As Tim Walz's Military Record Combusts Under Casual Scrutiny, The Left Goes For Whataboutism

Posted • August 7, 2024: The appointment of anti-gun, anti-courage Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as Kamala Harris's running mate is not going quite the direction the Democrats had imagined. Within hours of the Tuesday announcement, it was evident that Walz's military resume was not quite as heroic as portrayed. Walz pulled strings to retire early when his unit received orders to deploy to Iraq. Even though many Democrat simps refer to him as a "command sergeant major," he only held that rank temporarily, contingent upon completing the Sergeants Major Academy. When his hastily finagled retirement materialized, he retired after a one-grade reduction in rank. His unit deployed to combat without its senior noncommissioned officer and his peers were not squeamish about calling him out. A sure sign that the left's narrative was failing was when potentially friendly media started asking hard questions.

Naturally, when the intrepid huntin', shootin' veteran started looking more like a denser form of Elmer Fudd, they went directly to "whataboutism." This emerged in the sudden regurgitation of the "bone spurs" slur directed at former President Trump and claims that JD Vance's service just wasn't good enough. Here is an example from someone who was fired from MSNBC for being a Hamas simp. -- Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan: “1. They are trying to 'Swift Boat' Tim Walz. 2. Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard. 3. Vance went to Iraq as a 'combat correspondent', or military journalist. He did PR for the Marines. 4. DONALD TRUMP HAD FAKE BONE SPURS TO DODGE THE DRAFT!” -- Let's look at the claims one by one.

1. Yes. The Swiftboat Veterans remain American heroes for revealing and highlighting John Kerry's disgusting and self-serving war record.

2. Yes. Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard. He served right up to the point where the pay, benefits, and connections associated with Guard membership were outweighed by his fear of having his ass shot off. As Matt Funicello points out, he retired two years before the end of his enlistment contract. To retire early, he had to take a demotion. His retirement was driven by his desire to avoid service in Iraq. As a result, his battalion deployed into combat without Walz, the senior enlisted man in that battalion. His cowardice required a change in senior positions to replace him at the very time when the battalion should have been 100% focused on getting ready to fight.

3. Yes. JD Vance was a military journalist. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know how the US Marine Corps assigns specialties, but it isn't like Vance had any special favors to call in. Every Marine is an infantryman first, so even his official job would not have prevented him from being pressed into service as a shooter if the occasion had demanded. He enlisted at the time of the Iraq invasion when he knew enlisting in the Marines would put him in a combat zone. He didn't enlist in the National Guard. Hasan elides right over one critical fact, which is that "Vance went to Iraq." That, by itself, distinguishes him from Walz. Vance didn't desert his unit or get an early discharge to get out of going to Iraq. Vance's job took him "outside the wire," but even if it had not, there were no safe areas as the insurgency ramped up. I'm not sure how any of that makes Vance look bad, particularly in comparison to Walz's cowardice.

4. No. There is no evidence that Donald Trump faked a disability to dodge the draft. That allegation has floated around and was investigated in detail by the New York Times. As Hasan was one of the loud voices pushing the debunked Russia Hoax, I wouldn't expect him to be particularly persuaded by the truth. But, arguendo, let's concede that a friendly doctor got Trump out of the draft after his student deferments ran out in 1972. By 1972, American involvement in the Vietnam War was running down. Trump's birthday is June 14, giving him a lottery number of 113. The highest lottery number called up in Trump's year of eligibility was 95. Assuming further that Trump would have been drafted, even though we know he would not have been, Trump would've had to flee to Canada or desert his unit to be comparable to Walz.

The bottom line is that there is no comparison between Walz's abandonment of his men and either JD Vance's honorable service in Iraq or Donald Trump having never been drafted. The fact that Walz continues to claim he is a combat veteran puts him in the unique category with Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal as a liar.

RedState: As Walz's Military Record Combusts Under Casual Scrutiny, the Left Goes for Whataboutism
https://redstate.com/streiff/2024/08/07/as-walzs-military-record-combusts-under-casual-scrutiny-the-left-goes-for-whataboutism-n2177860