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Minnesota National Guard officials weigh in on Walz service
It’s unlikely that Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee to the vice presidency, knew that his unit would receive mobilization orders not long after he retired in 2005, sources with the Minnesota National Guard told the Boston Herald.
Since the announcement he would join Vice President Kamala Harris atop the party ticket, Walz has come under sustained fire over his decision to retire following 24 years of service in various Guard units while his battalion was allegedly under orders to deploy or set to soon receive orders, and over his use of the Command Sergeant Major rank in campaign messaging.
However, according to information shared by multiple official sources within the MNG, Walz earned that rank and would need either the gift of prophecy or a time machine to use the deployment as an excuse to leave the service, as his May 2005 retirement date came months before the 1-125th Battalion of the 1st Brigade Combat Team learned they would mobilize and most of a year before the unit was actually deployed to Iraq for what would become a historically long, 22-month tour.
According to Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, the MNG’s State Public Affairs Officer, Walz “served from April 8, 1981, to May 16, 2005″ during which time 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.”
“Governor Walz served in the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery after transferring from the Nebraska National Guard in 1996. 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.
Walz’s official May retirement date came almost two full months before the 1-125 Field Artillery found out they would likely mobilize. An official order was not issued until a month after that, about 90 days after Walz left the service, according to information provided by Lt. Col. Ryan Rossman, the MNG’s Director of Operations.
“Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery received an alert order for mobilization to Iraq on July 14, 2005. The official Department of the Army mobilization order was received on August 14, 2005,” Rossman said.
The unit mobilized on October 12 — nearly five months after Walz left the service — and deployed in late March of the 2006 after training in Camp Shelby, Mississippi, according to Rossman. That’s a full 10 months after Walz reentered civilian life.
Any assertions that Walz’s unit was warned of a possible deployment ahead of the July 14 mobilization order is questionable, according to DoD officials, as they amount to little more than repeated and misplaced barracks rumors.
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