In 2005, as the war in Iraq became a violent insurgency against coalition forces occupying the country, Tim Walz — a senior non-commissioned officer who had begun his military career as an infantryman with the Nebraska National Guard — abandoned his Minnesota National Guard field artillery unit by retiring just as the unit was being called up to serve under fire.
Title 10 of the United States Code allows the president to order National Guard forces to active duty in their reserve component status or militia status. This is known as “federalizing” the guard.
Those unfamiliar with the National Guard activation and deployment process may not understand that this procedure is announced well in advance. Senior officers and non-commissioned officers in a unit being activated under Title 10 learn well before others of their impending call-up to go to war. Walz was in such a position, and he likely knew this when he submitted his retirement paperwork.
In 2002, one year after 9/11, the Army had put a “stop-loss” on all retirements and soldiers who were scheduled to leave active duty. But for the National Guard overall, this mandate did not apply until a unit’s personnel had been officially activated under Title 10.
Despite his misrepresentations, Walz did not retire as a command sergeant major. According to the regulations governing promotion, Master Sgt. Walz was required to complete the Sergeant Major Academy to attain this rank. A critical aspect to attend this academy was his signed agreement to serve an additional two years of service in uniform at that rank, were he to successfully graduate. Walz’s deceit continued when he was elected to the House of Representatives and had a challenge coin made depicting the rank he did not earn.
In 2001, I was assigned to Company A, 1-19th Special Forces Group (Airborne), a Washington National Guard unit. We were completing our unit recertification at Fort Polk, La., on Sept. 11. Within a matter of hours, our commander was informed that we could expect Title 10 orders, and our destination was Afghanistan.
As it turned out, our company was selected to deploy in 2002, first to Kuwait (for the ramp-up for the coming ground war in Iraq), and then to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. All of our operational detachments went forward into Iraq, including our headquarters element.
Rewind to April 2002. In my civilian life, I was selected by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office to join the department. This offer included a promotion from where I was working as a police officer, giving our family the opportunity to return to Central Oregon.
When offered the position by Sheriff Les Stiles (himself a military veteran with both active duty and National Guard service), I did what was expected of me. I shared that I was preparing to deploy overseas within months. I said I expected that we would fall under Title 10 and remain so for at least a year, if not more.
Sheriff Stiles understood. He had to have the position filled ASAP. Stiles added privately that he would save a deputy’s position for me once I’d come off orders. “Just stay alive. You have a place here,” he told me. And two years later, he kept his word.
My mother’s side of my family is from Minnesota. I have ancestors who fought in both the Civil War and in World War I who are buried in northern Minnesota with honor. After 9/11, the true patriots of Minnesota once again stepped into the breach. Many Minnesota National Guard soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice for the United States when called upon to serve under fire.
As his men were deployed, Tim Walz was left, at his own request, behind. They were not impressed by his conduct.
If Walz really is so “damn proud” of his record, then why was he so dishonest about it afterward? Why did he misrepresent the manner in which he retired? Why did he misrepresent his rank upon retirement, even allowing former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to state it falsely in his presence without correcting the record?
Why did Walz misrepresent himself as a combat veteran, stating that he had carried “weapons of war…in war,” when he didn’t? Why did he nod in affirmation when others said of him, to his face, on video disseminated nationwide, that he had served in Afghanistan, when he never did so?
Greg Walker served as a Green Beret in El Salvador while on active duty in the Army and later in Operation Iraqi Freedom with the Army National Guard 19th Special Forces Group. He received the Combat Infantryman Badge with a star for both campaigns.