Tim Walz’s Military Rank Was Reduced in 2005, but He Has Continued Using It for Nearly Two Decades

Democrat vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had his rank reduced from command sergeant major (E-9) to master sergeant (E-8) in September 2005 — just months after retiring — but he has continued to claim the higher rank for nearly two decades since then in political ads and official biographies.

According to an official National Guard document correcting his military service record, Walz retired from the National Guard on May 16, 2005, as a command sergeant major but had his rank officially reduced on September 10, 2005.

According to the Minnesota National Guard, Walz’s rank was reduced because he did not complete the educational and other requirements necessary to retire as a command sergeant major.

Despite this correction, for many years after, Walz has continued to claim the title of “command sergeant major,” and has falsely claimed on numerous occasions he is a “retired command sergeant major.”

A full year after the correction, in a September 21, 2006, advertisement, Walz’s campaign in his bid for U.S. Congress called him a “command sergeant major.”

As of today, August 12, 2024, his official governor biography still identifies him as “Command Sergeant Major Tim Walz” and gives the false impression he is a retired command sergeant major.

It states: “After 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Walz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005.”

Since his rank was reduced on September 10, 2005, there have been numerous instances where he claimed to be a retired command sergeant major.

This week, an image of a challenge coin he had made as a member of Congress with the inflated rank engraved onto it emerged, as reported by Breitbart News.

Walz’s former battalion commander came out over the weekend and blasted Walz for using the inflated rank he did not ultimately retire with. Army Lt. Col. (Ret.) John Kolb wrote on Facebook:

I do not regret that Tim Walz retired early from the Minnesota Army National Guard, did not complete the Sergeants Major Academy, broke his enlistment contract or did not successfully complete any assignment as a Sergeant Major. Unwittingly, he got out of the way for better leadership. Thomas Behrends was the right leader at the right time. He sacrificed to answer the call, leaving his family, business and farming-partner brother to train, lead and care for soldiers. He earned the privilege of being called Command Sergeant Major. Like a great leader he ran toward and not away from the guns. I have no opinion of Mr. Walz’s decision to leave service at the time he did. It was his right to retire early. I also have no criticism of his service as an E7 and E8 in the MNARNG. By all accounts and on the record, he was a competent Chief of Firing Battery/Gunnery Sergeant and First Sergeant. I cannot say the same of his service sitting, frocked, in the CSM chair. He did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9. It is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title. I can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, it does not make me a pilot. Similarly, when the demands of service and leadership at the highest level got real, he chose another path.

The Harris-Walz campaign first introduced Walz as “the son of an Army veteran and a retired Command Sergeant Major in the Army National Guard himself.”

Now, the campaign biography reads: “The son of an Army veteran who served as a command sergeant major, Walz was the ranking member on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, where he passed legislation to help stem veterans’ suicides.”

Breitbart News contacted the Harris-Walz campaign on Sunday but did not receive a response.

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