Military veteran Republican lawmakers post open letter slamming Tim Walz

| August 23, 2024

Fifty Republican lawmakers in Congress signed an open letter to Tim Walz. They blasted him for “stolen valor” as well as for the circumstances surrounding the timing of his military retirement. The lawmakers pointed to their veteran status as a motivation to address the inconsistencies between Walz’s statements and his actual experience. They called on Walz to come clean to the American people.

From Fox News:

In the letter, the lawmakers call the office of vice president “a position that requires the trust of the American people and a solemn commitment to duty on behalf of the United States of America.”

“As veterans who have served our nation, we feel compelled to address your egregious misrepresentations and urge you to come clean to the American people.”

Going on to reference allegations of stolen valor, the letter continues:

“You have stated you are ‘damn proud’ of your service, and like any American veteran should be. But there is no honor in lying about the nature of your service. Repeatedly claiming to be a ‘retired command sergeant major’ when you did not complete the requirements was not honorable.”

“Nor was it honorable to claim to carry weapons ‘in war’ when you had not served in war, and abandoning the men and women under your leadership just as they were getting ready to deploy was certainly not honorable either.”

The letter closes with a collective vote of no confidence for Walz:

“… Until you admit you lied to [America’s veterans], there is no way you can be trusted to serve as vice president.”

At a separate press conference, Mast noted how Steve Nikoui — father of a Marine killed in President Joe Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal — became so angry and frustrated that he shouted out during this year’s State of the Union.

Additional Reading:

Allison, N. (2024, August 21). GOP military veteran lawmakers sign letter denouncing Walz. Politico. Link.

Creitz, C., & Elkind, E. (2024, August 22). GOP veteran-lawmakers drop scathing ‘stolen valor’ letter to Walz as Trump camp rips ‘Freakish Timothy’. Fox News. Link.

Category: 2024 Election, Veterans in politics, Veterans in the news

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Sapper3307

I would like to see Dan Crenshaw speak on this.

SFC D

Dan seems to be very quiet these days. Came charging hard out of the gate and then just kinda faded.

Anonymous

Caught RINO-itis. Probably for reasons Madison Cawthorn complained about and got primaried for doing so.

5JC

Repubs crack corn, dims don’t care.

Anonymous

And RINOs don’t help:

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Last edited 1 month ago by Anonymous
KoB

All well and good that the Republicunts sent this out. Not that it will do any good. TPTB don’t care, they have made their (s)election choices known, damn what the American People may want and damn even the demonrat voters. There was a news blurb on the feeds last night where Tampon Timmie “No Ballz” Walz had a closed door meeting with Alex Soros. For some reason, that article has gone “POOF” from a Giggle search. Odd, huh.

SFC D

This is my shocked face. I’m sure google will soon make a statement regarding a “glitch in the algorithm” or software error or blame the intern or some similar bullshit. The list I want to see is the one supposedly signed by veterans in congress supporting No-Balls Walz. It seems to be just as invisible. Imagine that.

SgtM

Dickhead Blumenthal has no comment.

26Limabeans

Well I’ll be Dananged…

Tallywhagger

Dick should spend some quality years as cell mate with GoldBars Bob Melendez.

A Proud Infidel®™

I hear rumor that Dan Bernath has spent more time in Vietnam than Dick Blumenthal.

Skivvy Stacker

I know he’s been awful quiet the last few years… I guess being dead will cause that.

Sgtm

Some water could have made it at to ole at Dans off the coast boat. And he drank it. But now that he deep sixed himself, the world may never know.

Forest Bondurant

FTW

FKH

FJB

FP (F@ck Politicians)

RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

FJT (Fuck Justine ‘Fidelito ‘ Turdeau)

Slick Goodlin

As an Army SFC veteran I agree with the criticism of Walz’s military service. But I don’t feel it’s going to have any traction to sway voters. It falls into the area of what one of my officer mentors called, “Sergeant’s Business”, the minutia of which concerns a very few in the populace. Time would be better spent hitting Walz on his political record.

SFC D

This SFC agrees. I stated once before, 99% of voters have no understanding of Walz’s lies and the other 1% don’t care. His political record coupled with Kamala’s record should be enough to torpedo their campaign. However, comma, dot dot dot… and there’s always a however… democrat voters don’t care about platforms, policies, records, etc. They only care that she’s not orange and will be the third coming of Obama. And that should terrify everyone.

