When Minnesota governor Tim Walz selected to go away the army on the eve of his deployment to Iraq, Thomas Behrends went in his place.
“I wanted to hit the bottom operating and handle the troops — and inform them we had been going to warfare,” mentioned Behrends of the five hundred troopers below his command. “For a man in that place to give up is cowardice.”
Behrends, a 63-year-old farmer in Brewster, MN, known as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate “a traitor” for retiring from their Minnesota Nationwide Guard unit simply earlier than their deployment to Iraq in 2005.
“When your nation calls, you’re alleged to run into battle — not the opposite approach,” the retired command sergeant main informed The Submit Tuesday. “He ran away. It’s unhappy.
“He had the chance to serve his nation, and mentioned ‘screw you’ to the US. That’s not who I’d decide to run for vice-president.”
Walz, 60, joined the Nationwide Guard after highschool and served 24 years within the 1st Battalion, A hundred and twenty fifth Subject Artillery, rising to the rank of command sergeant main. He retired in 2005 — months after a warning order that the battalion can be deployed to Iraq — to run for Congress. He was elected to workplace in 2006.
“On Could sixteenth, 2005, [Walz] give up, betraying his nation, leaving the 1-A hundred and twenty fifth Subject Artillery Battalion and its Troopers hanging with out its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, because the battalion ready for warfare,” Behrends and fellow retired Guardsman Paul Herr wrote in a letter posted to Fb throughout Walz’s first gubernatorial run, in 2018.
Behrends and Herr wrote that Walz might have requested permission from the Pentagon to hunt Congressional workplace whereas on energetic obligation.
When Walz left the unit, he supplied to boost funds to cowl his fellow troopers’ bus journeys house for Christmas — a gesture that was seen as a cynical ploy by a few of them, in keeping with Behrends.
“If it had been me, I’d really feel responsible about leaving and do one thing to make up for it, however when you ask me he was doing it to purchase votes,” Behrends informed The Submit. “He’ll do something for votes.”
The unit spent 17 months in Iraq and suffered three casualties, together with Kyle Miller, a 19-year-old from Willmar, MN.
Like Walz, Miller signed up for the Nationwide Guard in highschool, and hoped to work as an auto mechanic after his deployment, in keeping with stories. He died when the car wherein he was a passenger was hit by a roadside bomb on June 29, 2006.
“Not like Walz, Kyle volunteered to go together with his unit,” mentioned Behrends, who labored with Miller’s mom, Cathy Miller, to create a bronze memorial of her son.
In accordance with Behrends, Walz had been chosen for the US Military Sergeants Main Academy and promoted to Command Sergeant Main in 2004 — which required him to serve two extra years or lose the promotion.
His retirement nullified the promotion and, on September 10, 2005, his rank was lowered to Grasp Sergeant, in keeping with the Each day Wire.
Nonetheless, Walz continued to make use of the rank in descriptions of his army profession in marketing campaign supplies, Alpha Information reported in 2022.
“He continued to say ‘retired Command Sergeant Main’ for his political profession,” Behrends informed The Submit. “When he used that … it was stolen valor.”
Behrends and Herr wrote about this of their letter.
“If he had retired usually and respectfully, you’ll assume he would have ensured his retirement paperwork had been accurately stuffed out and signed, and that he would have ensured he was lowered to Grasp Sergeant for dropping out of the academy,” the 2 wrote. “As a substitute he slithered out the door and waited for the paperwork to catch as much as him.”
The Submit has reached out to Walz’s workplace for remark.
In 2006, one other Iraq warfare veteran who was a part of Walz’s unit reportedly known as his retirement simply earlier than deployment “disturbing.”
“However much more disturbing is the truth that Walz rapidly retired after studying that his unit — southern Minnesota’s 1-125 FA Battalion — can be despatched to Iraq,” wrote Tom Hagen in a Nov. 1, 2006, letter to the editor of the Winona Each day Information, in keeping with the Each day Wire. “For Tim Walz to desert his fellow troopers and give up once they wanted skilled management most is disheartening.”
Walz reportedly responded together with his personal letter to the editor of the Winona Each day Information, writing: “After finishing 20 years of service in 2001, I re-enlisted to serve our nation for a further 4 years following Sept. 11 and retired the 12 months earlier than my battalion was deployed to Iraq to be able to run for Congress. I’m pleased with the 24 years I served our nation within the Military Nationwide Guard.”
Walz has mentioned he didn’t see any fight throughout his greater than 20 years of service with the Nationwide Guard.
He was a part of a number of catastrophe response deployments within the Midwest and deployed to Italy in 2003 to serve with the European Safety Power, which was supporting operations in Afghanistan, in keeping with stories. The seven-month deployment was related to the post-Sept 11 Operation Enduring Freedom.
He has an Military Commendation Medal and two Military Achievement Medals, in keeping with the Stars and Stripes.
“Tim Walz has embellished and selectively omitted information and circumstances of his army profession for years,” mentioned Behrends in a second social media publish co-authored with Herr throughout Walz’s second gubernatorial marketing campaign.
Behrends mentioned he hung an enormous yellow signal on his grain silo throughout Walz’s 2022 gubernatorial race, studying, “Abject failure! Walz is a traitor! Vote him out!!”
He informed The Submit that Harris made the incorrect alternative in tapping Walz because the Democratic candidate for vp.
“I feel choosing Walz reveals the nation the incompetence of vetting who he’s,” Behrends mentioned. “I’d assume they wouldn’t need his baggage.
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