Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If Walz retired in the first half of 2005, wouldn't he have had to put in the papers for retirement sometime in 2004? He was just a regular guy at the time, not someone with connections to speed paperwork through.

If his group didn't deploy until late 2005, I don't see how he was "dodging" anything. Is the GOP really wanting to push the idea that people aren't allowed to retire when eligible?

They want to sling mud and hope no one checks the details or thinks about it. It's their normal MO for Democrats who served.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a New York Post interview published Sunday, Behrends also suggested Walz falsely inflated his military rank by calling himself a command sergeant major throughout his political career, despite his rank being reduced to master sergeant since he retired before completing the terms of his promotion. Harris referred to Walz as “Sgt. Maj. Walz” while praising his background during their first campaign event together Tuesday, hours after she announced him as her running mate. Minnesota National Guard spokesperson Capt. Holly Rockow told Minnesota Public Radio in 2018 it’s fair to say Walz served as sergeant major since that was his rank at the time of his retirement in 2005, though it was retroactively reverted back to master sergeant because he retired before completing requirements associated with his promotion, the Harris campaign notes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/08/07/vance-accuses-tim-walz-of-national-guard-stolen-valor-the-heavily-contested-allegations-explained/



Walz wikipedia page states he was a Command Sgt Major.

That’s not true. In order to be a CSM, you have to graduate from the SGM academy, and then be given a Battalion assignment as a CSM. You have to be part of Bn Command team, specially the highest ranking enlisted Soldier in a battalion.

But you CAN be conditionally promoted to CSM, with the promotion becoming permanent upon completion of those requirements within 24 months. Walz WAS conditionally promoted to CSM but ended up retiring before meeting all of the requirements - likely because he needed surgery for ear damage from all the years of working with heavy artillery. So to say he never held the rank of CSM is actually false.

Anonymous wrote:
If Walz retired in the first half of 2005, wouldn't he have had to put in the papers for retirement sometime in 2004? He was just a regular guy at the time, not someone with connections to speed paperwork through.

If his group didn't deploy until late 2005, I don't see how he was "dodging" anything. Is the GOP really wanting to push the idea that people aren't allowed to retire when eligible?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume that The Vetting Team was aware of the Carried in War allegation and viewed it as a Nothing Burger. That’s one of the matters Vance seized on today. The other is the retirement/rank allegation.

Vance looks bad for that. Who attacks a veteran who served 24 years because they retired, when they themselves served much less long and not in combat either? I don't think Vance should be attacked for the way he served either to be clear. It's very unamerican to nitpick service that way.

Anonymous wrote:I believe he worked as Command Sergeant Major for 8 months. Then he decided to retire, to run for congress. There is some story that a couple of his kids got tossed from a W event for wearing Kerry T-shirts or something, and that inspired him to run.

Anonymous wrote:I assume that The Vetting Team was aware of the Carried in War allegation and viewed it as a Nothing Burger. That’s one of the matters Vance seized on today. The other is the retirement/rank allegation.

Army Lieutenant Colonel Kristen Augé, the state public affairs officer for Minnesota National Guard, told Just the News on Wednesday that the governor did not retire as "Command Sergeant Major Walz" in 2005, as stated on Minnesota's official website, but as master sergeant "because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy." A soldier who does not complete the requisite coursework is automatically demoted, according to Army regulations.

After 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Walz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harris is trying to run against the economic policies of the Biden-Harris administration. I think she can pull it off, but it’s weird.

hardly? The numbershave been strong. The issue is the prices of food, which is more price gouging than inflation. The inflation metrics have come back to "normal"