(American Greatness) — Four veterans who served in the Minnesota Army National Guard with Gov. Tim Walz sat down with Megyn Kelly over the weekend to warn the public about the Democrat vice presidential nominee, whom they called “utterly incompetent” and a cowardly “military impersonator.”
During the interview, which aired Monday night, retired Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Tom Behrends, retired Command Sergeant Major Paul Herr, retired Sergeant First Class Tom Schilling, and retired National Guard veteran Rodney Tow blasted Walz for repeatedly misrepresenting his rank and military service.
Having worked with, or under Walz, the men were able to provide first-hand observations about his military service.
Herr served in the Minnesota National Guard in the same division as Walz, Behrends took over command of Walz’s artillery battalion after Walz retired in May of 2005, Tow served in a unit that worked closely with Walz’s unit, and Shilling was in the unit that deployed to Iraq.
Walz served in Minnesota’s National Guard for 24 years, reaching the conditional rank of command sergeant major, but that rank was later removed due to his early retirement and failure to complete the needed coursework. Walz’s title was reduced back to master sergeant on Sept. 10, 2005.
All of the men said they believed Walz had “cut and run” and blasted him for making misleading statements about his service with the National Guard, which they called “morally indefensible.”
Schilling, who was in the unit led by Walz, said he was shocked to hear that Walz had retired before the Iraq deployment.
“He just quit and turned his back on us,” he said. “I don’t understand how he could do it morally, or where you have absolutely no integrity.”
Herr said Walz is a “habitual liar,” asserting that “he lies about everything. He lies about stuff that doesn’t even make sense.”
He called Walz “a military impersonator” for claiming to be a retired command sergeant major. “He said it so many times that it just makes a person sick hearing,” Herr remarked. He noted that Walz doesn’t usually say he served as a command sergeant major—”he blabs that he is a retired one.”
The men hit back hard at Democrat detractors who have attempted to defend Walz.
In a previous interview with Kelly, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) accused the National Guard members who have come forward to expose Walz’s lies of being liars themselves.
“Lies are being told about Tim Walz. He did not get out of the National Guard because he didn’t want to deploy. To claim that is an absolute lie,” the Washington Democrat claimed.
“The facts are, he decided to run for Congress in February [of 2005], he got out of the military in May, and his unit was called up in July and I believe didn’t deploy until like six months after that,” he asserted. “He left the Guard unit specifically to run for Congress before the deployment orders came in.”
In response to Smith’s claims, Behrends noted that Walz himself had put out a press release in March of 2005 announcing that the unit had been notified that it was going to Iraq in the near future. Behrends said Walz would have received a secret, classified order prior to March, giving him a heads up about the deployment.
“Leadership in the state knew something was going to be going on in the summer of ’04,” Behrends explained to Kelly, asserting that by the fall of ’04, “brigade and division and battalion leadership” would have known about the next year’s deployment.
Herr was visibly angry at Smith’s remarks.
“This is how I know, Adam Smith, that he [Walz] is a liar,” he said hotly. “Because he told me and other Sergeant majors in a meeting that ‘you can count on me, I will deploy with my unit.’ His words to my ears and others.’”
Herr said Smith’s claims made his blood boil. “I have thousands of soldiers who I have taken to combat and brought back well. They know me,” he said. “Walz has done nothing but lie to feather his own bed his entire career!” Herr seethed. “That’s how I know. I was there. I didn’t just make this up … I was in the meetings, I was part of it.”
This was not the first time Rep. Smith has accused military whistleblowers of being liars. In September 2014, he and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) attempted to shoot down the claims of the three heroic security operators who defied stand-down orders and rushed to the sound of guns as the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, was being attacked by terrorists. In a press conference, the Democrat duo essentially called them liars telling tall tales about the Sept. 11, 2012 terror attack to sell a book. Specifically, they disputed the annex security team’s claim about a “stand down” order from a CIA officer.
Kris Paronto and Mark Geist, two members of the Benghazi security team, said “say that to our face” and challenged them to a debate on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
“I want to say to Mr. Smith: was he there that night with us? Where was he? Because that’s what happened. We’re telling you what happened on the ground,” said Paronto at the time.
Herr told Kelly that as a sergeant major, his job was to prepare his soldiers for deployment and ensure that they have “the utmost confidence in their leadership.” The retired sergeant major said if “the powers that be” had called his soldiers to deploy after he had spent time motivating them to go to combat, and then—like Walz—said, “‘nah, not me, I’m not going—you guys go right ahead'”—that would be “a morale crusher [that] chews away at the fabric of the military and its ability to do its mission.”
