Posted on 08/17/2024 11:08:23 AM PDT by Eleutheria5
Retired Staff Sgt. Ryan Marti enlisted in the Army National Guard before he even graduated high school, just like his football coach and teacher, future Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Another of Walz’s former students, Lt. Col. Jonathon Jaqua, also joined the Guard after graduating from Mankato West High School in southern Minnesota.
Both told CNN that the example Walz set in the classroom and on the football field was influential in their decision to join him as a soldier in the National Guard.
“As a teacher, I would say he definitely inspired me,” said Marti, who retired from the Guard in 2021. “He recruited me into the National Guard along with my brother and some other students I know.”
Walz enlisted at 17 and served 24 years in the National Guard before retiring in 2005 to run for Congress, launching a political career that ultimately led to his selection as the Democratic nominee for vice president.
Like Walz, Ohio Sen. JD Vance enlisted in the military after high school, spending four years in the Marines and serving a tour in Iraq in 2005 as a combat correspondent. Even back then, his fellow Marines thought Vance, now the Republican vice presidential nominee, was destined for a career in politics.
“We all knew one day he would run for office,” said retired Maj. Shawn Haney, who was Vance’s officer in charge in Cherry Point, North Carolina. “He always did a great job where he was at, but always looked forward to the next thing.”
While they’re on opposite sides of the political spectrum, Walz and Vance share a key attribute that is increasingly rare in politics today: For the first time in nearly 30 years, two enlisted military veterans will square off as their party’s respective vice presidential candidate.
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(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
Actually, Vance was an officer, not that CNN cares about facts.
Good Question. Unfortunately Kyle Miller is not available to comment.
Yeh this seems like an attempt to humanize Walz. Glad he inspired people to leave their platoon before it was deployed to Iraq.
Huh. I just spent more time reading that link.
Those boots on the ground say it probably was a good thing Walz abandoned his unit. His replacement was far better.
George W. Bush must have been a fighter pilot in a different National Guard because until now the media was always dismissive of National Guard service and that was during wartime, now they see 24 years of none wartime Guard service as hard core.
Vance was an E-4.
To me, there’s a big difference between the USMC and the National Guard. And I remember my time from 68-76. The national guard was where you went if you didn’t want to go to Viet Nam. They were regularly called FNGs and FANGS. The only kind of FNG or FANG you didn’t want to be was a helicopter pilot.
With enough gaslight, you can airbrush anything, including outright yellow-bellied cowardice.
Now just a cotton pickin’ minit here. Let’s be fair. Look at the big picture. Kyle Miller wasn’t needed to run for congress. He was just a poor peon, and so expendable. Tim Walz had to get home and put tampons in the boys’ bathrooms in government schools. Where would we be if a boy had his period in middle school in Minnesota without a handy dandy tampon dispenser in the boys’ bathroom.*
* Just-a-cotton-pickin’-minit posts are inherently sarcastic, so sarc tabs are superfluous.
Facts to CNN are like daylight to a vampire.
“A statement about carrying weapons in war”—as if it was just some slightly awkward phrasing about all those weapons he carried in war.
Well, how do they feel about Walz repeatedly lying about his rank and being in combat for decades? https://youtu.be/dinkE2sZxR8?si=NrA-I3cIM5P6NG7j&t=158 (video montage)
Yes, and that was far from the only time - https://youtu.be/dinkE2sZxR8?si=NrA-I3cIM5P6NG7j&t=158
Well...do they have the documents to prove it?
No one is dissing Walz’ actual service. What people are upset about is that he lied about his record for his own political gain. He didn’t deploy in war zones, but said he did. He lied about his rank, and where he served. He pulled out and “retired” earlier than the agreed upon time. That’s not honorable. The other part is, but not the parts that he’s lied about.
Why did he lie instead of telling the truth?
IMHO, it’s because he was hoping to gain something politically from it. That’s not honorable. He should’ve told the truth about his service.
You’re denigrating his service, dontcha know!/s
Joey Joe on Gutfeld said it right. He denigrated his service by lying about it, as if nobody’s service is worth anything unless he’s in where the action is, bringing down enemy combatants and pulling out grenade pins with his teeth and throwing them (the grenades, not the teeth or the pins), like Sgt. Nick Fury and His Howling Commandos. He’s got robot legs he bought in Afghanistan, so he gets to say what is and is not honorable.
6 stenographers for this drivel
It took SIX ADULTS to write this!! SIX!
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