A military veteran who served alongside Harris’s running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, accused him of exaggerating his military service and abandoning his unit just before their deployment.
In a Wednesday interview on “The Ingraham Angle,” Ret. Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends, who claimed to be part of Walz’s battalion, criticized the Minnesota governor for misleading the public regarding his military background.
According to the New York Post, his service ended when he retired from the Minnesota National Guard just prior to their deployment to Iraq in 2005.
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Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
In response to Sen. JD Vance’s allegation that Walz is guilty of “stolen valor,” the National Guard veteran told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that the situation is “far darker than many believe.”
“He’s leveraged a rank he never achieved to boost his political ambitions,” he stated. “Even today, he claims to be a retired command sergeant major, which he is not. He uses the rank of others to portray himself as someone better than he is.”
Concerns arose regarding Walz’s statements about his military service after Vice President Kamala Harris announced him as her running mate for the 2024 Democratic ticket.
Walz’s biography on the governor’s website describes him as a retired “command sergeant major” while he has also asserted that he carried a weapon “in war,” despite lacking any active combat experience.
However, Ingraham noted that the Minnesota National Guard confirmed he retired as a master sergeant.
“For most people, that implies he was in combat, carrying a weapon in a combat zone, receiving combat pay, and acting in a dangerous environment where he was under fire,” Behrends remarked.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
“If he believes Italy was a combat zone or war zone and that he was carrying a weapon in warfare, he’s delusional,” he continued.
Behrends explained that while Walz was promoted to command sergeant major in 2004, he was required to serve an additional two years, or the promotion would be invalidated.
His early retirement canceled the promotion, downgrading his rank to master sergeant, as Behrends clarified.
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“Essentially, he quit. He didn’t fulfill the requirement of serving two years post-promotion, thus his rank drops to master sergeant, which is his status now, a retired master sergeant,” Behrends added.
The campaign responded: “After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, chairing Veterans Affairs and serving as an unwavering advocate for our troops—and as Vice President of the United States, he will remain a tireless supporter of our veterans and military families.”
This statement did not sit well with Behrends.
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“Feedback from the soldiers I served with in Iraq indicates that around 98% of them strongly oppose him exaggerating his record,” he said. “Don’t attempt to present yourself as a command sergeant major. Don’t try to imply you supported Operation Enduring Freedom… that’s just fabrication and deceit to make things appear more favorable.”
Tom Schilling, another veteran from Walz’s battalion, criticized his actions as “dishonorable” during an interview on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“I have my own experiences regarding what he did to the military, and when I heard he was chosen as Harris’s running mate, I was like, ‘Are you serious?’” Schilling recounted.
“We all fulfilled our duties correctly, and what he did is dishonorable,” Schilling said. “He left someone else to fill his position. He just abandoned us.”
Walz’s team did not provide an immediate comment to “The Ingraham Angle.”
