Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) spent more than two decades in the Army National Guard, but his departure has become a line of criticism in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Walz, who was announced as the vice presidential running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, served from April 8, 1981, to May 16, 2005, in the Minnesota National Guard and then the Nebraska National Guard, according to a Minnesota National Guard spokesperson.
He deployed to Vicenza, Italy, with the Minnesota National Guard in August 2003 as part of support for the Afghanistan War, according to the spokesperson. He did not deploy to Afghanistan, Iraq, or a combat zone, though his battalion “supported security missions at various locations in Europe and Turkey,” the spokesperson said. He returned to Minnesota in April 2004.
When Walz retired in May 2005, he was the command sergeant major for the battalion, but he retired as a master sergeant because he did not complete the additional coursework required at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
About two months after Walz retired, his unit received its orders to deploy to Iraq, according to a National Guard article. The unit mobilized in September of that year to train and finally deployed in July 2006. The unit’s 22-month deployment was the longest continuous deployment of any military unit during Operation Iraqi Freedom at the time it returned.
Walz filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run as a candidate for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District on Feb. 10, 2005, prior to his separation. He won the election and was sworn into office on Jan. 3, 2007.
Walz, as a member of the House of Representatives, authored a concurrent resolution that passed on Oct. 1, 2007, commending the unit on the completion of its record deployment.
“I served alongside these soldiers for many years and I could not be more proud of them,” he said at the time. “They endured their extended deployment with patience and determination and their distinguished service record in Iraq speaks for itself. Today, every Minnesotan should be proud to call the Red Bulls our neighbors and friends.”
He served on the House Veterans Affairs Committee during his 12 years in Congress, including spending the final two as the ranking member, before he ran and won Minnesota’s governorship in 2018 and again in 2022.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, accused Walz of abandoning his troops on Wednesday.
“When the United States Marine Corps, when the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it,” Vance said. “I did what they asked me to do, and I did it honorably and I’m very proud of that service. When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him.”
Vance, who served in Iraq, also pointed to a video promoted by the Harris campaign on social media Tuesday from 2018 in which he said after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at,” and accused him of misrepresenting his service.
Vance’s attack on Walz’s departure from the National Guard has been repeated several times in GOP circles.
“In his 24 years of service, the Governor carried, fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times. Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country — in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It’s the American way,” a Harris campaign spokesperson said, according to CNN.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre also defended Walz’s 24 years in the Guard during Wednesday’s press briefing.
“This is someone who enlisted at 17 years old to serve his country. He was part of the Army National Guard for 24 years. This is someone who was a high school teacher — right? — a high school coach, as well, who grew up in a — in a small town in the Midwest,” she said. “And so, I think his bio speaks for itself. Who he is speaks for hisself. His record speaks for itself. And I’m just not going to say … anything beyond that.”
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Vance spent four years in the Marines as an enlisted combat correspondent in public affairs. He deployed to Iraq for about six months and left the service in 2007 as a corporal.
Neither Trump nor Harris served in the military, with the former president receiving a medical deferment to avoid the Vietnam War for bone spurs. During Trump’s presidency, he said he “would not have minded” serving in the military during the war.