Tim Walz a ‘coward’ and ‘traitor’ for retiring from military before Iraq, says Guardsman who replaced VP pick
When Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz chose to leave the military on the eve of his deployment to Iraq, Thomas Behrends went in his place.
“I needed to hit the ground running and take care of the troops — and tell them we were going to war,” Behrends said of the 500 soldiers under his command. “For a guy in that position, to quit is cowardice.”
Behrends, a 63-year-old farmer in Brewster, Minn., called the Democratic vice presidential candidate “a traitor” for retiring from their Minnesota National Guard unit just before their deployment to Iraq in 2005.
“When your country calls, you are supposed to run into battle — not the other way,” the retired command sergeant major told The Post Tuesday. “He ran away. It’s sad.
“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.”
Walz, 60, joined the National Guard after high school and served 24 years in the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, rising to the rank of command sergeant major. He retired in 2005 — months after a warning order that the battalion would be deployed to Iraq — to run for Congress. He was elected to office in 2006.
“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,” Behrends and fellow retired Guardsman Paul Herr wrote in a letter posted to Facebook during Walz’s first gubernatorial run, in 2018.
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Behrends and Herr wrote that Walz could have requested permission from the Pentagon to seek congressional office while on active duty.
When Walz left the unit, he offered to raise funds to cover his fellow soldiers’ bus trips home for Christmas — a gesture that was seen as a cynical ploy by some of them, according to Behrends.
“If it were me, I would feel guilty about leaving and do something to make up for it, but if you ask me, he was doing it to buy votes,” Behrends told The Post. “He will do anything for votes.”
The unit spent 17 months in Iraq and suffered three casualties, including Kyle Miller, a 19-year-old from Willmar, Minn.
Like Walz, Miller signed up for the National Guard in high school, and hoped to work as an auto mechanic after his deployment, according to reports.
He died when the vehicle in which he was a passenger was hit by a roadside bomb on June 29, 2006.
“Unlike Walz, Kyle volunteered to go with his unit,” said Behrends, who worked with Miller’s mother, Cathy Miller, to create a bronze memorial of her son.
According to Behrends, Walz had been selected for the US Army Sergeants Major Academy and promoted to command sergeant major in 2004 — which required him to serve two more years or lose the promotion.
His retirement nullified the promotion and, on September 10, 2005, his rank was reduced to master sergeant, according to the Daily Wire.
However, Walz continued to use the rank in descriptions of his military career in campaign materials, Alpha News reported in 2022.
“He continued to say ‘retired command sergeant major’ for his political career,” Behrends told The Post. “When he used that … it was stolen valor.”
Behrends and Herr wrote about this in their letter.
“If he had retired normally and respectfully, you would think he would have ensured his retirement documents were correctly filled out and signed, and that he would have ensured he was reduced to Master Sergeant for dropping out of the academy,” the two wrote.
“Instead he slithered out the door and waited for the paperwork to catch up to him.”
The Post has reached out to Walz’s office for comment.
In 2006, another Iraq war veteran who was part of Walz’s unit reportedly called his retirement just before deployment “disturbing.”
“But even more disturbing is the fact that Walz quickly retired after learning that his unit — southern Minnesota’s 1-125 FA Battalion — would be sent to Iraq,” wrote Tom Hagen in a Nov. 1, 2006, letter to the editor of the Winona Daily News, according to the Daily Wire.
“For Tim Walz to abandon his fellow soldiers and quit when they needed experienced leadership most is disheartening.”
Walz reportedly responded with his own letter to the editor of the Winona Daily News, writing: “After completing 20 years of service in 2001, I re-enlisted to serve our country for an additional four years following Sept. 11 and retired the year before my battalion was deployed to Iraq in order to run for Congress. I’m proud of the 24 years I served our country in the Army National Guard.”
Walz has said he did not see any combat during his more than two decades of service with the National Guard.
He was part of several disaster response deployments in the Midwest and deployed to Italy in 2003 to serve with the European Security Force, which was supporting operations in Afghanistan, according to reports.
The seven-month deployment was connected to the post-Sept. 11 Operation Enduring Freedom.
He has an Army Commendation Medal and two Army Achievement Medals, according to Stars and Stripes.
“Tim Walz has embellished and selectively omitted facts and circumstances of his military career for years,” said Behrends in a second social media post co-authored with Herr during Walz’s second gubernatorial campaign.
Behrends said he hung a giant yellow sign on his grain silo during Walz’s 2022 gubernatorial race, reading, “Abject failure! Walz is a traitor! Vote him out!!”
He told The Post that Harris made the wrong choice in tapping Walz as the Democratic candidate for vice president.
“I think picking Walz shows the nation the incompetence of vetting who he is,” Behrends said.
“I would think they wouldn’t want his baggage.”
