(The Center Square) – Of Texas' nearly a dozen veterans serving in Congress, several are weighing in on a military service controversy surrounding the presumed vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who served in the Army National Guard for 24 years.
Questions and criticisms about Walz's military record have existed since 2006 when he first ran for Congress and resurfaced after he was chosen by Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate, as her running mate.
At a 2018 event, Walz claimed his goal was to ban Americans from purchasing "weapons of war that I carried in war," bringing criticism from veterans nationwide because he never fought in combat. Walz served in the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery. In 2003, he was deployed to Vicenza, Italy, to support Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. He was never in Afghanistan and never saw combat there.
On Friday, a Harris campaign spokesperson said Walz "misspoke;" neither Harris nor Walz have issued a statement or provided any clarification.
Walz also claimed that in 2005, before his unit deployed to Iraq, he retired from the Guard to run for Congress and his rank was command sergeant major. Military records show that Walz finished his service at master sergeant, retiring before he could complete academy requirements to achieve the higher rank.
Responding to criticism of his claims in 2006, Walz said he didn't mislead anyone, retired one year before his battalion was deployed to Iraq, and was proud of his military service.
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the first to recently criticize Walz, argues he's still "lying" about when and why he says he retired and his rank. He also asked why Harris chose as her running mate "a person who has lied about their military service? I think that is a serious lapse in judgment. I don't want to hear from a campaign spokesperson of Kamala Harris. I want to hear from Kamala Harris herself."
Agreeing with Vance, Navy veteran U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Republican from North Texas, called Walz a "fraud" and "a lying coward who … was NEVER in harm's way. He never deployed to Iraq. He never deployed to Afghanistan." He said Walz's "'war stories' disgust me and disgust most other veterans thatactually deployed in defense of this country! SIMPLY PUT, YOU ARE PATHETIC AND A NATIONAL DISGRACE!!!"
Jackson, who served as the former White House physician for presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, has called for President Joe Biden to step down, citing his failing mental and physical health. He has also repeatedly called on Harris to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office and, because she won't, argues both Biden and Harris are unfit for office. U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., agrees, arguing Harris has breached the public trust by hiding Biden's health problems and filed articles to impeach her.
In a series of social media posts, U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Houston, an Army combat veteran and West Point graduate, said , "You DON'T have to lie about your service and if you're running for VP you SHOULDN'T be lying about your service. Tim Walz chose NOT to go combat. I deployed to combat. I lost friends and classmates in combat. The veteran community is outraged and for good reason.
"If you did not serve in a combat zone and you claim that you did under any capacity, that's a lie. A slap in the face to all of us who actually did…and those that didn't make it back."
Referring to Walz's remarks about AR-15s, Hunt said, "If Tim Walz is claiming that a civilian made AR-15 is a weapon a war then it just proves he's NEVER been to war. I'm so tired of the wordsmiths in the Democrat party gaslighting half the country on guns when they know absolutely NOTHING about them."
Navy Seal and wounded veteran U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw said , "Since running for Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz has been caught in controversy for exaggerating his military record."
He also clarified that "many veterans in politics embellish their military career" when using the word "combat," which "is plagued by purposeful misdirection. A lot of vets say they were deployed 'into combat.' It's often [expletive]. Very few of us actually leave the safety of the base, whether in Iraq or Afghanistan. But everyone who deploys is technically deployed in a 'combat zone,'and so they advertise 'combat experience' on their resumes. Nothing wrong with serving in a role that doesn't require combat. It's more than most people have done. But if you're trying to run for office and using 'combat'as a way to gain credibility, that's wrong."
He also said Walz "shouldn't be talking about 'carrying weapons into combat' when he did no such thing," and it appears that Walz "lied about his rank of Retired Command Sergeant Major," noting that "the Harris campaign had to scrub his rank from their website."
Air Force veteran August Pfluger, a Republican from west Texas, shared his observations from serving with Walz in Congress. When they served on the House Veterans Committee, he said Walz "opposed the most important pro-veteran legislation passed in decades just because it was President Trump's. The Mission Act was very bipartisan, but Walz opposed giving our veterans better access to health care because he didn't want to give President Trump a win. Keep in mind, this is the same guy who wants to give illegal aliens free health care and driver's licenses. Walz is bad for our veterans and horrible for our country."
No Democratic members of Texas' congressional delegation are U.S. military veterans.
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