Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, accused his opponent of “stolen valor garbage” and accused him of having “abandoned” his unit in 2005 ahead of a planned deployment to Iraq.
Vance blasted Tim Walz on the campaign trail Wednesday as stories have reemerged from his 2018 run for governor of veterans criticizing him at the time for “embellishing” his military career. Retired veterans at the time said in a Facebook post that Walz retired from his 24-year tenure in the National Guard after learning that his battalion would be deployed to Iraq.
“He says that we shouldn’t allow weapons that I used in war to be on the American streets. Well, I wonder Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? What was this weapon that you carried into war given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq,” Vance said.
“He has not spent a day in a combat zone,” he said. “What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you’re not.”
Other vets have come to Walz’s defense over the criticism that’s been lobbed years ago and back in the forefront, reminiscent of the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” campaign that badly damaged Democrat John Kerry’s 2004 presidential prospects.
Chris LaCivita, the Republican strategist who was behind the movement, is a senior strategist for Trump.
Walz, 60, was in the Army National Guard and reached the rank of command sergeant major prior to retiring.
“Many followers not familiar with the military are asking me ‘so what’s the big deal about a command sergeant major?’ Walz joined at 18 as a private. Rose through the NCO (sergeant) ranks, each requiring extreme competence at increasingly demanding jobs with more people & responsibility at every rank,” retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling said on X.
“They know what they’re doing. They uphold standards,” he said. “So, those are my thoughts on Command Sergeants Major. While I don’t know the details of @GovTimWalz career wearing the cloth of our country, just the fact that he volunteered to serve and wore the CSM rank tells me a lot about him.”
Vance is a former Marine who was deployed to Iraq.
NPR’s Quil Lawrence, who covers national security, climate and veterans’ issues nationwide, reported Vance worked as a “civil affairs Marine” who helped escort journalists around the wartorn country. He noted Vance has been careful not to say he served in a combat role.
“There’s a civilian-military divide in this country and very people have firsthand experience, or even family experience, of military service, and I think most veterans, they really don’t care what role you had with the proviso that at long as you’re not bragging about doing something that you didn’t do. And he hasn’t done that,” Lawrence said.
“He was in Iraq in a very tough year in Iraq. I can tell you, personally, that it was a very violent year and a lot of the combat in Iraq and Afghanistan wasn’t really any sort of a frontline combat gunfight,” he said. “It was convoys getting blown up and mortars dropping anywhere on anyone, so I think veterans give Vance credit for going and as he says, serving honorably. And he has not been saying that he did anything other than what he did, which was go over and serve honorably.”
Trump, meanwhile, avoided service in the Vietnam War through student and medical deferments.
He said he got a medical deferment for a bone spur in a foot, but could not remember which foot when he talked about it in 2015. He added that he did not serve because he “was not a big fan of the Vietnam War. I wasn’t a protester, but the Vietnam War was a disaster for our country.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
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