(The Hill) — Both Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D-Ohio) and Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) pride themselves on their outstanding military accomplishments, but their camps quickly clashed this week over the details of their years in the armed forces after the vice presidential nominees were announced.
Vance, who served in the Marines, fired his first shot Wednesday at Walz, who served 24 years in the National Guard. The Republican presidential candidate accused his Democratic rival of “stolen valor” for leaving the service before a deployment to Iraq and claiming he had served in a war.
“I wonder, Tim Walz, when have you ever been to war?” Vance said at a campaign rally in Michigan. “He never spent a single day in a combat zone… I would be ashamed if I were in his shoes and he would lie about my military service.”
Vance was apparently referring to a Clip by Walzwhich the Harris team shared on social media. In it, the governor says in a speech on gun control: “We can ensure that the weapons of war that I carried in war are only carried in war.”
Walz did not participate in combat. The Hill has reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment. Walz supporters have pointed out that Vance admitted in his memoirs that he, too, never participated in actual combat and that Walz never misrepresented his rank.
Jacob Thomas, communications director and spokesman for the progressive veterans group Common Defense, said it was “strange and desperate” to attack the military service of a fellow veteran.
“That just doesn’t sound like a compelling message,” he said. “We don’t need to spend this time berating each other over unimportant things. We all served. And like I said, frankly, that just reeks of desperation.”
Walz and Vance are veterans on national lists, the first since the tardy Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) ran for president in 2008. Former President Trump famously evaded the draft during the Vietnam War after being diagnosed with bone spurs, and Vice President Harris did not serve in the military.
Either man would be the first veteran since President George W. Bush, a former lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard, to serve as president or vice president.
For Harris and Trump, choosing a veteran with a distinguished military record was likely a factor in selecting their vice presidential running mate, says Matt Bennett, vice chairman of public affairs at the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way.
“I think it was a factor, but not the factor,” Bennett said. “I don’t think Harris or Trump said, ‘We need a veteran.’ I think they said, ‘Oh, the fact that he’s a veteran is definitely a positive.'”
Walz, who grew up in Nebraska, enlisted in the Army National Guard at age 17 to pay for college after graduating high school in 1982. During his years of service, he was deployed to Italy to support U.S. counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan. He also responded to natural disasters such as floods and tornadoes on American soil.
Walz retired after 24 years and rose to the rank of command sergeant major. He later became the highest-ranking enlisted man to ever serve in Congress when he won his first election in 2006. He later became the top Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
“He knows our community better than many elected officials, period, and he has a proven track record of advocating for the interests of his fellow veterans,” said Allison Jaslow, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of Americasaid about Walz’s time in Congress.
“I also know him from my work on Capitol Hill,” she added. “Our organization has a long relationship with Governor Walz. He fought side by side with us for the GI Bill after 9/11.”
Jaslow also told The Hill that Walz’s time in the National Guard gave him “a unique perspective on this part of our entire military that many other elected officials lack,” which she said could be valuable given the National Guard’s increased responsibilities on the southern border.
But less than a day after the announcement that Walz would join Harris on the Democratic ticket, attacks from the right followed quickly and fiercely.
Critics point out that Walz left the Army before his unit was deployed to Iraq and say he announced his resignation to avoid deployment to a war zone.
“Do you know what Tim Walz did when his country asked him to go to Iraq?” Vance said at the campaign rally in Michigan. “He left the Army and let his unit go without him.”
And Republican Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida compared Walz’s departure from the National Guard to “the quarterback of a major team who leaves his team just before the Super Bowl.”
“I have never heard of a commander or sergeant major leaving his unit before going into the field,” he said. said in a video posted on social platform X.
Kevin Poindexter, a Minnesota-based Republican political strategist, said he had “a lot of questions” about what he called a troop deployment evasive maneuver.
“It will seriously make people in the veterans community take another look at what is going on there,” he said. “They all followed their orders and served the country instead of [Walz who] headed for DC, abandoning his troops.”
Supporters of Walz, who served in an artillery unit and suffered hearing loss as a result, say he was preparing to run for Congress when he honorably discharged from the military before his unit’s deployment.
Mark Mellman, a Democratic national strategist, said the attacks made “no sense.”
“Do they send people in their mid-40s to Iraq? I don’t think so,” he said. “The man served in the National Guard for [24] years, I don’t think anyone can reasonably say, “Well, you really should have been there for 28 years.”
In a Infographic spread on the Internet Vote Vets, a liberal political veterans group, rejected the Republicans’ allegations, saying Walz submitted his retirement application months before his unit was deployed, which was already at full capacity.
Critics have also criticized Walz for his rank, which he has claimed throughout his political career as a sergeant major. “I am a retired sergeant major in the Army and Army National Guard,” he said. told a group of voters in 2018.
During his service, Walz was promoted to Command Sergeant Major, but before his retirement he was demoted to Master Sergeant because he had not completed certain training required to maintain that rank.
“[Walz] “He held several positions within the field artillery, including fire battery chief, operations sergeant, first sergeant and capped his career as battalion command sergeant major,” Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, a Minnesota National Guard spokeswoman, told Minnesota Public Radio.
“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.”
The barbs hurled at Walz for his military service may be tempered by the fact that Vance himself was never deployed and Trump has been heavily criticized for his complete avoidance of military service.
Vance, who served in the Marines from 2003 to 2007 and was stationed in Iraq, stated in his memoirs that he never took part in actual combat and worked in the public affairs department while stationed there.
“To be clear, you served honorably, including six months of combat duty in a public affairs unit,” said Alexander Vindman, the Trump whistleblower and retired Army lieutenant colonel. wrote Wednesday on X.
“Walz retired after 24 years and attained the rank of Command Sergeant Major. I don’t think you want to compare service records.”
Trump received four deferments for training during the war and then a medical exemption for bone spurs, a diagnosis that New York Times coverage suggests was “a favor.”
“He has no understanding of service because he is too busy serving himself,” Walz said of Trump at a campaign rally on Wednesday.
In a statement to The Hill, the Harris team defended Walz’s record.
“After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired the Veterans Affairs Committee and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform – and as Vice President of the United States, he will continue to be a tireless champion for our veterans and military families,” the campaign said.
