Man who served under Walz says governor retired before unit had deployment news

A man who served under Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) in the Army National Guard is backing the vice presidential nominee’s service record, asserting Walz decided to retire before his unit got deployment orders, not after.

Al Bonnifield, who served 22 years in the Minnesota National Guard, told NewsNation’s Joe Khalil that Walz, like many of the men in their unit, suspected they might be deployed soon but had been given no such official order when he decided to retire.

“He told us that he wanted to run for Congress, and he was in a tough spot, because he was pretty sure we were going to Iraq,” Bonnifield said. “We didn’t have orders. We didn’t have any kind of orders at all.” 

Bonnifield added that Walz struggled with the decision, and talked with his fellow service member for 30 to 45 minutes about, “‘What do I do? Where can I be a better person for the soldier? Where can I be a better person for Minnesota? Where can I be a better person for the United States?’”

Others who served with Walz have said similar things.

Joe Eustice, who served with Walz for years, told The Washington Post he disagreed with the governor’s politics, but Walz did not avoid combat duty and was a good soldier. At the time Walz left the unit, Eustice told the Post there had only been speculation the unit could be deployed.

“Other than having a rumor, we were not notified that we were going to be deployed,” Eustice told the Post.

Republicans on Wednesday attacked Walz, who served 24 years in the National Guard, for leaving the service before a deployment to Iraq.

“When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did?” Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), former President Trump’s running mate, said at the Michigan campaign event. “He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him.” 

But Bonnifield vehemently pushed back on the assertion that Walz abandoned his unit, calling it “wrong” and “bulls‑‑‑.”

And after Walz retired, Bonnifield said there was “a little remorse” in the unit, given he had trained many of them across a decade.

“He was our person to go to. He had the answers. He was also a father figure to us. If we had a problem we needed to talk to somebody, he was there.” 

Walz would later reach out to Bonnifield and his brother and have the two sit down to discuss ways to better push veterans affairs issues in Congress, he said.

Walz would later become the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.