Stolen Valor: The Many Lies of Tim Walz

The Kamala Campaign has a problem.

Kamala’s campaign faces its first real controversy. And it started soon after she picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.

After his selection, a tweet from @KamalaHQ featured a video of Walz falsely claiming that he served “in war.” This statement was made in a Minnesota town hall, a fabrication of his military history - stolen valor - to promote gun confiscation and the curtailment of Second Amendment rights.

The full quote from Walz: “We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are allowed.”

As we now know, Walz never served in war. As a member of the Minnesota National Guard, Walz deployed to Italy with his battalion (the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery) to help guard U.S. military interests “in support of Operation Enduring Freedom” – that is, the War in Afghanistan.

Walz wasn’t part of Operation Enduring Freedom and never served in Afghanistan or Iraq (more on that below), but that didn’t stop him from stealing that valor in 2004 when he protested then-President George W. Bush’s visit to Mankota, Minnesota. That’s Tim Walz on the right, representing himself as a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.

That image comes from Michael Brodkorb, who worked for the Minnesota GOP at the time. Not only does it prove that Walz was lying about his service, but it shows that Walz has been deceiving the public for years about his reasons for seeking public office.

His official story has always been that he was denied entry to the Bush speech, that he was “struck by how deeply divided our country was becoming that a veteran & a group of high schoolers would be turned away at the door. It was at this moment that I decided to run for office.” Walz made it out that he and some of his high school students showed up to the event because they “wished to hear directly from the President.” But that’s not exactly true - they didn’t show up to hear a speech (they may have tried to watch Bush after their protest), but they were primarily there to demonstrate.

Conveniently, the lies about Walz’s service in Afghanistan made its way to his official announcement for his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives back in 2006:

As he sought office in 2006, Walz would further benefit from misleading characterizations of his military service. Joseph Simonson of The Washington Free Beacon has an excellent write up of how that occurred. To summarize, Walz’s campaign press packet gave the impression that he served in Afghanistan. These materials included articles from the Wall Street Journal that said Walz “served overseas during the early war in Afghanistan.”

An article from The Atlantic in that same press packet reported that Walz had “just returned from fighting the war on terrorism” and labeled Walz as one of the “number of veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq” running for Congress.

As Simonson observed, Walz’s decision to include these inaccurate articles in his official press packet “adds to a growing pattern of incidents in which Walz either misrepresented his military service or promoted others’ misrepresentations of it.”

Walz - or, his office - was even confronted about the Operation Enduring Freedom and Afghanistan falsehoods back in 2009. (H/T CryptidPolitics on X.)

And while the media plays cover for Walz (Politico calls it a “Swift Boat” attack), CNN - to its credit - admits that Walz wasn’t telling the truth about his service:

Walz’s Retirement from the National Guard

Stolen valor isn’t the end of it. The man who lied about his service also left his battalion out to dry.

Towards the end of 2004 Walz, who had been recently promoted to Command Sergeant Major, and his battalion were informed that they would need to prepare for deployment to Iraq. Walz would inform his supervisors that he’d go on the mission.

In March of 2005, as part of his plan for Congress, he announced: “As Command Sergeant Major I have a responsibility not only to ready my battalion for Iraq, but also to serve if called on. I am dedicated to serving my country to the best of my ability, whether that is in Washington DC or in Iraq.”

That was false.

According to now-retired Command Sergeant Major Thomas Behrends, Walz would “quit” (or “retire”), “betraying his country, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war.”

Those who served with Walz in his former battalion aren’t fans. Thomas Behrends (read this amazing thread on the battalion’s service deployment in Iraq and the respect Behrends has from someone who served with him) had these choice words for Walz:

“He's used the rank that he never achieved in order to advance his political career. I mean, he still says he's a retired command sergeant major to this day, and he's not. He uses the rank of others to make it look like he's a better person than he is."

Tonight, this CNN ran this interview with Walz’s direct National Guard supervisor, Doug Julin, who states that Walz knew of the anticipated deployment months before his retirement and that Walz went around the chain of command to secure his retirement. Watch the whole thing.

Due to Walz’s retirement from service and his failure to complete the conditions attached to his promotion, Walz didn’t retire as a Command Sergeant Major; rather, Walz’s correct title was Master Sergeant. Public Affairs for the Minnesota National Guard has confirmed that fact, saying Walz retired as Master Sergeant “because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”

Yet that hasn’t stopped Walz from identifying himself as a Command Sergeant Major. He relishes the opportunity. It’s in his official State of Minnesota biography. It was in his biography as a Congressman (which said Walz retired “as Command Sergeant Major”). And Walz would freely use his false title in a number of public events and in his messages to the troops (video courtesy of the talented mazemoore on X).

Ironically, Walz would vote for the Stolen Valor Act of 2013 which criminalized similar conduct.

Recognizing the problems with these inaccuracies, the official Kamala/Walz website has tweaked his biography. No longer did he retire as Command Sergeant Major - he “served as Command Sergeant Major.” Please, somebody tell Walz.

That fix won’t solve anything - this issue isn’t going away. Expect new videos of Walz to emerge. Politicians can get away with a lot, Democrats especially. But stolen valor and lies about service are different. They trigger a type of emotional response, a revulsion and disgust at the most dishonorable of acts. Particularly among veterans and those with family who have served. And in a tight election, that might make the difference.

What’s next for Walz? We spelled out some of the known issues with the Minnesota Governor after he was announced: gender transitions for children, letting Minneapolis burn during the 2020 riots, his desire to make Minnesota a sanctuary state. But there might be more. We’ll leave you with this from Cernovich: