Vance Attacks Walz on Military Service

Sen. JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, accused his Democratic counterpart on Wednesday of retiring from the Army National Guard after 24 years of service to avoid being deployed to Iraq. The Republican said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has falsely claimed that he served in combat, after a video clip showed the Democrat saying he carried weapons in war; Walz was deployed after the 9/11 attacks but did not see combat. Vance, who made the comments in a campaign appearance in Michigan, served four years on active duty in the Marines in non-combat roles. He tried to compare Walz's military record to his. "I'd be ashamed, if I was him, and I lied about my military service, like he did," Vance said, per the Hill.

The retirement accusation is based on comments made in 2018 by two retired command sergeant majors in the Minnesota National Guard, Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr, the New York Times reports. They accused Walz of "conveniently retiring a year before his battalion was deployed to Iraq." On Wednesday, a 32-year National Guard veteran who served under Walz and led the same battalion said the charges against Walz are false. "He was as good a soldier as you'd find," said Joseph Eustice, "and to have two former sergeant majors say that he wasn't, it's just not true." Eustice said he's friends with Walz but probably won't vote for him in the November election because they disagree politically. (More JD Vance stories.)