The former battalion commander of Tim Walz’s National Guard unit launched a scathing attack on the Minnesota governor over his military rank, according to reports.
Republicans have accused Kamala Harris’ running mate of “stolen valor” over alleged distortions of his 24 years in the National Guard. One of the claims is that Walz has misrepresented his rank since his retirement from the service in 2005 before his unit was deployed to Iraq.
John Kolb, who became lieutenant colonel of Walz’s battalion a few months after Walz’s retirement, posted on Facebook adding to those criticisms, according to DailyMail.com. Kolb appeared to be reacting to Walz’s use of the rank of command sergeant major.
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“He did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9,” Kolb reportedly wrote. “It is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title. I can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, it does not make me a pilot. Similarly, when the demands of service and leadership at the highest level got real, he chose another path.”
Earlier this month, the Harris campaign quietly updated its online biography of Walz to remove a description of him as a “retired command sergeant major” to say instead that he simply served at that rank. While he did serve as a command sergeant major, he left the military at the rank of master sergeant because he didn’t complete coursework required for the higher rank.
The Harris-Walz campaign has forcefully defended Walz’s record of service in the face of GOP attacks. “After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired Veterans Affairs and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform—and as Vice President of the United States he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families,” the campaign said in a recent statement.
In his post—which has been widely shared online including by the likes of Donald Trump Jr.—Kolb reportedly wrote that he has “no opinion of Mr. Walz’s decision to leave service at the time he did” as it was “his right to retire early.” “By all accounts and on the record, he was a competent Chief of Firing Battery/Gunnery Sergeant and First Sergeant,” he added. “I cannot say the same of his service sitting, frocked, in the CSM chair.”
Kolb also claimed Walz’s departure from the National Guard may have been a boon to his unit. “I do not regret that Tim Walz retired early from the Minnesota Army National Guard, did not complete the Sergeants Major Academy, broke his enlistment contract or did not successfully complete any assignment as a Sergeant Major,” Kolb reportedly wrote in his post. “Unwittingly, he got out of the way for better leadership.”
“Thomas Behrends was the right leader at the right time,” he continued, referring to Walz’s replacement as command sergeant major following Walz’s retirement. “He sacrificed to answer the call, leaving his family, business and farming-partner brother to train, lead and care for soldiers,” Kolb wrote of Behrends. “He earned the privilege of being called Command Sergeant Major. Like a great leader he ran toward and not away from the guns.”
Behrends, who has been openly critical of Walz’s decision to quit for years, told The Daily Beast last week of his continued disdain. “I’ve used the term coward, I’ve used the term traitor, I’ve used the term deserter,” he said.
Walz’s unit—1-125th Field Artillery Battalion—was on track for deployment to Iraq when Walz decided to run for political office in the spring of 2005. He had initially planned to potentially keep his campaign for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional seat going and ship off to war, according to a campaign press release in March 2005, but he ultimately retired from the National Guard two months later.
While some former comrades felt betrayed by his decision, others supported him. Al Bonnifield, a member of Walz’s unit, previously told The Daily Beast Walz wanted to do what was best for his soldiers and concluded “he could do more in Congress than he could do if he stayed with the unit.”
Republicans have seized on the issue to attack the Democratic ticket, with Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, accusing Walz of “lying” about fighting on the battlefield and having “dropped out” of the military before his unit headed off for deployment. Bonnifield says “everything” that Vance has said about Walz “is wrong.”
In addition to the claims about his rank, a recently unearthed clip showed Walz saying in 2018 that he’d carried guns “in war” during a speech supporting gun control measures. Walz deployed to Italy in 2003 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom—the official name for the war in Afghanistan—but he did not see combat. A Harris-Walz campaign spokesman said “misspoke” during the speech.
“He did handle weapons of war and believes strongly that only military members trained to carry those deadly weapons should have access to them, unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance who prioritize the gun lobby over our children,” Ammar Moussa, the spokesman, told The Washington Post.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday defended Walz against the Republican attacks on his service record. “It’s a sign of the bankruptcy of their ideas,” Pelosi said during an MSNBC interview with Jen Psaki. “They don’t have anything to say, so they make up things.”
