There are a few things we can all agree on as Americans, and one of them is that serving our country for any length of time — especially for 24 years — is a good thing.
There’s something romantic (not in the lovey-dovey way, but in the devoted-to-idealistic-aspirations way) about a service record. It’s a record that tends to speak volumes about the person who possesses it. It bespeaks self-discipline, courage, honor, and (perhaps most importantly) it tells us that the individual in question loves his countrymen enough to pick up a gun and risk his life for them. (READ MORE by Aubrey Gulick: Walz v. Vance: Who’s Weirder?)
Yes, the valor we associate with veterans and active-duty members is a bit of a stereotype, but having grown up surrounded by these kinds of men, I can tell you that the stereotype is a stereotype for a very good reason.
But it’s also just a stereotype.
If you’ve been hanging around X for any length of time in the last week, or have dedicated yourself to a cursory listen of vice presidential campaign speeches, you’ll know that the VP race has turned into a squabble over who has a better military record.
JD Vance was honorably discharged after serving four years in the Marine Corps, including a 2005 deployment to Iraq where he never actually saw combat. Tim Walz, on the other hand, served 24 years in the National Guard and was honorably discharged while (allegedly) slinking out of a dangerous deployment to Iraq.
According to some members of his (understandably) disgruntled unit, Walz arranged his retirement without informing his immediate commander or his unit. Instead, he submitted his paperwork to two senior officers and just kinda left. That, obviously, left certain members of the unit rather frustrated. Although, as Will Selber pointed out at the Bulwark, if Walz had broken rules and regulations, that would have come up long before now.
What is particularly damning, however, is that Walz’s campaign has not yet released the exact date he applied for retirement — a date that could reveal that he intentionally avoided deployment, which would be a bit of a PR disaster. (READ MORE from Aubrey Gulick: Tim Walz’s Message on Murdering Babies: ‘Mind Your Own Damn Business’)
Regardless of how that turns out, it seems pretty apparent that Walz, at the very least, misled the American public by saying he served as a command sergeant major. His retirement papers list him as a master sergeant, owing to the fact that he didn’t quite complete all the academic requirements needed to keep the higher rank.
It’s a technicality, yes, but last week the Harris-Walz campaign quietly changed his bio on their website, listing him as a master sergeant rather than as a command sergeant major. That action at least admits some sort of guilt.
Then again, Walz shot back at JD Vance this week while speaking at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ convention. “I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person’s service record. To anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice.”
To which Vance responded: “Hi Tim, I thank you for your service. But you shouldn’t have lied about it. You shouldn’t have said you went to war when you didn’t. Nor should you have said that you didn’t know your unit was going to Iraq. Happy to discuss more in a debate.”
Hi Tim, I thank you for your service.
But you shouldn’t have lied about it. You shouldn’t have said you went to war when you didn’t. Nor should you have said that you didn’t know your unit was going to Iraq.
Happy to discuss more in a debate.https://t.co/6vUlF9dBkJ
— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 13, 2024
So, evidently, we’re all going to be subjected to a debate about what counts as honorable service in the military — a debate that none of us really wanted, but actually really matters. (READ MORE: Beware Tim Walz: The Silly Midwestern Grandpa Who’s Actually a Flaming Lib)
Why is this line of attack effective? Because the old-fashioned natural virtues that Virgil and Homer celebrated in classic works like the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid are still qualities we want our leaders to possess today. If we’re going to fill in the little circle next to a man’s name on a ballot, we’d like to know that he cares enough about his country and his fellow man to pick up his gun, wade into battle, and potentially offer his life for them.