A former soldier who commanded Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the Army National Guard says that the 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate “did something wrong in service.”
Republicans have been furiously attacking Walz’s history of military service since he was announced as the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week, with Senator JD Vance, the vice presidential pick of former President Donald Trump, accusing the governor of “stolen valor” for having allegedly “abandoned” his unit by retiring before it was deployed to Iraq in 2006.
Retired Command Sergeant Major Doug Julin has accused Walz of letting “his troops down” and going over his head to secure his retirement after decades of service in May 2005, a few months before the battalion was given a mobilization order to deploy to Iraq. While Walz did leave the military before his unit was deployed, there is no hard evidence that he did so to avoid combat in Iraq.
During an interview with CNN‘s Laura Coates on Thursday night, Julin said that Walz “went around” and “above and beyond” him to retire when he did, accusing the governor of using a “backdoor process” to leave the service.
“[Walz] did something wrong in service,” Julin told Coates. “He knew the policies and procedures and how we go to leadership and address issues … He went around me when he should have addressed it with me.”
“There’s a possibility he realized I would have said, ‘no, it’s too late, you’re going forward,’” he added. “He knew he was going forward. Had he gotten his orders yet? No, at that time he had not.”
Julin did not directly answer when asked by Coates how he felt about “political talking points” accusing Walz of “stolen valor.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Harris/Walz campaign via email on Thursday night.
Walz achieved the rank of command sergeant major in the Army National Guard before retiring after 24 years of service, having launched his political career around the same time. He went on to win a U.S. House seat in 2006, serving for six terms before winning the Minnesota governorship in 2018.
Vance served four years in the Marine Corps, leaving the military as a corporal in 2007 to attend Ohio State University. Neither man served in combat and both spent limited time serving overseas, with Vance deployed to Iraq as a press officer for about six months and Walz spending nine months in Italy in support of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Others who served in Walz’s battalion disagree with Julin’s assessment of the governor and his decision to leave the military. Retired Staff Sergeant Ryan Marti, who deployed with the unit to Italy with Walz and to Iraq without him, offered an alternative view during a CNN interview on Thursday night.
“Absolutely not, I don’t think he tried to avoid the deployment at all,” Marti said. “In fact, I’m really glad he went to Congress and did what he did. If you want to give someone grief for taking a promotion or moving on, I think that’s wrong. I think him going to Congress is like taking a promotion.”
“Tim is probably one of the most honorable men I know,” he added. “I have no hurt feelings and so many other folks from my unit, we really understand that what he was doing was important, moving on to the next job, going to Congress.”
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