{"id":7097,"date":"2024-08-10T10:20:41","date_gmt":"2024-08-10T10:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/what-we-know-about-military-records-of-walz-and-vance\/"},"modified":"2024-08-10T10:20:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-10T10:20:41","slug":"what-we-know-about-military-records-of-walz-and-vance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/what-we-know-about-military-records-of-walz-and-vance\/","title":{"rendered":"What we know about military records of Walz and Vance"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz’s military record has been under scrutiny since he was announced as Kamala Harris’s running mate.<\/p>\n

Historic accusations made by some veterans have been revived by his opposite number, Republican JD Vance, who himself served in the military.<\/p>\n

Mr Vance says that Mr Walz intentionally avoided combat in Iraq by resigning shortly before his unit was deployed there, and that he has been dishonest about his role in the military.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve looked into his record and the military service of Mr Vance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Why did Walz retire from the military?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Mr Vance claimed: \u201cWhen Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several former National Guard colleagues have previously publicly voiced frustrations at Mr Walz\u2019s decision to leave their unit before deployment to Iraq – but others have rejected assertions that he retired to avoid combat duty.<\/p>\n

Mr Walz served for 24 years in the Army National Guard, a military force which is usually deployed within the US to respond to events such as natural disasters, but is also part of the US Army\u2019s reserve.<\/p>\n

In February 2005, while he was still in the National Guard, Mr Walz filed an application<\/a> to run to be elected as a member of Congress from Minnesota.<\/p>\n

The following month it was announced that there would be \u201ca possible partial mobilisation of roughly 2,000 troops from the Minnesota National Guard\u201d to Iraq within the next two years, according to a 2005 press release<\/a> from Mr Walz\u2019s congressional campaign.<\/p>\n

In the statement, Mr Walz said: \u201cI do not yet know if my artillery unit will be part of this mobilisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI don\u2019t want to speculate on what shape my campaign will take if I am deployed, but I have no plans to drop out of the race.”<\/p>\n

Mr Walz then retired from the National Guard in May 2005, which he later said was so he could focus fully on running for Congress.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear exactly when he submitted his resignation notice. We\u2019ve asked both the National Guard and the Harris campaign when this was.<\/p>\n

His National Guard unit received orders to mobilise for Iraq in July 2005, and was sent there in March 2006, according to the battalion\u2019s history page.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kamala Harris announced Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Did Walz ever experience combat?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Mr Vance also says Mr Walz made \u201cdishonest\u201d claims about serving in combat in a video promoted by the Harris campaign.<\/p>\n

During a clip in which he is talking about gun control<\/a> in the US, he appears to say he carried weapons in war himself, according to the transcription from the campaign.<\/p>\n

But what he actually meant is not entirely clear.<\/p>\n

Mr Walz went to Italy with the National Guard in 2003 as part of support for the US war in Afghanistan – but he was never deployed to an active war zone.<\/p>\n

Responding to this claim about Mr Walz, a Harris campaign spokesperson said: \u201cIn his 24 years of service, the Governor carried, fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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