Hack Stone

Funny how when someone posts a meme calling Donald Trump Commander Bonespurs, Hack asks if they voted for Joe Admiral Asthma Biden, they say that Biden isn’t on the ticket. But they did vote for him when he was running.

Hate_me

While few people are dishonest about only one aspect of their lives and Walz’s deceptions/omissions/cowardice regarding his service speaks ill of his overall character, the average voter simply doesn’t care to know; the issues should come first, but even then the average voter doesn’t care.

Long before the Democratic/Republican rift, all the way back to the time of our founding fathers, our nation has faced a question of the promise of security vs the exercise of liberty. In practice, this manifests as sacrifices given in the name of the greater good vs standing on principle.

Every atrocity in human history has been created in service to some greater good. That’s the pier to which Walz has moored his political dingy.

Hack Stone

When will Hack’s Poser Word Search going to be available to the Deplorables.

Sgtm

Plus one. Hurry it up.

fm2176

I often compare and contrast “style” with “substance”. Does the military service of someone who retired nearly 20 years ago and who never attained the highest rank or position in his respective service matter? Substance-wise, no, in my opinion. Walz has gone on to have many more experiences in the interim, and I doubt whatever he experienced as a part-time and (perhaps later) AGR/ADOS Guardsman affects him much these days. Style-wise, though, yes. Walz’s being pitched as the highest-ranking enlisted member of Congress; a career NCO who sacrificed 24 years to his state and country. JD Vance, on the other hand is being stylized by the Left as being a fairly junior Marine who might have served a tour in Iraq but who was “only” a Combat Correspondent with four years of active service.

If you want to lean on military service as a value-added qualification for public service, be completely transparent. I’m sure many of us have known outstanding Service Members who did their time and got out, going on to live quiet lives knowing that the substance of their deeds is enough. Many of us probably also know the loud and brash types that become the modern-day equivalent of Lifers, ticket-punching their way up, taking all the credit they can, and ensuring that everyone knows they are top-rated (“1/1, Promote Immediately”) NCOs on track to make E8 by 12 years in, with a chest full of shiny badges, a tab or two, and more MSMs and BSMs than their 1SG. Stylish, looking good and seemingly well ahead of their peers, but… “Hey, SSG Tenure, I know you’ve been in for 14 years, can you show me how to do this or that. How do I handle this Soldier’s family issues without involving the command?”

fm2176

Most of the stylish sorts won’t take a personal approach to Soldier issues, preferring to cleanse their hands by taking it above their level and ultimately screwing the Soldier. After all, they’ve got the bells and whistles to prove their leadership abilities, and anyone daring to question them spending 1/4 of their careers in schools and such will be met with, “well, I was tbusy deploying too, I don’t have time for this Garrison nonsense.”

I’ve stated before that I differentiate between Lifers and Careerists. A Lifer is one who will likely have to be forced out and will do whatever it takes to achieve the highest possible rank, including collecting every accolade they can along the way. A Careerist is one who understands the benefits of continued service after a certain point, but who still puts Soldiers first. I retired as a SFC for a reason, much of it self-sabotage in the latter half of my career as I never particularly cared about NCOERs and [especially] pleasing my immediate leadership.

Walz should embrace his 24 years of service as a retired MSG. Use wordplay and add that he served as a battalion CSM, but don’t claim the rank. He got out when he did for his own reasons. Personally, I don’t see why an 11Z/13Z would want to abandon his unit just before a combat deployment. But then again, I don’t think I’d respect an 11Z quite so much that lacks even an EIB, Guard or not.

Last edited 1 month ago by fm2176
SFC D

Amen and hell yeah!

timactual

When I arrived at An Khe and was going through the orientation process one of the instructors, an E6, made a point of stating that he was a career soldier, not a lifer. He received a rousing ovation from the assembled soldiery.

rgr769

I arrived in An Khe in late June, 1970. When did you get there?

