The chaplain of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s field artillery regiment said there is no excuse for the Democratic VP pick to have abandoned his National Guard unit before a critical deployment — not even running for Congress.“In our world, to drop out after a WARNORD [warning order] is issued is cowardly, especially for a senior enlisted guy,” retired Capt. Corey Bjertness, now a pastor in Horace, North Dakota, told The Post.Bjertness, 61, was the chaplain for the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, of which Walz was command sergeant major before retiring in 2005, two months before the unit deployed to Iraq....“Running for Congress is not an excuse,” Bjertness said of Walz’s decision to quit. “I stopped everything and went to war. I left my wife with three teenagers and a 6-year-old and I was gone for 19 months.”
Several other of his unit mates have choice words as well, as does the mother of one of them who didn't come home.
Thomas Behrends, the command sergeant major who replaced Walz, previously told The Post of the Minnesota governor: “He had the opportunity to serve his country, and said ‘Screw you’ to the United States.”...Walz’s old unit, whose main job was running security for US convoys in Iraq, suffered three casualties during the deployment he missed — including Kyle Miller, 19, who joined the National Guard while still in high school, and David Berry, 37....Miller’s mother told the Daily Mail this week that Walz had taken “the coward’s way out” by retiring before deployment....“Honestly, I think we lucked out when we got Command Sergeant Behrends,” he said of the CMS who took over after Walz retired. “Maybe Walz resigned because he knew he wasn’t up to the job, that he didn’t have the confidence to lead.”Behrends, who is from Brewster, Minn., called the Democratic vice presidential candidate “a traitor” for the timing of his retirement.“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.”
Meanwhile his brigade says that they were was informed that they were selected to deploy during 2004, months earlier than first reported, and before he made any decisions about running for Congress.
7 comments:
The Wall Street Journal ran a rather shameful editorial defending Walz' "retirement" last Thursday, suggesting among other things that [h]is retirement timing wasn’t ideal and that his discharge wasn't any big deal--after all if he had been deemed essential to the operation, the Guard could have declined to approve [his retirement].
I concluded my post on my blog about that general subject with this:
The Guard correctly assessed Walz' lack of commitment to his duties, correctly recognized that Walz considered his personal political career more important than the lives of the men and women whom he would be been leading in a combat zone. The Guard was correct to release this…NCO…who would have been worse than merely a Beetle Bailey with senior sergeant chevrons. Beetle Bailey at least was an honest shirker, come to that.
The United States deserves a Vice President who is committed to us citizens and who has the courage and morality to keep that commitment when things get tough, whether for our nation or for the Vice President personally. That's not who Walz is.
Eric Hines
Yes, another comment from the article that I didn’t quote asserts that they got lucky that he ran, because he didn’t have what it takes. Instead they got a better CSM.
They still seem pretty bitter about the betrayal, though.
Most Republicans don't just recognize but will often agree that Trump is in some ways a scoundrel. I just shake my head at all the Democrats who continually raise issues of Trump's propriety but then turn around and make excuses for Walz's behavior.
Somewhat related: Walz states the he was "the coach" for a Mankato HS team which won their State tournament.
Except he wasn't exactly "the coach." He WAS the defense coach. No more than that.
Yeah, and he wasn't a CSM because although he had been promoted to that rank, he hadn't finished or gone to the school for CSM's. Therefore on his retirement, he was demoted back to the rank of Sargeant Major, an E-8 instead of an E-9.
Edited to say that Walz was demoted to Master Sargeant after his retirement.
Walz was demoted to Master Sargeant after his retirement.
No, Waltz was reduced to his prior, permanent rank of Master Sergeant before he retired; the reduction occurred between the time he put in his retirement papers and the time he actually retired.
I'm not sure about the term "demoted," too. That term seems more associated with a punitive action; Walz wasn't being punished, he was just being held to the commitment he'd signed when he started his promotion program course. That commitment said that if he didn't finish the course, or serve the full two years subsequent to course completion, he would be reduced from the temporary rank of CSM to his original Master Sergeant rank.
Eric Hines
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