(ProsperNews.net) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz continued to face backlash for misrepresenting his military background, and critics are turning up the heat now that he’s officially the running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris, including a retired command sergeant major who served in the governor’s battalion.
On Wednesday, Aug. 7, Ret. Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” podcast for an interview, during which he blasted Walz for inflating his military history and misleading the public. Behrends said Walz used a rank “he never achieved” in order to “advance his political career.”
After Harris announced Walz as her official running mate for the White House as she takes on former President Donald Trump, Walz has faced increased scrutiny from critics, who started pointing out discrepancies in Walz’s rhetoric and the biography on the governor’s official website. That bio is worded in such a way as to portray Walz as retiring in 2005 from the Minnesota National Guard as an E-9, or a command sergeant major.
In reality, Walz was only temporarily a command sergeant major on condition of completing extra coursework and two more years of service, but he never completed those requirements and the rank was rescinded upon retiring early. Walz retired instead as an E-8, also known as a master sergeant.
Host Laura Ingraham asked Behrends about the accusations from Vance and others that Walz is guilty of stolen valor. Behrends said it was “darker” than that. He pointed out that Walz still claimed to be a “retired command sergeant major” when “he’s not” because he’s using “the rank of others to make it look like he’s a better person than he is.”
Behrends also criticized Walz for trying to make it seem as if he saw combat during his time in deployment, and for leaving the military right before he would have been deployed to fight in Iraq. He accused Walz of “cowardice” while pointing out that he went in Walz’s place and had to “hit the ground running” commanding 500 troops.
According to the National Guard, the governor’s unit did not receive deployment orders until July 2005 and Walz filed his paperwork seven months before retiring that May.
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