David

Waltz did 24 years in the national Guard when it traditionally worked one weekend a month with 2 weeks in the summer. As has been pointed out before, he actually has less AD time than Vance.

fm2176

Okay, I wasn’t sure if he might have had AGR time as a “CSM”. Based on his NGB-22 posted here: Is Tim Walz a Case of Stolen Valor? : This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here (valorguardians.com), he’s an example of why us Active Duty sorts get our panties in a bunch when Nasty Girls start comparing service records. As such, I’ll pick on his schools. Five weeks of Infantry AIT? It adds up, before they increased OSUT to 22 weeks, it was 14 weeks (nine “Basic” and five “AIT”). The difference is, though, that those of us who complete OSUT are essentially in Infantry training from Day 1. I note a lack of a BCT date, but he had to go somewhere. Nine weeks at Jackson followed by a nice break before jumping into a cycle at Benning is a far different experience than spending four-plus months on Sand Hill. Four weeks of ANCOC? I guess that might not be so bad, though my SLC was seven weeks. But one week of BNCOC? How in the hell is someone considered to be a proficient Squad Leader with only one week in that course? When I went through, there were two weeks of Common Core, after which the non-Infantry Soldiers left the classroom, and we started six weeks of Phase Two. One week each for Unit Clerk, UAOC, and MALT (whatever the latter two are, I’m going to assume, at least one was where he earned his 13B MOS)? Sounds a bit on the short side. If I have a pay issue or need to update my records, I want someone who is well versed in admin, even if they are just the middleman pushing paperwork to S1. If I call for fire, I want to be speaking to an NCO who has spent the full five weeks in AIT, and who has years’ worth of OJT and experience. He did at least spend 4x the amount of time in the PLDC instructor course than he did at PNCOC. I just find it funny that an ARNG… Read more »

fm2176

There are naturally going to be big differences between training, schools, and service histories of Active Duty and Reserve Component troops, and I mean no disrespect to those who served as a Guardsman or Reservist.

Active Infantry types like to see at least some of the style I initially mentioned, though. It doesn’t mean much if there’s no substance, but any 11Z is expected to have at least a CIB or EIB on their chest, and when they fall out for ASU inspections, they usually sport at least one or two MSMs/BSMs.

It’d be hard to see Walz in uniform and give him the same respect that I gave my CSM in Iraq (Chris Hardy, who took a brief hiatus from 75th RGR to go to the 101st when he pinned SGM at about 14 years of service), or my first Regimental CSM (Harry Wimbrough, Tomb Guard and Ranger who’s the Honorary CSM of TOG). They were both professionals who didn’t rely on the rank to make them outstanding leaders. Both are also now in the Ranger Hall-of-Fame (2022 and 2024 respectively). Though they were far more successful in their careers than Walz, and remain connected to the veteran and military community, so far as I know, neither lean so heavily on their former ranks and positions, instead drawing on their actual experience and leadership skills. Substance. They both had style as well, but that largely goes away when the uniform is removed. Then again, I’m sure Walz will one day be idolized in a MNARNG Hall-of-Fame/Distinguished Member type of ceremony, if he hasn’t already. It’ll be for his post-service deeds, especially if they win the election, but it’ll be a token of how successful “CSM” Walz was and how his military and public service were complimentary to each other.

rgr769

My first 1SG was Ray Allegra. At some point after his second tour in the RVN, he became the CSM of the TOG. I saw him for the first time in about 17 years when he was the CSM for the 6th Army at The Presidio in San Francisco. He was the finest careerist NCO I ever served with.

rgr769

That is Alegria. That frickin auto correct changed it after I hit post

timactual

“Five weeks of Infantry AIT”

What Army was that? I did eight, and I consider that insufficient.

fm2176

Since at least the ’80s, the Army has used One Station Unit Training OSUT for Infantry, MPs, and a couple of other MOS’. When I went through in ’01-’02, Infantry OSUT was 14 week, which I believe it was for the majority of the time until it increased to 22 weeks as I was leaving the Trail. So, technically, you got nine weeks of BCT followed by five weeks of AIT. In reality, you spent 14 weeks gaining the Infantry mindset and learning the skills you’d be refining in your first unit. Unlike BCT, all of our Drill Sergeants were 11-series, and by the time I donned the hat, we had a handful of 37F (PSYOP) and 18-series supplementing us.

I appreciated what I learned as an E1 PVT on Sand Hill, but those 14 weeks were dwarfed by my first eight weeks in the Rakkasans.

SFC D

4 weeks of ANCOC? I had 4 months as a 25W. BNCOC was 6 weeks as a 31M.

M48DAT

Did pretty much the same thing, had 24 in, gonna be the next 1SG with unit in asstain. Wife goin to Iraq for a year. Both can’t be gone at same time. My bad. I hate me.