The Minnesota National Guard confirmed on Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), was demoted before his retirement, contrary to the governor’s claims that he retired as a command sergeant major.
While Walz was temporarily promoted to command sergeant major, Army Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, Minnesota National Guard’s State Public Affairs Officer, told American Military News that the Democrat governor “retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”
Despite his retirement as a master sergeant, Walz’s official gubernatorial biography states, “After 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Walz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005.”
On Thursday, Augé told American Military News that the Minnesota governor served in the National Guard from April 8, 1981, to May 16, 2005. The National Guard spokesperson noted that Walz served in the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery after his transfer from the Nebraska National Guard in 1996.
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“While serving in Minnesota, his military occupational specialties were 13B – a cannon crewmember who operates and maintains cannons and 13Z -field artillery senior sergeant. In Nebraska, he served as a 11Z – infantry senior sergeant, and a 71L – administrative specialist,” Augé said. “He held multiple positions within field artillery such as firing battery chief, operations sergeant, first sergeant, and culminated his career serving as the command sergeant major for the battalion.”
Augé told American Military news that Walz mobilized with the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery in August of 2003 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
“The battalion supported security missions at various locations in Europe and Turkey,” Augé said. “Governor Walz was stationed at Vicenza, Italy, during his deployment. He returned to Minnesota in April, 2004
After serving as command sergeant major, Augé explained that Walz “retired as a master sergeant.”
Army Regulation 600-8-19 explains that a soldier who fails to complete conditional coursework will be demoted in rank. The regulation states, “The Soldier must complete the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Course as a condition of this promotion. Failure to meet the condition will cause demotion per AR 600 – 8 – 19.”
In a public letter posted on Facebook in 2018, retired Command Sergeants Major Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr claimed that Walz retired from the National Guard after he was notified that his battalion would be deployed to Iraq.
Behrends and Herr claimed, “On May 16th, 2005, [Walz] quit, betraying his country, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war.”
On Tuesday, Behrends, who was deployed to Iraq in place of Walz, told The New York Post, “He had the opportunity to serve his country, and said ‘Screw you’ to the United States. That’s not who I would pick to run for vice president.”
