A veteran who served alongside Kamala Harris’s running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, accused him of exaggerating his military service and abandoning his unit shortly before deployment.
In an interview Wednesday on “The Ingraham Angle,” Ret. Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends, a member of Walz’s battalion, criticized the Minnesota governor for allegedly misleading the public about his military career.
“He’s used the rank that he never achieved in order to advance his political career,” he said. “I mean, he still says he’s a retired command sergeant major to this day, and he’s not. He uses the rank of others to make it look like he’s a better person than he is.”
Questions arose about Gov. Tim Walz’s statements regarding his military service following Vice President Kamala Harris’s announcement of him as her running mate for the 2024 Democratic ticket.
Walz is listed as a retired “command sergeant major” on his governor’s website biography and has claimed he carried a gun “in war,” despite never seeing active combat.
However, Ingraham noted that the Minnesota National Guard informed her show that Walz actually retired as a master sergeant.
“To most people, that would mean that he was actually in combat, carrying a weapon in a combat zone and getting combat pay and in a dangerous and hostile environment where he is getting shot at,” Behrends responded.
The campaign released a statement regarding the matter, noting that after 24 years of military service, Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress. There, he chaired the Veterans Affairs Committee and was a tireless advocate for service members. The campaign stated that as vice president of the United States, Walz will continue to be a relentless champion for veterans and military families.
Behrends, however, did not agree with the campaign’s claim. He added that a majority of his colleagues are against Walz’s false claims.
Ret. Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends accuses @Tim_Walz of stolen valor: "He's used the rank that he never achieved in order to, advance his political career." #2024Election https://t.co/IyB7N1lfr1 pic.twitter.com/xYHB11DOGY
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) August 8, 2024
“From what I get from the soldiers that I went to Iraq with, probably 98% of them are completely against him embellishing his record,” Behrends added. “Don’t try to make it look like you were a command sergeant major. Don’t try to make it look like you were going to some place that was in support of Operation Enduring Freedom… that’s just all embellishment and lies to try to make things look better.”
Gov. @Tim_Walz: I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war,… pic.twitter.com/3IVaXi2RP2
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 6, 2024
Tom Schilling, who identified himself as a member of Walz’s battalion, criticized Walz’s actions as “dishonorable” during an interview on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
Here’s Walz committing ACTUAL stolen valor and saying he went to war. Would be a shame if it went viral 💅 pic.twitter.com/wFN72y6Nas
— 🇺🇸 ~ 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐧 ~🎙️ (@RogueLou18) August 7, 2024
“I have my stories about what he did to the military, when he left us like that, and I was kind of like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Schilling said. “We all did what we were supposed to do, we did the right thing, and it’s dishonorable what he did,” Schilling said. “He left somebody else to take over his spot. He just ditched us.”
