Wikipedia has given Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz the false military rank of ‘Command Sergeant Major’ despite multiple reports noting he did not retire from his service in the National Guard with that title.
Social media users began sharing screenshots from Wikipedia noting that it listed him as a “Command Sergeant Major,” which has not been corrected as of this writing. For a period of time, it appeared that Trump VP pick J.D. Vance’s military had been temporarily edited before it was restored.
While Tim Walz temporarily served as a Command Sergeant Major in the National Guard, he was not allowed to retire under that rank after failing to complete the necessary coursework.
For accuracy, Wikipedia would have to list him as a former Command Sergeant Major while noting he retired as a Master Sergeant.
Walz’s use of the rank “retired Command Sergeant Major” since his run for U.S. Congress has drawn considerable criticism from members of the military community, with claims of stolen valor. Walz was not permitted to use that title after retiring when he failed to complete the final and necessary coursework.
As Breitbart News reported, Walz “listed on his official biography a higher military rank than the one he ultimately retired with, drawing criticism from some veterans”:
After reports surfaced questioning his use of rank, the Kamala Harris campaign altered its official website’s biography of Walz by removing its reference to him as a “retired command sergeant major” and only noting that he once served at the command sergeant major rank.
According to CNN, Walz encountered criticism of his service characterizations going all the way back to 2006 during his run for U.S. Congress, which he denied at the time.
A viral video, which the Kamala HQ account on X originally shared on Wednesday, featured Walz touting gun control before saying he carried a weapon in war:
I spent 25 years in the Army, and I hunt … I’ve been voting for common-sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can do CDC research … We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at. [Emphasis added]
The Harris-Walz campaign later said he misspoke when he made that statement, even though Walz himself reposted the video just days prior to him being tapped as Kamala Harris’s VP pick.
A subsequent report from the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday also claimed that Walz had previously presented himself as a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom. Per Breitbart News:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who is facing accusations of stolen valor, allegedly falsely claimed in a previous press release that he was a veteran of Afghanistan.
In a 2006 press release issued by his campaign, Walz was described as being a “veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.”
The war in Afghanistan, which began on October 7, 2001, was called Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command website. The operation’s start came after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“Democrat Tim Walz will spend Sunday, Feb. 19th and Monday, Feb. 20th traveling across Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District as he formally announces his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives,” the press release said. “Walz, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and longtime Mankato educator is unopposed for the DFL endorsement and is slated to challenge Rep. Gil Gutknecht in November of 2006.”
A photo at the time featured Walz at an anti-President George W. Bush protest in which he was seen carrying a sign that read, “Enduring Freedom Veterans for [John] Kerry.”
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