Kamala Harris’ presidential marketing campaign up to date its on-line biography of operating mate Tim Walz’s navy service amid Republican efforts to query his report within the Military Nationwide Guard.
On its web site, the Harris marketing campaign axed a reference to Walz as a “retired command sergeant major” and now says that he as soon as served on the command sergeant main rank — a small change that nonetheless displays his true rank at retirement from the Military Nationwide Guard. Walz, the governor of Minnesota, served for twenty-four years within the Nationwide Guard earlier than retiring in 2005 from the navy to run for the U.S. Home, the place he grew to become probably the most senior enlisted soldier to serve in Congress.
Led by GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance, a Marine Corps veteran who deployed to Iraq, Republicans have advised that Walz inflated his credentials by calling himself a “retired command sergeant major.” The Minnesota governor did function a command sergeant main however was reverted again to the rank of grasp sergeant when he left the navy as a result of he had not accomplished required coursework for the upper rank with the U.S. Military Sergeants Main Academy.
Related accusations have adopted Walz in earlier campaigns, together with his 2018 race for governor, when a paid letter to the editor written by two retired command sergeant majors alleged that Walz misrepresented his rank in the course of the marketing campaign. Walz went on to win that race.
“The son of an Army veteran who served as a command sergeant major, Walz was the ranking member on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, where he passed legislation to help stem veterans’ suicides,” the Harris marketing campaign’s biography of Walz now reads.
Within the unique biography, the identical sentence referred to as Walz “the son of an Army veteran and a retired Command Sergeant Major in the Army National Guard himself,” web site archives present. A Harris marketing campaign spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, nor did Walz’s gubernatorial workplace in Minnesota, the web site for which nonetheless describes him as “Command Sergeant Major Walz.” Walz’s marketing campaign web site for governor additionally used this title.
“Walz attained the rank of command sergeant major and served in that role but retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes due to not completing additional coursework,” Military public affairs officer Lt. Col. Kristen Augé mentioned in a earlier assertion to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
