Tim Walz’s National Guard Unit Remains Bitterly Split on His Retirement

Call it Tim’s choice.

It was a decision Tim Walz made 19 years ago, long before anyone imagined he would be the Democratic pick for vice president, five years before he became governor of Minnesota, back when he had decided to run for Congress on the power of what seemed like a perfect political résumé. He was a high-school teacher, football coach and long serving national guardsman who had re-upped in the aftermath of 9/11.

He had even just been provisionally promoted to the highest enlisted rank, command sergeant major.

The hitch was that on March 17, 2005, the National Guard announced “possible mobilization” of some 2,000 troops. Walz’s unit in the Minnesota National Guard—1-125th Field Artillery Battalion—was on track to be deployed to Iraq. He initially figured he could both go to war with his soldiers and seek political office.

“Walz Still Planning to Run for Congress Despite Possible Call to Duty in Iraq,” a campaign press release announced on March 20, 2005.

The release said, “First District congressional candidate Tim Walz currently holds the rank of Command Sergeant Major in the 1-125th Battalion… all or a portion of Walz’s battalion could be mobilized to serve in Iraq within the next two years.”

The release noted that Walz “has been previously deployed during his 23 years in the National Guard, including an eight month deployment during Operation Enduring Freedom.” It added, “Although his tour of duty in Iraq might coincide with his campaign for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional seat, Walz is determined to stay in the race.”

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He was quoted saying, “As Command Sergeant Major I have a responsibility not only to ready my battalion for Iraq, but also to serve if called on. I am dedicated to serving my country to the best of my ability, whether that is in Washington DC or in Iraq.”

He went on, “I don’t want to speculate on what shape my campaign will take if I am deployed, but I have no plans to drop out of the race.”

But in the days that followed, Walz began to express doubts whether he could in fact do both. He had a long conversation with two members of his unit in its New Ulm, Minnesota, facility. One of them, Al Bonnifield, recalled that Walz no longer believed that he could do both. Walz told them he had to decide whether to join his comrades on the battlefield, or seek to represent their interests in Congress.

“He was asking what would be best for the soldiers,” Bonnifield recalled. “His feeling was, where can I do best for my soldiers? He thought he could do more in Congress than he could do if he stayed with the unit. He went on for half an hour or more, talking to us, trying to figure out what to do.”

On May 16, two months after the press release that raised the possibility he might be deployed to Iraq, Walz retired from the National Guard. He continued to campaign as his outfit was shipped off to Camp Shelby in Mississippi for pre-deployment training. Some comrades, such as Bonnifield, were supportive and would decide he made the right choice. But, as Walz must—or at least should have—foreseen, others felt he had deserted them.

His replacement on the deployment, Command Sergeant Major Thomas Behrends would remain bitter and angry years later.

“I’ve used the term coward, I’ve used the term traitor, I’ve used the term deserter,” Behrends told the Daily Beast.

The unit headed off for pre-deployment training in Mississippi, and feelings both positive and negative about Walz could only have been intensified by a late November press release. Walz continued to use his most recent rank, though he was demoted for failing to complete the Sergeants Major Academy. This release read:

“Walz supports Project Homecoming. Command Sgt. Major (ret.) Walz is asking for your help in bringing the soldiers of southern Minnesota home for the holidays.”

One soldier from a sister unit on that same deployment was stunned to learn that Walz had associated himself with that pre-Iraq holiday effort.

“Oh, my god, is that how we got those buses, the same soldiers he had abandoned just months before trying to buy their votes? Wow!” Sgt. 1st Class Ben Hatton, now retired, told the Daily Beast.

Hatton was twice wounded and left combat disabled as Walz went on to Congress as a candidate with a military background who opposed the war. Those who supported Walz’s choice saw it affirmed in his first month in office, when then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had the freshman congressman deliver the Democratic response to President George W. Bush’s Jan. 13, 2006, radio address announcing that he was sending five new brigades to change the course of the war in Iraq.

“I know that as I speak to you today, you are gravely concerned about the war in Iraq,” Walz began. “As the highest ranking enlisted soldier ever to serve in Congress and a veteran who served in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, I share your concerns. After nearly four years of combat, we have lost more than 3,000 brave Americans, tens of thousands have been wounded and we’ve spent more than $300 billion.”

He went on, “Now as the president escalates our involvement in Iraq and puts more of our troops in harm’s way, I think of the men and women I served with… just receiving letters informing them that they won’t be coming home this winter after all. After their second year-long tour of duty since 9/11, they’ll be staying in Iraq even longer for this escalation.”

Bonnifield, one of the two fellow soldiers who had listened to Walz wrestle with Tim’s Choice, later told the Daily Beast that he felt all the troops were better off having him in Congress than in Iraq.

“One of the first things he did was speak out against the surge,” Bonnifield said. “And when he was speaking out on that, that’s when my unit was extended in our tour.”

Bonnifield said he and his comrades were packing to head home when he got on Yahoo Messenger with his mother.

“My mom, excuse my language, the first thing she wrote to me was, ‘What’s this shi-t you got extended?’” he recalled.

His mother had learned of the last-minute retention on the news.

“We didn’t hear anything about it,” Bonnifield remembered, “Right up to our colonel, our battalion commander, he had no idea.”

The unit ended up serving a total of 22 months, the longest deployment of any outfit in the war. Walz continued to advocate and legislate for all troops until he left congress in 2018. The perfect political résumé also helped make him Minnesota governor.

As Walz must have anticipated, there were still those who believed he had made a shameful choice back in 2005. Behrends and another returned Minnesota guardsman, Paul Herr, wrote an open letter denouncing Walz.

“For Tim Walz to abandon his fellow soldiers and quit when they needed experienced leadership most is disheartening,” they wrote. “When the nation called, he quit.”

As Walz now strives to add the post of vice president to his résumé, his Republican counterpart JD Vance has joined in the chorus condemning Walz.

A response comes from someone who was there when Walz was making Tim’s Choice: “Everything that JD Vance said about Walz is wrong,” Bonnifield told The Daily Beast.

Of the other opinions about Walz, Bonnifield said, “I hear different things from different people. Some of them may have axes to grind, but some, I think, just have a different view of it.”