JD Vance Joins Fellow Veterans to Torch Tim Walz for Stolen Valor at Pennsylvania VFW Post

Republican vice presidential nominee and Marine veteran Sen. JD Vance (OH) torched Democrat vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for lying about his military service at a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post in Pennsylvania on Thursday.

“We’re not attacking his honorable service. We’re attacking the dishonesty about that service. That is not honorable. That is the height of dishonor, and Tim Walz should not be the vice president of the United States because of it,” Vance said.

Walz, who served 24 years as a reservist with the Army National Guard, has falsely claimed he “retired command sergeant major,” or an E-9, despite retiring at the rank of sergeant major — a rank below, an E-8. While he was promoted provisionally to command sergeant major, he did not finish the requirements to retain or retire at that rank.

Walz also claimed to be “in war” although he never deployed in combat. He has also misleadingly called himself a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) despite never serving in Afghanistan. He has also implied he “came back” from war despite serving tours in Europe.

Watch Tim Walz Lie About His Rank, Insinuate to Gold Star Parents He “Came Back” from War

In addition, Walz retired from the Army after learning his unit would deploy to Iraq. As then-command sergeant major of his unit, he was responsible for the enlisted troops in his battalion, about 100 soldiers. Instead of leading them into war, he decided to retire early and run for Congress.

The Harris-Walz campaign claimed that Walz “misspoke” when he said he carried a weapon “in war” but has not addressed any of Walz’s other claims, only accusing Vance of attacking his service.

“Let’s just summarize the truth. Tim Walz said that he carried a weapon in war. He never went to war. Tim Walz said that he didn’t know his unit was about to deploy to Iraq when even his own press release at the time said that he knew exactly that,” Vance said:

Tim Walz claimed to be a command sergeant major, even had it printed on his challenge coins, and he knew he never achieved that rank. And, now, Kamala Harris, showing terrible judgment, has decided that her way out of this political problem is to claim that she and Tim Walz are the victims.

“I think the victims are the veterans who are having their service disparaged because the guy [who] wants to be their vice president is lying instead of telling the truth,” said Vance.

“Every single person standing with me has sacrificed something for this country. Some of us, like Brian, have sacrificed more than most Americans can possibly fathom,” Vance said, referring to a veteran standing beside him.

He added:

But every single one of us honors every veteran for their service whether they went to war or not. So long as you did what this country asked you to do, you deserve to be praised for it. You deserve to have what this country promised to you actually given to you. This is not about disparaging anybody’s services, including Tim Walz.

“This is about disparaging the dishonesty and asking Kamala Harris, ‘Why are you showing such poor judgment by standing by a guy who insulted our veterans and lied about his service?'” he continued. “If Kamala Harris wants to lead this country, if she wants to lead the millions of active and reserve service members and the millions of veterans on top of it, she ought to stand before the media and answer why Tim Walz lied.”

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