{"id":2323250,"date":"2024-08-12T16:04:09","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T20:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/walzs-former-military-commander-blasts-vp-hopeful-as-stolen-valor-controversy-foments-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-08-12T16:07:52","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T20:07:52","slug":"walzs-former-military-commander-blasts-vp-hopeful-as-stolen-valor-controversy-foments-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/walzs-former-military-commander-blasts-vp-hopeful-as-stolen-valor-controversy-foments-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Walz\u2019s former military commander blasts VP hopeful as \u2018stolen valor\u2019 controversy foments &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwalzs-former-military-commander-blasts-vp-hopeful-as-stolen-valor-controversy-foments-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2323250&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the controversy surrounding Tim \u2063Walz, the Democratic Governor of\u2063 Minnesota, and his military credentials, particularly in relation\u200d to his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris. John Kolb, Walz&#8217;s former battalion commander, criticized him for allegedly inflating\u2062 his military service and for not having completed the necessary requirements to hold the rank of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-admin-ignored-warnings-about-withdrawing-troops-from-afghanistan-military-leaders-say\/\" title=\"Military leaders say the Biden administration disregarded Afghanistan troop withdrawal warnings.\">command sergeant major<\/a>. Kolb expressed his frustration over Walz&#8217;s claims and suggested that he had &#8220;broken&#8221; his enlistment contract. The \u200ccriticism intensified after Walz implied he served in combat,\u200b prompting accusations \u2062of &#8220;stolen valor&#8221; from political opponents, \u200bincluding former \u200cPresident \u200cDonald Trump&#8217;s running\u2063 mate, Senator J.D. Vance. The\u2063 article highlights the implications of these allegations\u2064 on Walz&#8217;s political career and the ongoing backlash from both \u200cmilitary figures and political adversaries.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Walz&rsquo;s former military commander blasts VP hopeful as &lsquo;stolen valor&rsquo; controversy foments<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1727384\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tim-walz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Tim Walz<\/a>&rsquo;s (D-MN) ex-battalion commander had harsh words for Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Kamala Harris<\/a>&rsquo;s running mate, who is under fire for allegedly inflating his military career.<\/p>\n<p>John Kolb, the former battalion commander of&nbsp;Walz&rsquo;s Army National Guard unit, said he welcomed the Minnesota Democrat&rsquo;s early retirement from the military.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He got out of the way for better leadership,&rdquo; Kolb wrote in a scathing review of Harris&rsquo;s No. 2.<\/p>\n<p>Since he stepped into his role as Harris&rsquo;s running mate, Walz has faced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3116271\/harris-campaign-changes-walz-military-biography-backlash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>criticism<\/a> for representing himself as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/vp-pick-tim-walz-accused-of-stolen-valor-by-former-military-colleagues-he-abandoned-us\/\" title=\"VP Pick Tim Walz Accused of &#039;Stolen Valor&#039; by Former Military Colleagues: &#039;He Abandoned Us&#039;\">retired command sergeant major<\/a>. Critics have said that while Walz did serve in the role, the title was later rescinded because the Minnesota governor failed to complete the necessary paperwork to retain the title. Last week, Walz&rsquo;s online campaign biography was quietly updated to say that he had &ldquo;served as a command sergeant major.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Walz walks toward Air Force Two on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/Julia Nikhinson, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Kolb weighed in on the controversy, claiming that Walz &ldquo;did not successfully complete any assignment as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tim-walz-misrepresented-his-military-service\/\" title=\"Tim Walz Misrepresented His Military Service\">sergeant major&#038;rdquo<\/a>; and &ldquo;broke&rdquo; his enlistment contract.<\/p>\n<p>The former military commander wrote that he was infuriated by&nbsp;Walz &ldquo;sitting, frocked, in the [command sergeant major] chair&rdquo; when he &ldquo;did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Walz has also been chastised for implying he served in combat. After a video surfaced on social media of Walz saying he had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/harris-campaign-changes-walzs-military-biography-after-backlash-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Harris campaign changes Walz\u2019s military biography after backlash - Washington Examiner\">carried weapons &#038;ldquo<\/a>;in war,&rdquo; former President Donald Trump&rsquo;s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), swiftly accused him of perpetuating &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-jd-vance-drops-bomb-on-tim-walz-completely-dismantles-him-over-military-betrayal-when-were-you-ever-in-war\/\" title=\"Watch: JD Vance Drops Bomb on Tim Walz, Completely Dismantles Him Over Military Betrayal - &#039;When Were You Ever in War?