Guardsman Urged Walz to Stop Using ‘Command Sergeant Major’ to Describe Himself

Guardsman Urged Walz to Stop Using ‘Command Sergeant Major’ to Describe Himself

ABC News found another time that Thomas Behrends confronted presumptive Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz over how the latter has portrayed him since he retired in 2005.

In the words of our great Leslie Eastman, welcome to the party, ABC News. Conservative outlets have only been talking about this subject for weeks.

In 2016, Behrends, a retired Command Sergeant Major of the Minnesota National Guard, urged Walz to stop referring to himself as a “retired command sergeant major” because he did not have that title when he retired in 2005:

In 2016, Behrends penned a private letter to Walz, thanking him for his service but imploring him to stop using the title, which he said Walz didn’t earn.

“It saddens me that after your long career in the National Guard, that you did not fulfill the conditions of your promotion to Command Sergeant Major,” said the letter, a copy of which was provided to ABC News. “It’s quite a title to have, when it has been earned. I would hope that you haven’t been using the rank for political gain, but that is how it appears.”

As I said, Behrends has always been vocal about Walz’s lies, which go further than using the wrong title. He’s not the only one, though.

Walz never served in Afghanistan or Iraq. He retired right before his battalion went overseas. He was well within his right to retire then, but it raised suspicions among those in his unit.

In 2009, Iraq David Thul brought concerns to Walz’s congressional office in Minnesota after he saw pictures of Walz holding a sign that said “Enduring Freedom Veterans for Kerry” in 2004.

That title is only awarded to those who “served on the ground in Afghanistan during the Global War on Terrorism.”

Thul taped his talks with Walz’s aide, who said she was “not aware” of him ever serving in Afghanistan:

Thul filmed the encounter, in which a staffer told Thul she was “not aware” of Walz serving in Afghanistan. Thul went on to present the 2004 photo of Walz, as well as Walz’s website, to another aide, who acknowledged that constituents could get the false impression that Walz served in Afghanistan.

“Operation Enduring Freedom is limited to Afghanistan and the airspace directly above,” Thul told the aide. “Congressman Walz is clearly claiming … to be an Enduring Freedom veteran. Nobody disputes the fact that he is not an Afghanistan or Enduring Freedom veteran. So this represents a fairly serious issue.” Asked whether he understood how constituents could falsely “assume that means [Walz] served in Afghanistan,” the aide responded, “Perhaps, I guess.”

The aide did not dispute that Walz was pictured in the 2004 photograph, and, indeed, a 2006 Atlantic article describes the spectacle of the future governor protesting the Bush visit with a group of high school students. The aide told Thul he would follow up with him. A source familiar with the situation said neither Walz nor his staffers followed through with that pledge.

Thul explained to the aide that “there’s a huge difference between being deployed to a base in Italy and being in a combat zone in Afghanistan.”

In 2018, Behrends and Paul Herr, another retired Command Sergeant Major, slammed Walz during his first run for governor:

On May 16th, 2005 he 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. His excuse to other leaders was that he needed to retire in order to run for Congress. Which is false, according to a Department of Defense Directive, he could have run and requested permission from the Secretary of Defense before entering active duty; as many reservists have. 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 academu. Instead he slithered out the door and waited for the paperwork to catch up to him. His official retirement document states, SOLDIER NOT AVAILABLE FOR SIGNATURE.

Read this letter from Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr, retired Command Sergeants Major of the Minnesota National Guard. pic.twitter.com/Ny3GplniRz

— Nick Short ‎‎ (@PoliticalShort) August 6, 2024

Behrends gave Alpha News an in-depth interview in 2022.

“The public needs to know how pathetic his leadership was as a National Guardsman,” he said.

“The public needs to know how pathetic his leadership was as a National Guardsman,” said Tom Behrends, a retired command sergeant major, about Gov. Tim Walz. Watch the video below or read the story here: https://t.co/NQRcUrL5KL pic.twitter.com/LKB10EtYKk

— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) September 7, 2022

Behrends spoke to The New York Post on August 6 about Walz retiring right before deployment.

Behrends and others consider Walz a traitor.

“When your country calls, you are supposed to run into battle — not the other way,” continued Behrends. “He ran away. It’s sad.”

Behrends added: “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 tried to remain in their good graces by offering “to raise funds to cover his fellow soldiers’ bus trips home for Christmas.”

The soldiers saw right through him as some considered it as a “cynical ploy.”

“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,” said Behrends. “He will do anything for votes.”

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