has been accused of lying about his military rank by his National Guard successor for ‘political gain,’ private letters have revealed
In April 2016, Behrends wrote ‘I can no longer remain silent concerning your rank.’
The letter goes on to accuse Walz of not fulfilling the conditions of his promotion to Command Sergeant Major – but continuing to use the title.
‘It is quite a title to have, when it has been earned,’ Behrends wrote. ‘I would hope that you haven’t been using the rank for political gain, but that is how it appears,’ he continued.
After receiving no response – Behrends wrote a follow-up letter to every chair of the committee he sat on in congress in October of the same year.
In the follow-up, Behrends said Walz’s actions were, in a sense, ‘stolen valor’ as he is using ‘the blood, sweat and tears of “real” Command Sergeant Majors who fulfilled their duties and followed through with the requirements of the rank.’
The battalion commander who ran Walz’s former unit has also slammed the vice presidential nominee over claims of ‘stolen valor’.
Kamala Harris’ running mate has already been forced to backtrack on claims of having ‘carried’ weapons of war in combat during his 24 years in the Army National Guard and faced claims of being a ‘coward’ from family members of soldiers.
Harris has also been put in the unenviable position of confronting claims that Walz misrepresented his rank when he retired from the National Guard.
Now Lieutenant Colonel John Kolb, the man who would take over Walz’s unit after the governor quit in 2005, has obliterated the Democrat for claiming the rank of Command Sergeant Major and for retiring before deployment to Iraq.
Walz, who is currently serving as the Governor of Minnesota , joined the National Guard after high school and served 24 years in the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, rising to the rank of command sergeant major
Private letters addressed to Walz from his National Guard successor, Tom Behrends(pictured during Fox interview), from 2016 have accused the Governor of lying about his rank for political gain
Kolb wrote in a Facebook post that Walz ‘did not earn the rank’ and added that ‘it is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title.’
Kolb continued: ‘By all accounts and on the record, he was a competent Chief of Firing Battery/Gunnery Sergeant and First Sergeant. I cannot say the same of his service sitting, frocked, in the CSM [command sergeant major] chair. He did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9 [the highest rank for non-commissioned officers].
‘It is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title.
‘I can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, it does not make me a pilot. Similarly, when the demands of service and leadership at the highest level got real, he chose another path.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk