Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz served for over two decades in the Army National Guard, something he touched on in his first remarks since being tapped as Kamala Harris’ running mate.
But there have been some questions raised in recent years about how Walz represents the end of his military service, with some of the National Guardsmen who served with him flagging how he avoided being deployed to Iraq in 2005.
On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Ret. Command Sergeant Major Thomas Behrends, who served with Walz in the Minnesota National Guard and has been trying to call attention to the governor’s “stolen valor” since 2018, to discuss the allegations.
The Controversy
Situations involving embellished military service have the power to derail political careers (e.g. John Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans), and Walz is seemingly finding himself in the center of his own controversy.
Walz served in the Minnesota National Guard from April 8, 1981, to May 16, 2005, after transferring from the Nebraska National Guard. On Wednesday, Army Lieutenant Colonel Kristen Augé, the state public affairs officer for Minnesota National Guard, told Just the News that the governor did not retire as “Command Sergeant Major Walz” in 2005, as is claimed on Minnesota’s official website.
Instead, he finished his time in the service as master sergeant. “He retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy,” Augé told the outlet. As a result, he was demoted in accordance with Army Regulation.
Behrends was one of two retired senior officials with the Minnesota National Guard who raised this issue when Walz ran for governor in 2018 in an open letter. According to the letter, Walz was selected to serve as the Command Sergeant Major of the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2004 and was conditionally promoted to the rank.
By early 2005, his battalion was ordered to mobilize for an active duty deployment to Iraq. But in May 2005, the letter said Walz “quit, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war.”
Despite Behrends efforts, the story got very little coverage at the time. It was, however, picked up by Alpha News, which confirmed Walz was just four years into a six-year commitment when he retired. Alpha News reported that Walz’s Report of Separation and Military Service form confirmed his service obligation ran through September 18, 2007 based on his six-year reenlistment.
Stolen Valor
Behrends, who spent some 16 months in Iraq following a six-month training, contends that Walz retired to avoid deployment. “You did your duty and served the country honorably, and so did Sgt. Kyle Miller, who was killed in that same unit – 19 years old from Willmar, Minnesota – when an IED hit his convoy on June 29, 2006,” Megyn noted. “He was among the 2,600 Minnesotans deployed in March 2005 in the largest overseas deployment at the Minnesota National Guard since World War II. Tim Walz wasn’t there. He was running for Congress, two years short of the time… his service was supposed to end.”
And then there are the questions of stolen valor as it relates to Walz’s use of the “Command Sergeant Major” title and the way he has described his service. Just yesterday, the Harris campaign tweeted a clip of Walz talking about his time “in war.”
While the governor did complete a deployment to Italy in 2003 to support forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Behrends – who served with Walz in Italy – said it is not the same thing as being in combat.
“For somebody to say they have been in war and to not, that is, like the saying say been, ‘stolen valor’ – you’re basically out there acting like you’re something that you’re not,” he explained. “It’s a huge deal for veterans and it should be a huge deal for the general public out there because, basically, it is proof that you’re a liar… To me, that’s just indescribable how somebody can do that.”
Megyn noted that The Megyn Kelly Show has reached out to Walz’s office for comment and has yet to hear back. Behrends was willing to bet the governor no longer knows fact from fiction. “There are thousands of people that have gone through the academy and served honorably… put in their time… and then you got this guy out… there saying, ‘I was a Command Sergeant Major’… ‘I was in war.’ I mean, what is going on with this guy,” he concluded. “I think he’s lived the lie so long, he believes it himself.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Behrends by tuning in to episode 857 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.