Veteran who served in Tim Walz's battalion addresses stolen valor accusations: 'Far darker than people think'

A veteran who served with Kamala Harris running mate Gov. Tim Walz accused him of embellishing his time in the service and abandoning his unit just before they deployed.

In an interview Wednesday on "The Ingraham Angle," Ret. Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends, who said he was a member of Walz's battalion, scolded the Minnesota governor for misleading the American public about his military career. 

His service concluded when he retired from his unit in the Minnesota National Guard right before they deployed to Iraq in 2005, the New York Post reported. The Minnesota National Guard told Fox News Walz's unit was not given deployment orders to Iraq until July and he had put his retirement papers in five to seven  months prior to his retirement in that May 2005.

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Asked about Trump running mate Sen. JD Vance's accusation that Walz is guilty of "stolen valor," the National Guard veteran told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that it's "far darker than a lot of people think."

"He's used the rank that he never achieved in order to advance his political career," he said. "I mean, he still says he's a retired command sergeant major to this day, and he's not. He uses the rank of others to make it look like he's a better person than he is."

Questions emerged about Walz's rhetoric surrounding his time in the service after Vice President Kamala Harris announced him as her running mate on the 2024 Democratic ticket. 

Walz is described as a retired "command sergeant major" in his governor's website biography and has also claimed he carried a gun "in war," despite never experiencing active combat.

Ingraham, however, said the Minnesota National Guard told the "Angle" he retired as a master sergeant.

"To most people, that would mean that he was actually in combat, carrying a weapon in a combat zone and getting combat pay and in a dangerous and hostile environment where he is getting shot at," Behrends said.

"I mean, if he thinks Italy was a combat zone or a war zone, and he was carrying that in war, he's delusional," he added.

Behrends said Walz had been promoted to command sergeant major in 2004, but claimed he was required to serve two additional years or the promotion would be void.

His early retirement terminated the promotion, reducing his rank to master sergeant, Behrends said.

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"What he did, basically, was he quit. He didn't complete that condition of doing two years after graduation, so he gets reduced to a master sergeant, and that's what he is right now, is a retired master sergeant."

In statement to Fox News, Army Lt. Col. Ryan Rossman, Minnesota National Guard's director of Operations, explained Walz's rank at the time of his retirement:

"He was technically a Command Sgt Major when he deployed to Europe with his battalion but to RETIRE as a CSM you have to go through a final course which he had not completed so from a benefits perspective the Army retired him as a Master Sgt (lower enlisted rank.) But according to National Guard records he was a Command Sgt Major technically when deployed. The lower rank was as a result of benefit requirements and a technicality."

The campaign issued a statement on the matter: "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 our Vice President of the United States, he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families." 

Walz served as the ranking member on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, not the chair.

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The response didn't sit well with Behrends.

"From what I get from the soldiers that I went to Iraq with, probably 98% of them are completely against him embellishing his record," he said. "Don't try to make it look like you were a command sergeant major. Don't try to make it look like you were going to some place that was in support of Operation Enduring Freedom… that's just all embellishment and lies to try to make things look better."

Tom Schilling, who also said he was a member of Walz's battalion, slammed his actions as "dishonorable" during an interview on "Jesse Watters Primetime."

"I have my stories about what he did to the military, when he left us like that, and I was kind of like, ‘Are you kidding me?’" Schilling said, recalling his reaction when he heard Harris tapped Walz as her running mate.

"We all did what we were supposed to do, we did the right thing, and it's dishonorable what he did," Schilling said. "He left somebody else to take over his spot. He just ditched us."

Walz's team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from "The Ingraham Angle."