Frank Ryan: Tim Walz’s conduct unbecoming
Shortly after Gov. Walz was picked as Vice President Harris’s running mate, stories about stolen valor surfaced, with the focus being on then-Sergeant Major Walz’s leaving a military unit before a deployment.
For me, as a Marine veteran of almost 40 years, Tim Walz’s conduct violated every principle of leadership that noncommissioned officers, staff noncommissioned officers and officers hold as bedrock to their service to our great nation.
In the wake of the campaign controversy, Gov. Walz’s responses and lack thereof cause me even more concern. Such behavior cements my view that he does not understand his errors and is unfit to serve as a Vice President of the United States. Vice President Harris should replace him immediately.
My reaction stems largely from the very dismissive attitude of the press to the issues surrounding Gov. Walz’s National Guard service. To most media, the story seems a “nothing burger,” a distraction, or political posturing at best.
To those of us who have served, whether in harm’s way or not, his conduct is an affront.
December 2024 will mark the 20th anniversary of my being recalled to active duty out of military retirement from the Marine Corps reserve. I was one of the thousands who eventually would be so summoned to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. This was about the same time that Tim Walz decided to “retire,” his unit having received advanced notification of service at the same time as I was called.
Neither I nor my family hesitated to answer the call of duty.
It was a requirement for us to leave our homes and deploy to a combat zone to serve a greater good. For the thousands of Americans who died and for their families, the sacrifice will be forever remembered and emblazoned in our hearts and minds.
For those who have not served in the military, please allow me to put the issues in perspective.
First, Tim Walz was selected to attend the schools necessary to become a Sergeant Major — a senior noncommissioned officer rank. As a Marine Reserve Colonel, I can assure you that every Sergeant Major with whom I served was key to our command. We were joined in lockstep to ensure the safety of our Marines (and other service members with us) and accomplish the mission.
Tim Walz’s acceptance of promotion to Sergeant Major required him to complete the necessary schooling and to serve an additional time period afterward. His selection meant that someone else was denied a taxpayer-funded opportunity, which he ultimately threw away for personal reasons.
Accepting a military promotion is a huge obligation and responsibility.
Enlisting in the military is a commitment that must be honored. Not to do so may result in a less than Honorable Discharge. Those graduating from service academies must serve five years after being commissioned. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Tim Walz’s early departure before completing the service requirements for Sergeant Major was an instance of a person “with connections” getting special treatment not afforded to first-term service members. Most senior members of the military would never consider using their position or political power in such a way, but apparently that was not a problem for Tim Walz.
Second, Tim Walz retired at a time when he would have been needed the most — a time of deployment to danger where his unit and its young soldiers sorely needed the leadership his experience and training were expected to provide.
I know the acuteness of the need because I was in Iraq at about the same time Tim Walz’s unit would have been missing him. The intensity of combat was picking up. Improvised explosive devices were taking a toll on our forces.
What Tim Walz did was a dishonorable abandonment of his soldiers. He apparently felt ok with somebody else taking his place — with some other family going without their father or husband.
In 2005, Tim Walz had a seminal event — one that defines who you really are. It was a test of character that he failed. He chose to retire rather than honor his commitments to his soldiers, his command, his state and our nation.
He does not deserve a second chance to fail us again — this time at the highest level.
Col. Frank Ryan, USMCR (Ret.), served in Iraq and briefly in Afghanistan. He served three terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and was on the Board of Trustees of Pennsylvania’s teacher pension system. He is a CPA specializing in corporate restructuring and has served on numerous boards of publicly traded and non-profit organizations. He can be reached at FRYAN1951@aol.com.
Frank, first off: thank you for your service to this country.
Second: thank you for sharing your insight to those who do not understand his lack of commitment to his unit, let alone his country. The only redeeming consequence is that his cowardice may have actually saved his soldiers lives who actually deployed and were assigned brave leadership in Walz’s stead. I fear for our military given the current condition of readiness and disrespectful liberal wokeness policies that have infected their ranks. We need a commander-in-chief who understands this, and it is NOT Kamala Harris.
1. Tim Walz retired after 24 years in the military.
2. He served his retirement papers long before his unit was notified they were going to be deployed.
3. Retiring from the military takes months to process, you can’t give two weeks notice.
4. Please tell us how you feel about Trump dodging the draft, calling John McCain a loser for being captured and tortured, or Trump’s contempt for Army Captain Luis Avila.
