A military veteran who served in the same battalion as radical Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has accused the Democrat vice presidential nominee of having “ditched” his fellow troops to escape deployment to Iraq.
Tom Schilling said Walz “ditched” him and other soldiers just before they were deployed to Iraq in 2005.
“We all did what we were supposed to do, we did the right thing,” Schilling said on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” Wednesday.
“It’s dishonorable what he did.
“He left somebody else up to take over his spot.
“He just ditched us,” Schilling said of Walz.
“It would be a disaster if he ever got to be the commander-in-chief,” Schilling said of Walz.
Earlier this week, Walz was tapped as Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s 2024 running mate.
Walz is described as a retired “command sergeant major” in his governor’s website biography.
The governor has also claimed he carried a gun “in war,” despite never experiencing active combat.
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Walz suddenly retired from the Minnesota National Guard shortly before he would have been deployed to Iraq in 2005.
“He probably knew he wasn’t a good leader and he wanted to do something else, and we did get a really good leader with Command Sgt. Behrends,” Schilling said.
Ret. Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends, who also served with Walz, has also spoken out publicly against Walz’s description of his military career.
“He’s used the rank that he never achieved in order to advance his political career,” Behrends said of Walz on Fox News.
“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.”
Army Lt. Col. Ryan Rossman, Minnesota National Guard’s Director of Operations, detailed Walz’s service in a statement to Fox News:
“He held multiple positions within field artillery such as firing battery chief, operations sergeant, first sergeant, and culminated his career serving as the command sergeant major for the battalion.
“He retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”
Recalling Walz’s policies during the 2020 riots and the pandemic, Schilling said:
“When I see the leadership that Walz offered to Minnesota, I’m thankful he didn’t come over there, or we’d have brought back a lot more body bags.
“Tom Behrends, he saved a lot of lives for us by being a good leader.”
When asked about claims that Walz reportedly made about carrying a weapon during war, Schilling responded that it was “stolen valor.”
“There you go with the stolen valor again,” he said.
“It’s what he made up to advance himself in a political world.”
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The Harris-Walz campaign previously issued a statement on the controversy surrounding Walz’s military career:
“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.”
However, the statement makes no mention of Walz’s false claims that he fought in a “war.”
Walz was deployed to Italy with the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery on Aug. 3, 2003, to support Operation Enduring Freedom.
He was stationed at Vicenza, Italy, during his deployment and returned to Minnesota in April 2004.
Walz never fought in any wars.
