CONFIRMED: Walz’s Rank Reduced Before Retirement

One of the biggest stories regarding Kamala Harris’s VP selection was the misrepresentation of Walz’s rank when he retired.

Walz had always maintained that he retired as a Command Sergeant Major.

The Minnesota National Guard has confirmed that his rank was reduced before he retired, not after, as we had been led to believe to this point.

It Was Reduced

Walz served in the National Guard for more than two decades.

Nobody here is trying to downplay the fact that Walz served his country.

The issue at hand is that he lied about certain aspects of his service, and regardless of how long he served, the American people deserve to know the truth.

For years, Walz stated that he retired as a Command Sergeant Major, but that was a lie.

He was conditionally promoted, but he never met the conditions of the promotion, so his rank was reduced back to Sergeant Major.

However, there were some semantics involved in reports that his rank had been reduced after he retired, which would have given Walz a technical out, but that was not the case either.

The Minnesota National Guard stated, “Governor Tim Walz received his notification of eligibility for retirement on August 3, 2002. He was promoted to sergeant major (E-9) on September 17, 2004, and immediately began serving as the command sergeant major for the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery while his packet was submitted to the National Guard Bureau to appoint him to command sergeant major (E-9).

“Once approved by NGB, he was laterally appointed to command sergeant major (E-9) on April 1, 2005. He retired from the Minnesota National Guard on May 16, 2005. Our records do not indicate when he made his request to retire.

“Leadership reviews and approves all requests to retire. He was administratively reduced to master sergeant (E-8) on May 15, 2005, because he did not complete all required U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy coursework.”

This was not a misstatement as the Harris campaign has contented, but a blatant misrepresentation of his military record…

Tim Walz is guilty of stolen valor

From Walz’ 1st Congressional campaign in 2006 - present day as Minnesota Governor…

🚨Updated: Watch @Tim_Walz falsely claim the retired rank of Command Sergeant Major… 20 different times! pic.twitter.com/5L1l3n0Zgf

— NOVA Campaigns (@NoVA_Campaigns) August 15, 2024

Walz’s bio on the website now says that he served as a Command Sergeant Major, which is technically true. However, it still does not excuse Governor Walz's lying throughout the last two decades, from his opening campaign in the House to his campaign for Governor.

The media must put him on the spot on this, and his saying it was an honest mistake would be a complete and utter lie, and they cannot let him get away with this.