‘He Did It To Himself’: Retired Command Sergeant Major Slams Tim Walz For Misleading On Military Service

Daily Caller ^ | Aug 10, 2024 | Julianna Frieman

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Retired Minnesota National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends slammed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate on the 2024 ticket, Saturday on “Fox and Friends Weekend” for misleading voters about his military service.

Walz’s claims about his military service and the timing of his 2005 retirement have come under fire since Vice President Kamala Harris announced him as her running mate Tuesday. The Harris-Walz campaign website has since corrected its original language calling Walz a “retired command sergeant major” to saying he “served as a commend sergeant major.”

Behrends ripped into Walz for being an “unforgivable coward” and quitting before his unit was deployed to Iraq.

“I would liken this to a coach coaching a team for 25 years, and then you’re finally in the Super Bowl. And then the Super Bowl is coming, and the coach says, ‘No, I’m out. I’m done.’ What does it say, what message does it send to a unit when a command sergeant major — I mean, command sergeant majors are a big deal. They block the sun. They’re the most important enlisted member of that unit. When a command sergeant major bails on a deployment beforehand, what kind of message does that send?” Fox News co-host Pete Hegseth asked.

“The message that it sends to me is, you know, turn around and run and just keep running. I mean, go crawl under a rock. Get the Hell out of here. Nobody even wants to mention your name again. You’re soiled, basically a traitor. You’re a deserter at that point,” Behrends said.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Excellent point very well put: "When a command sergeant major bails on a deployment beforehand, what kind of message does that send?”

[fso301]

"When a command sergeant major bails on a deployment beforehand, what kind of message does that send?”

Become a Democrat politician and have a great career.

[Responsibility2nd]

Walz took an easy assignment in Italy. Where he said he carried a weapon in war. He lied.

But when TSHTF and it was time to go to Iraq - he bailed out and retired as CSM.

Oh wait, he lied about that also. He didn’t have the hours and so he retired as a Sergeant Major.

[TigersEye]

And for 18 years he has called himself a CSM every time he runs for election.
He certainly didn’t misspeak about that.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

No he retired as a Master Sergeant (E8). CSM and SGM are both E9’s.

[Reno89519]

Timmy “Tampon” Walz is very clearly committed stolen valor. I’m waiting to here anyone file charges as he not only violated federal laws, but also those in many states.

[cgbg]

I think we all suspect that Walz would have been a danger to his men on the real battlefield.

He has “coward” written all over him.

[kiryandil]

The Democrats who understand what Walz did [Mikie Sherrill, Pete Buttgiggity, Aleksandr Vindman, Adam Kinsinger and Seth "Syph" Moulton] will lie about it, and the rest of the Democrat Party voters are too stupid and lazy to look behind the Gaslight Media's Walz Narrative.

I'm looking for what Tulsi Gabbard and James Carville have to say about it.

Is Marine Corps veteran Carville morally debased wnough to lie for Walz?

[drypowder]

he did it to himself

yeah, and given the chance he’s going to do it to us.

[kiryandil]

I think we all suspect that Walz would have been a danger to his men on the real battlefield.

And he would have been a danger "coaching" their kids on the home front while they were Over There...

[Kudsman]

And he would have been a danger "coaching" their kids on the home front while they were Over There..

That's it. He IS stranger danger. The very essence.

[The Fop]

He brought a ginsu pizza cutter with him.

[Responsibility2nd]

Thank you for the clarification. I tried to look for the actual facts. But of course, Google scrubs the truth so I just guessed at Sergeant Major.

[kiryandil]

“Stranger Danger” Walz

[MuttTheHoople]

I was in the the National guard from 1994-2000. I knew Senior NCOs like Walz. From the end of WW II to 9/11, the National Guard was the place you went if you wanted to dodge the draft or get out of war (knew a couple of CSM's who originally signed up to get out of Vietnam). Walz was one of those guys who probably had fun playing soldier one weekend a month, two weeks in the summer, double-dipping due to State employees getting 15 Days Military leave a year.

Imagine his horror when he found out that Dubya was sending National Guard and Reserve troops to war. Getting shot at would put a real crimp in his day. Not only that, the 2006 Congressional elections were going to be a huge Democrat Wave election (due to Dubya's handling of Iraq and Katrina), and Walz probably thought this was his only chance.

Walz had a compliant local press that covered his deficiencies for years. It's only Conservative media and people on X who finally exposed this cowardly little Blue Falcon.

[ViLaLuz]

[Political Junkie Too]

"When a command sergeant major bails on a deployment beforehand, what kind of message does that send?”

Thomas Paine answered that question in 1776:

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
---Thomas Paine, The American Crisis (December 23, 1776)

Tim Walz: Summer Soldier and Sunshine Patriot

-PJ

[where's_the_Outrage?]

I was a commander of mobilized USAR unit to the 101st. They asked me to volunteer as a single man to Afghanistan. I did so appointing a promotable Major to my position.

Upon my return I could have taken back the command but instead decided 24 years was enough and asked to be released, which I was. The unit subsequently was deployed to Iraq. But not on notice when I asked for release.

I do not feel I failed the unit, I left a high speed Officer in command, while I was told I was not fit to be promoted.

[Political Junkie Too]

I do not feel I failed the unit

And you shouldn't.

Walz didn't just bail on his unit, he reneged on a two-year commitment to serve as a condition of his promotion after just six months into that commitment. Someone else could have taken that spot in the Command Sergeants Major Academy who was willing to live up to the obligations that came with it. Walz also stole that opportunity from another person who was willing to serve in his place.

-PJ