Former Commander Rips Walz Over Rank 'He Did Not Earn'

 

A former battalion commander in the same Minnesota Army National Guard unit as Gov. Tim Walz took to social media on Monday to blast the vice presidential nominee for stolen valor, calling it an "affront" that Walz continues to "glom onto the title" of command sergeant major despite not completing the requisite steps to earn it.

Further, John Kolb wrote in his post to Facebook that Walz's decision to retire early from the outfit was a blessing in disguise because it led to better leadership — retired command sergeant major Thomas Behrends, who skewered Walz in an appearance on Newsmax earlier Monday.

But Walz's taking credit for rising to E9, a rank the governor "did not earn," was an affront. The Harris-Walz campaign has walked back Walz's assertion, saying the governor "misspoke" about retiring as a command sergeant major.

Kolb wrote that he has "no criticism of [Walz's] service as an E7 or E8." However, "I cannot say the same thing of his service sitting, frocked, in the CSM [command sergeant major] chair. He did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9.

"It is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title," Kolb wrote. "I can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, it does not make me a pilot."

Kolb wrote that when Walz retired shortly before a deployment to Iraq was close to happening, Walz "unwittingly got out of the way for better leadership" — Behrends.

Behrends, Kolb wrote, "ran toward and not away from guns."

Behrends told Newsmax on Monday that Walz is a "liar and a fraud."

Behrends said there are "seven Army values and [Walz is] the opposite of every one of them," adding that, "we do not want that as a person that is one step away from being commander in chief."

In addition to his rank, Walz also invited criticism when a video from 2018 surfaced of him talking about handling weapons that he used "in war." Walz retired before he ever saw any combat in Iraq or Afghanistan. He was in a support role while stationed in Italy.

"When someone says he misspoke on something as serious as this, that means they are a liar," Behrends said.

Mark Swanson ✉

Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.

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