1. No one is criticizing Tim Walz for how long he served, but the falsehoods and lies he’s given of how he served.
1a. – He repeatedly in the 2000s and 2010s presented himself as having been in direct combat in Iraq/Afghanistan when he had not, instead being stationed in a security/logistical role at a base in Italy. Which would be fine… if that’s what he had said in the first place. But he doesn’t and when called out on it, tries to say “Well, I misspoke”. Well I don’t know about you, but lying about that is pretty serious.
1b- Claims he carried a weapon in war (as in, into battle) to inflate his proclaimed knowledge of weapons when pushing for legislation for or against them. Again, he did not see a single moment of conflict.
1c. He routinely campaigned for congress/governor as a veteran who saw combat. He once went to protest against then President George W. Bush and when confronted by Secret Service about his protesting activity, he claimed they wouldn’t want the controversy of arresting a combat veteran.
1d. The one time he did visit Bagram Airbase, was as a member of congress after he had retired from the Guard, NOT as an active duty soldier despite his claims
1e. This was bad enough, in the late 2000s, several other veterans confronted his campaign staff and wanted Walz to correct the record as they considered it a criminal act of Stolen Valor.
1f. He continues to claim his retired rank was Command Sergeant Major. This was a rank he had only provisionally and he lost because he did not complete the requisite training before he chose to retire and was bumped back down to Master Sergeant
I will even cite for you evidence from Snopes and Washington Post:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/fact-check-the-controversy-over-tim-walzs-claim-to-have-visited-bagram-airfield-in-iraq-explained/ar-AA1oGzi9
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/assessing-claims-about-tim-walz-s-military-service/ar-AA1owquI
2. This is false not only according to multiple members of Walz’s unit at the time (including his direct superior officer and the unit’s chaplain) and they have given multiple interviews to the alphabet soups of 24/7 News Outlets, but also Waltz 2005 era campaign stated he was aware of the chance of being deployed. They were issued Warning Orders (a heads up that they should expect deployment orders in the future), that Walz had informed the unit he would go with them on their deployment. However which way you slice it, he knew the unit was going to be deployed, even issued a campaign statement at the time acknowledging this was a possibility, and instead quit/retired/whatever.
3. According to his superior officer, Walz intentionally circumvented the chain of command and found someone higher up the ranks to fast track his retirement. It apparently blindsided his direct superior officer and unit.
4. What’s your points about the “Whatabout”ism? Democrat party saw no problems doing the same with Clinton or Biden on draft dodging/deferment. Democrats have routinely rewarded the worst insults towards veterans when you find it convenient. John McCain was a ‘fascist warmongering dictator’ in 2008 according to the Democrats, and ‘Hero of Democracy’ in 2016 until his passing when he voted against Trump. The rest of your statement’s a pointless Kafka Trap to hide your own complacency in encouraging that very behavior you allegedly despise.
Abridged version and counter to Judah.
No one is remarking on the years of duty Walz served, but how he frequently misrepresented and lied about the nature of his service. He has no one to blame but himself for falsely identifying as having served in combat or even deployed to Iraq/Afghanistan, and the rank he retired with, instead citing a provisional rank he lost due to failure to complete the requirements for it, and not accurately presenting his visit to Bagram Air base as post retirement when he was a member of Congress
Walz 2005 campaign acknowledged he knew his unit may be deployed, and claimed his intent to deploy with them at the time, even through the election and possibly even as a member of congress. His unit had received prior notice to be ready to receive deployment orders, which multiple members of his unit verified to media.
His commanding officer alleges that Walz went around him and the chain of command to find someone to fast track his retirement before deployment, and was blindsided by it.
Judah’s 4th point is a Kafka trap that plays “What about?” games while complacently not holding the same standard to the Democrats for voting for Bill Clinton and Biden for their own draft dodges/deferments. It ignores the routine insults that members of the Democrat party has routinely thrown at service members, including Walz himself, who claimed that the National Guard are just “20 year old cooks” not fit for helping to control the 2020 Riots and attacks on Minneapolis police that happened under his watch as Governor. Joe Biden’s having insulted and treated other service members as being nowhere near as good as his late son Beau.
Excellent commentary and research Zero. Don’t expect the lying liberals to respond to facts, though.
Right on Judah. These charges are bulls**t! He submitted his retirement papers months prior to notification of his unit’s deployment. His unit was fully staffed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/21/us/politics/tim-walz-military-service.html
Read it. Then apologize.