Herr said Walz’s betrayal “may not be legally wrong, but it’s morally indefensible.” He told Kelly that he and many of the other men who deployed to Iraq could have retired if they wanted to, but didn’t.
“I’m not going to let my soldiers go without me,” Herr explained. “I trained them. I put myself right there with them. I’m going to suffer every hardship that they do.”
He noted that Walz was in the same position with his soldiers and walked away. “He didn’t care,” Herr exclaimed. “It was all about him.”
Behrends stressed that the move was unheard of.
“The rumor went across the state that he had quit and it was like, ‘who the hell does that?’ It was just unbelievable that a CSM abandoned his troops—500 soldiers.
“There’s a thousand parents out there that expect that person to lead those people into combat and to train them and to do everything they can—equip them properly—to try to bring them home alive, if possible.”
“I don’t know how he can live with himself after he did that to his soldiers,” said Tow. “That military unity is like your family. It’s your military family. And you take care of family. You know, those guys got your back and you’re supposed to have their back.”
Behrends made a good point about Walz’s excuse that he left so he could help the military as a congressman.
“He wasn’t elected yet,” the retired vet noted. “So what would [Walz] have done if he’d lost?” The men were also dubious that Walz had done anything in office that helped the troops. Behrends said Walz voted against bills that would have aided both the troops in Iraq, and the Guantanamo Bay prison.
The men also slammed Walz’s failed leadership during the George Floyd riots in Minnesota.
Herr said the governor proved he was “utterly incompetent” because he allowed Black Lives Matter and antifa rioters to rampage throughout Minneapolis for three nights before calling for the National Guard to be deployed.
To explain the delay, Walz has claimed that it would have been a mistake to deploy National Guard troops because they weren’t trained for such action. “You’re going to have 19-year-olds who are cooks,” Walz told a reporter.
Herr said Walz should have known that a “battalion of MPs” and “300 personnel” who are trained for civil disruptions and natural disasters were readily available.
“They have the riot gear, they have the shields, the helmets, the training, the whole nine yards. They are on call. In 24 hours, they should have been able to mobilize them and have at least 300 individuals out there on the ground,” he said.
All of the men agreed that Walz’s stance was an insult to the National Guard.
Behrends cited the memory of Army Sgt. Kyle R. Miller, a 19-year-old who specialized in electronics. Miller was deployed to Iraq and as a member of Walz’s former unit, later led by Behrends.
“They had a mission to go get jamming equipment to put on our Humvees,” the retired command sergeant major told Kelly.
“He had a dream that he was going to get wounded or die on this mission. This dream consumed him. He went to the chaplain and the chaplain told him if he felt strongly about the mission, he could get him off of it.
And Kyle said, ‘if you did that, and somebody else went in my place and they got wounded or died, I’d never be able to live with myself.’
So the 19-year-old went on the mission, and on the way back, they hit an IED that was buried in the ground. He was in the back seat behind the driver and it blew up and he died there out in the middle of the damn desert in Iraq. And his body was sent home to his mom and his family.”
Behrends said Kyle’s mother, Cathy Miller, understood that her son went on the mission because he knew it was his duty and that he had lost his life for our country.
“Tim Walz didn’t do that,” he noted. “He basically said, ‘I’ve got better things to do, go pick someone else to go on a mission—whatever—get that dumb farmer down there, he’ll probably go.'”
The vets said they were horrified at the thought of Walz being one step away from being Commander in Chief.
Herr said people like Walz made “decisions that were cowardly” and then tried “to live vicariously” through other soldiers’ valor. “They want a piece of that or they feel slighted or they feel like they made a mistake and this is how they’re making up for it,” he said.
“When you say that you served in a function that you didn’t, such as combat, you are robbing that suffering and that commitment and trifling it down for all the men and women that we have sent into harm’s way that have not come back, or have come back less, and the people who have tortured memories. Walz belittles all those who made that commitment to serve in a combat zone.”
“You’ve taken a piece of their thunder and you’ve tried to capture it and put it in a bottle for yourself to use for your own benefit,” Herr said. “Fear is a reaction, bravery is a decision. And Walz has made the wrong decision,” he added. “He’s not brave. I call him a coward because he is. He took the easy path. He took the path of least resistance.”
Behrends didn’t mince words. “He’s an evil man and if no one does anything to stop this evil, then it will persist, and that’s why we’re all here,” he said.
This article was originally published at American Greatness.
Debra Heine
Debra Heine is a conservative Catholic mom of six and longtime political pundit. She has written for several conservative news websites over the years, including Breitbart and PJ Media.
