The despicable Swift Boating of Gov. Tim Walz and his 24 years of National Guard service

Numerous false and deceptive claims by Republicans about the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee echo the same unpatriotic dreck that Sen. John Kerry was once subject to

Chris LaCivita is a senior advisor to the Trump campaign. He’s infamous:

LaCivita was a media advisor for the Swift Boat Veterans, an independent-expenditure group credited with a significant impact on the 2004 presidential election by lying about John Kerry's military record.

Here’s Matthew Dowd on what that was all about:

[Yes] it was disproven. I was chief strategist for Bush-Cheney 2004 and this Swift Boat attack was nearly all lies.

[As an aside, Jane Mayer highlighted that a key funder of the frauds who lied about Sen. John Kerry was none other than Harlan Crow, the billionaire benefactor of the extraordinarily corrupt Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas].

That past history is relevant today because Trump Republicans, and especially J. D. Vance, have started a similar campaign of lies about the National Guard service record of Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee and current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, to try and character assassinate him and, by extension, inflict damage upon the candidacy of Democratic Presidential nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris. This will inevitably lead to a lot of false or inaccurate stories about Walz in the mainstream media, for this very simple reason articulated by Patrick Watson:

Giant media failure to let political journalists who know nothing about the military report on Tim Walz's NG career.

So, let’s take a few minutes to document some key facts.

Did Walz misstate his rank in the National Guard? The answer is NO. He was truthful.

This is much ado about nothing, a technicality that has nothing to do with the rank he served in at the time he retired and everything to do with what happened after his retirement.

Matt White and Patty Nieberg at Task and Purpose:

He served as the 125th’s command sergeant major, an E-9, the Army’s highest enlisted rank. However, according to the Minnesota Guard, his retirement status and benefits were reduced [after his retirement] to that of an E-8 because he did not complete the training required of all E-9s.

[..] The course Walz failed to complete was a 750-hour course in the Army’s Sergeants Major Academy, which would have included 86 hours in residence at Ft. Bliss, Texas. Completing the course is mandatory for E-9s, though completing the training after being promoted is not uncommon. But without the training, Walz was not eligible to retire as a full E-9 and his retired status and benefits were ‘reduced’ to E-8 after he left service.

The Minnesota Guard confirmed to Task & Purpose that Walz was properly promoted and served in the E-9 role, and “retired as” an E-9, despite the later reduction.

Did Walz decide to retire because he was asked to report for duty and go to Iraq? The answer is NO. He decided to retire months prior and filed to run for Congress.

In short, Walz likely decided to retire in late 2004 and then formally filed to run for Congress 5 months before his [former] unit was called to deploy to Iraq. So, when he made a decision to retire, there was no way he could have even known that his unit would be called on to deploy. Once he decided to retire and run for Congress, it was completely understandable that he continued down that path, since he had more than fulfilled the minimum number of years of service with the National Guard (NG) to qualify for retirement.

Here is the timeline based on what we know today (see supporting links below):

• Likely ~Nov 2004: Walz notifies the National Guard about his plan to retire

• Between Nov 2004 and Feb 2005: Walz decides to run for Congress

• Feb 2005: Walz files with the FEC to run for Congress

• May 2005: Walz formally retires from the NG

• Jul 2005: NG announces deployment of his former unit to Iraq

A. J. Delgado:

This person is correct. I just checked the FEC file and Walz FILED [link] to run for Congress on Feb 10 2005 (which means he'd likely decided in late 2004).

His unit wasn't told re: Iraq until JULY 2005.

Southpaw:

You can also look up Walz’s 2005 FEC filings [link] and see he was already running for Congress in the early months of the year, well before his May retirement or the July deployment alert.

Jim Sheater, who was a National Guardsman in 2005 and deployed to Iraq that same year:

As for the timing of his retirement… you don’t just show up on your last day and say I’m done. A NG retirement packet must be submitted a minimum of 180 days prior to the intended retirement date. You are eligible to retire after 20 years of creditable service, Walz had 24.

[…]

Tim Walz officially retired from military service on May 16th, 2005. […] He had to have submitted his retirement no later than 17 November 2004 to have it [a]pproved and processed. And keep in mind, he was still a teacher and not elected to office at this time so it’s unlikely he had major political clout to move the process along.

CNN:

Walz filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission as a candidate for Congress on February 10, 2005. The next month, after the guard announced a possible deployment to Iraq within two years, Walz’s campaign issued a statement saying he intended to stay in the race.

“I do not yet know if my artillery unit will be part of this mobilization and I am unable to comment further on specifics of the deployment,” Walz said in the March 2005 campaign release.

“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,” he continued, adding: “I don’t want to speculate on what shape my campaign will take if I am deployed, but I have no plans to drop out of the race. I am fortunate to have a strong group of enthusiastic supporters and a very dedicated and intelligent wife. Both will be a major part of my campaign, whether I am in Minnesota or Iraq.”

