Virginia District 2 Representative Jen Kiggans joined 49 other Republican lawmaker veterans in signing a letter calling on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to step down as the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate over his “egregious misrepresentation” of his military service.
“You have stated that you are ‘damn proud’ of your service, and like any American veteran, you should be. But there is no honor in lying about the nature of your service,” the letter states.
On Aug. 7, the day after Vice President Kamala Harris introduced Walz as her running mate, former President Donald Trump’s running mate Ohio Senator JD Vance shared a video on social media claiming Walz committed an act of “stolen valor” or lied about his military service and rank.
Vance, a former servicemember himself, states in the video that Walz dropped out of the National Guard before his unit deployed to Iraq.
In May 2005, Walz retired from the National Guard, about two months before his unit received an alert order for mobilization to Iraq. But there’s no evidence that the timing of Walz’s decision to retire before his unit’s deployment was intentional.
According to Colonel Ryan Cochran, the Minnesota National Guard’s Director of Manpower and Personnel, Walz received his notification of eligibility for retirement on Aug. 3, 2002.
And it wasn’t until February 2005 that Walz announced his intent to run for Congress, while he was still serving in the Minnesota National Guard, according to an archived press release and Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show.
In March 2005, Walz’s congressional campaign said in a now-archived press release that the National Guard Public Affairs Office “announced a possible partial mobilization of roughly 2,000 troops from the Minnesota National Guard.” That announcement “specified that all or a portion of Walz’s battalion could be mobilized to serve in Iraq within the next two years.”
In May 2005, Walz retired honorably from the National Guard after almost 24 years of service.
Nearly two months later, on July 14, 2005, Walz’s unit received an alert order for mobilization to Iraq, according to the Minnesota National Guard’s Director of Operations Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Rossman.
The unit received the official mobilization order on Aug. 14 of that same year, and it mobilized on Oct. 12 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Rossman said.
In 2018, when Walz was running for governor of Minnesota, two of his former colleagues in the National Guard wrote a paid letter to the editor about Walz’s military service to a local newspaper called the West Central Tribune. Retired Command Sergeant Majors Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr claimed in that letter that Walz retired when he knew his battalion would be deployed to Iraq.
“He failed his country. He failed his state. He failed the Minnesota Army National Guard, the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, and his fellow Soldiers. And he failed to lead by example. Shameful,” Behrends, who is a vocal critic of Walz, and Herr wrote in the letter.
According to the Minnesota National Guard, any communication prior to the official mobilization order in 2005 would be considered an unofficial notice for a possible deployment.
However, the letter’s authors claim Walz “abandoned the men and women under his leadership.”