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I'm out of the loop on this. Any chance I could ask someone to catch me up?
Walz was in the National Guard for 24 years and put in his resignation well before he learned his unit would be deployed to Iraq.
Vance - who is a Marine who served one tour as a journalist and never saw combat - attacked Walz for 'stolen valor' as he never saw combat.
It's massively hypocritical, has been tried before successfully against John Kerry, (Swiftboating was the term back then) and is coming from the VP of a candidate who avoided Vietnam due to crippling bone spurs, which should make it hard to do shit like play golf.
Both Vance and Walz are veterans. Vance has no grounds to attack Walz's service at all.
Also, he put in his resignation when he was running for congress. I believe he would have been required to retire anyways when he was elected.
Not quite. But he would have left unit leadership anyways. The real hilarious bit is Vance left his unit in 2007. If he's so worried about leaving teammates to go to Iraq without them then he most definitely is guilty of the same sin.
It's a complete nonsense attack. The military is built on turnover.
Tim Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard. He served 20 years, got his retirement, and came back after 9/11 for 4 more years. His final rank was command sergeant major, but he wasn't in the position for long enough to retire from that position. He officially retired to go into politics. Months later his squad was told they were being deployed to Iraq.
The attacks have been:
Claiming Coast Guard isn't "real" service.
Harris's campaign erroneously listing his final rank as his retired rank.
Claiming he avoided deployment, despite serving for 24 years and not knowing that they were deploying at the time he filed to leave.
There are probably some other attacks. But those are the main ones I've seen.
I remember attacks in GWB for avoiding the Vietnam draft by taking service in the Air National Guard, which he may or may not have taken seriously. People of a certain age may still see National Guard as a form of draft dodging akin to "bone spurs," but it's hard to argue that for a man who spent 20 years there.
When I hear the dude was a teacher and National Guardsman for 20 years, I'm pretty sure that's just a guy who took a second job because teaching doesn't pay shit.
No, he joined the national guard first.
They paid for his college education to become a teacher.
This article summarizes the case. VP Walz left the
Marine CorpsNational Guard after 24 years, and some people accuse him of leaving just before the iraq invasion.Also something that I feel needs to be emphasized: Walz fully retired at 20 years and reenlisted after 9/11 for another 4 year tour
Minor correction: Walz was in the national guard.
Did he go to the first invasion?
Afghanistan or iraq part 1 (1991 desert Storm)? It's not mentioned anywhere so probably not.
Indeed. Iraq 2 was the first time National Guard was deployed abroad if I’m not mistaken.
by taking service in the Air National Guard, which he may or may not have taken seriously. People of a certain age may still see National Guard as a form of draft dodging akin to “bone spurs,” but it’s hard to argue that for a man who spent 20 years there.
When I hear the dude was a teacher and National Guards
My Grand-dad joined the Army National Guard for Korea. They've definitely been deployed overseas before.