&#039;\">stolen valor garbage<\/a>.&rdquo; On Saturday, the Harris campaign admitted Walz &ldquo;misspoke.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Vance has also suggested that Walz retired early to avoid deployment to Afghanistan. Kolb appeared to agree with Trump&rsquo;s running mate in a Facebook post shared by the former president&rsquo;s son.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Holy shit, Tim Walz&#8217;s Battalion Commander absolutely destroys him over his Stolen Valor. How long is the leftwing media going to keep ignoring all of this? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eyu2tnMOUs\">pic.twitter.com\/eyu2tnMOUs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DonaldJTrumpJr\/status\/1822723589881090289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Similarly, when the demands of service and leadership at the highest level got real, he chose another path,&rdquo; Kolb said, noting that Walz&rsquo;s successor, Thomas Behrends, &ldquo;ran toward and not away from the guns.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Minnesota governor retired from military service in 2005, just months before his unit deployed to Iraq. After spending over two decades in the Army National Guard, Walz decided to run for Congress.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He loved the Guard, he loved the soldiers that he worked with, and making that decision was very tough for him,&rdquo; Allan Bonnifield, who served with Walz, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mprnews.org\/story\/2024\/08\/08\/what-walz-has-said-about-his-military-record-as-others-criticized-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>said of the governor to Minnesota Public Radio<\/a> in 2018. &ldquo;Especially knowing that we were going on another deployment to Iraq. He didn&rsquo;t take that decision lightly at all.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment. <\/p>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1727384\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1727384\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Walz&#8217;s former military commander criticizes VP candidate amid &#8216;stolen valor&#8217; allegations. John Kolb, who previously commanded Gov. Tim Walz&#8217;s Army National Guard unit, expressed strong disapproval of Vice President Kamala Harris&#8217;s running mate, who is facing scrutiny for purportedly exaggerating his military service. Kolb stated that he was glad to see the Minnesota Democrat retire early from the military, suggesting it allowed for better leadership. He remarked in a critical review that since becoming Harris\u2019s running mate, Walz has been accused of misrepresenting himself as a retired command sergeant major; although he held this position, critics argue that it was revoked due to his failure to complete necessary paperwork. Recently, Walz\u2019s campaign biography was updated to indicate he had &#8220;served as a command sergeant major.&#8221; Kolb commented on the situation by asserting that Walz &#8220;did not successfully complete any assignment as a sergeant major&#8221; and violated his enlistment contract. He expressed anger over Walz occupying the command sergeant major position without having earned it or fulfilling any assignments at that rank. Additionally, Walz has faced backlash for suggesting he served in combat after a video emerged where he claimed to have carried weapons &#8220;in war,&#8221; leading Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) to accuse him of engaging in \u201cstolen valor.\u201d The Harris campaign later acknowledged that Walz had \u201cmisspoken.\u201d Vance also implied that Walz retired early to evade deployment in Afghanistan\u2014a sentiment echoed by Kolb in a Facebook post shared by Donald Trump Jr., who highlighted Kolb&#8217;s criticism of Walz regarding his alleged stolen valor claims and questioned how long left-leaning media would overlook these issues. Furthermore, Kolb noted that while facing significant service demands at high levels of leadership, Walz chose an alternative path unlike his successor Thomas Behrends who bravely faced deployment challenges head-on. After more than two decades with the Army National Guard, Walz retired in 2005 just before his unit was sent to Iraq and subsequently pursued a congressional career<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3142,"featured_media":2323251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AP24224063448247.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[6733,4505,37357,27318,32076],"class_list":["post-2323250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-controversy","tag-military","tag-stolen-valor","tag-walz","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AP24224063448247.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2323250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2323251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2323250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2323250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2323250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}