Walz retired from the Army National Guard in May 2005, according to the Minnesota National Guard. In a 2009 interview for the Library of Congress, Walz said he left the guard to focus full time on running for Congress, citing concerns about trying to serve at the same time and the Hatch Act, which limits political activities for federal employees.

This is similar to the observation from Jim Sheater:

But he was 41 years old, had a young daughter and most importantly already did 24 years and was considering a run for Congress. While the law doesn’t require it, I personally consider retirement from [the] military before running for office to be the honorable thing to do so as to eliminate potential conflicts of interest.

Military.com:

His Guard career included responding to natural disasters in the United States, as well as a deployment to Italy to support U.S. operations in Afghanistan, according to a 2018 article by Minnesota Public Radio. Walz earned several awards, including the Army Commendation Medal and two Army Achievement Medals, according to his military records. Working a civilian job as a high school teacher and football coach, the Nebraska native was also named that state's Citizen Soldier of the Year in 1989, according to official biographies.

During the 2022 Minnesota governor's race, Walz' opponent accused him of leaving the Guard when he did in order to avoid a deployment to Iraq, though Walz maintained he retired in order to focus on running for Congress, according to the Star Tribune newspaper.

Washington Post:

Joe Eustice, who served in the National Guard with Walz for at least a decade, said he vehemently disagrees with Walz’s politics but described him as a good soldier. In an interview, he rejected assertions that Walz avoided combat duty.

CNN:

”He was a great soldier,” Eustice said. “When he chose to leave, he had every right to leave.”

Another National Guardsman, Ryan Marti, who knew and served with Walz said this to CNN:

[Marti]: I don't think he tried to avoid that deployment at all. In fact, I'm really glad he went to Congress and did what he did….I think him going to Congress was like taking a promotion. He did a lot of good things… but he did even more better things for us as a Congressman, Governor, and hopefully going forward as a Vice President

Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger:

This is the insane thing. Every month thousands of people retire. The fact that Walz did 25 years, 5 OVER retirement eligibility, and 4 years after 9/11, is honorable.

Many people at 25 years today would get out even if there was a deployment possibility because they DID THEIR DUTY.

Did Walz claim that he did combat duty in Afghanistan? The answer is NO. He truthfully said that he was deployed in Europe to support the war effort associated with Operating Enduring Freedom.

There is a false quote doing the rounds based on an interview Walz did years ago. Here it is:

Tim Walz was caught on camera lying about his military service, “I deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. My battalion provided security in the early stages of the war in Afghanistan” Walz in fact didn’t serve in Afghanistan.

As the Community fact check against that tweet says:

This quote is not what Walz said in the linked video. The second sentence should be, "My battalion provided base security throughout the European theater from Turkey to England in the early stages of the war in Afghanistan."

This is accurate to military records. [LINK]

Christopher Scalia:

Stop using this clip to support the stolen valor charges. Walz does not say he served in Afghanistan—he says his battalion “provided base security throughout the European theater,” and that his former battalion went on to Iraq without him.

The phrase “I was deployed in support of…” is very slippery, but he immediately explains what it means.

In response to another deceptive claim using a Walz video, A. J. Delgado said:

LOL. This is so dumb. He says he carried weapons "in war." He DID. He served in Europe, after we had gone to war with Afghanistan, preparing and training security forces there. Now, if he'd said he carried weapons in "active combat" then, yes, that would probably be misleading."

Roger Misso:

I supported Operation Enduring Freedom.

I never set foot in Afghanistan.

How?

I flew off of an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean supporting troops on the ground.

Much like Tim Walz supported OEF in Italy and Turkey through base security to support troops on the ground.

The inability for some folks to understand what OEF is - and that tens of thousands of servicemembers supported it from outside of Afghanistan - is a commentary on how little the American public supported or understood our presence there.

That’s not on Gov Walz - that’s on you.

What’s more, there would be no OEF without Gov Walz, me, and the thousands of servicemembers who supported the effort from ships and bases all over the CENTCOM, INDOPACOM, and EUCOM AORs.

To suggest otherwise is wrong and troublingly ignorant about military readiness.

Daily Beast:

VoteVets, a progressive veterans advocacy group, promptly fired back at Vance, a Marine who deployed to Iraq once for about six months.

“JD Vance attacking another Veteran holds no honor and no semblance of reality. This is a blatant, baseless, and abhorrent attack. Shame on him,” the group wrote on X, followed shortly by a “fiction versus facts” graphic reiterating what CNN and others had fact-checked.

[…]

“In his 24 years of service, the Governor carried, fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times,” a spokesperson told CNN. “Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country – in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It’s the American way.”

The irony of all this is that the person who has in fact openly supported a candidate who actually lied about being in Afghanistan is J. D. Vance.

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[Other image courtesy of Huy Nguyen Photographer]