Former commander retired Army Command Sergeant Major Doug Julin has come forward to confirm that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz knew about an upcoming deployment to Iraq months in advance of retiring.
Walz has been in the national spotlight since being selected as Kamala Harris's running mate in November and the information that has come out about him has been damning.
Walz has previously claimed to carry weapons in combat and also boasted of retiring at the highest rank of Command Master Sergeant, both claims of which were false and constitute stolen valor which is a misdemeanor under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005.
Walz, who was the command sergeant major of his battalion at the time, directly assured Julin that he would go with the unit to Iraq. This was in the Fall of 2004 which contradicts Walz's claims that he retired before he knew about the deployment to Iraq.
Walz's unit would go to deploy to Iraq without him while he began an illustrious career in politics largely due to his record that he heavily embellished.
Julin told CNN that he and other senior leaders were informed about the upcoming deployment saying, "We were informed that we would be alerted to go to Iraq within the next upcoming year or time period out there, start preparing your team, get your team together and let’s get the process in play."
He then spoke to Walz who was serving as “commander sergeant major," which was a conditional rank that he wouldn't retain due to retiring before completing the academy.
That becomes an issue because Walz claims he retired as a command sergeant major when in fact he retired as a master sergeant.
Claiming a rank you didn't actually have is considered stolen valor and Walz claimed this rank throughout his political career.
Julin said Walz was conditionally serving in that rank when he spoke with him about the upcoming deployment. At this point, Walz had filed paperwork to run for Congress but Julin said that as Walz hadn't been nominated, he assured Julin that he would deploy.
However, at the next major meeting for the unit, Walz was gone. Julin told CNN, "The individual that approved this was two levels higher than myself in the enlisted corps, and should have had Tim Walz come back to me and discuss this as to why he was not going forward now, after he had already told me he was going forward."
The White House has already scrubbed Walz's biography of any claims of holding the rank of command sergeant major but there has been no apology or explanation from Walz which likely won't sit well with veterans.
There are more rumblings of trouble for Walz from the veteran community with former colleagues and subordinates coming forward to talk about Walz's sudden retirement and abandonment of his unit in 2005.
Senator JD Vance, who is himself a veteran who did a tour in Iraq as a combat correspondent in the Marines, has seized on the allegations of stolen valor and is shredding Walz.
One can only imagine how brutal the debate will be for Walz as Vance will force him to explain the stolen valor and dishonesty that he used to further his political goals.
