Walz says he’s ‘damn proud’ of military service record amid GOP attacks

By CNN Newsource

Published August 13, 2024 2:20 PM

By Aaron Pellish, CNN

(CNN) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, defended his military record during remarks in Los Angeles on Tuesday, saying he is “damn proud” of his service in the Army National Guard.

Speaking to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union convention, Walz addressed attacks from Republicans, including GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance, who have claimed he misrepresented his military record and falsely suggested he evaded an overseas deployment.

“These guys … are even attacking me for my record of service, and I just want to say, I’m proud to have served my country, and I always will be,” he said, receiving loud applause from the audience.

Walz outlined his time in the military, beginning with signing up for the Nebraska Army National Guard when he was 17 years old and serving 24 years total in the National Guard. He also touted his work on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee as a member of Congress.

“I’m going to say it again as clearly as I can: I am damn proud of my service to this country, and I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person’s service record,” he said.

“Anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice,” Walz said.

Walz’s defense of his record comes after Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign acknowledged Saturday he “misspoke” during a 2018 campaign event when he said he handled assault weapons “in war.” After the Harris campaign shared a video of the 2018 remarks last week, Vance, who served in the Marine Corps, accused Walz of “stolen valor.”

In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday, Vance defended his attacks on Walz by arguing he is criticizing Walz’s statements about his record, rather than his actions while serving.

“I’m not criticizing Tim Walz’s service; I’m criticizing the fact that he lied about his service for political gain,” the Ohio senator said on “State of the Union.”

Vance made the same argument in a social media post responding to Walz’s remarks on Tuesday, reiterating his attacks while expressing openness to a debate.

“Hi Tim, I thank you for your service. But you shouldn’t have lied about it. You shouldn’t have said you went to war when you didn’t. Nor should you have said that you didn’t know your unit was going to Iraq. Happy to discuss more in a debate,” he said in a post on X.

Vance served four years as an enlisted combat correspondent, in public affairs, and deployed once to Iraq for roughly six months, according to his military record. Walz, for his part, deployed with the Minnesota National Guard in August 2003 to Vicenza, Italy, to support the US’ war in Afghanistan, CNN reported earlier this month.

Walz has also faced criticism from Republicans, and some veterans who served alongside him, for retiring prior to his unit’s deployment to Iraq. Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Julin, who was Walz’s superior and is a longtime critic of the Minnesota governor, told CNN’s Laura Coates on Friday that Walz dodged his deployment to Iraq by retiring months before he would have been deployed. Walz filed to run for Congress in February 2005 – before his unit was notified it could deploy to Iraq. He retired in May 2005, according to the Minnesota National Guard.

Walz has had to fend off accusations of embellishing his military service record before. A CNN KFile review found that Walz’s first congressional campaign’s description of his service drew pushback in 2006, prompting him to personally address the claims in a local paper.

“Using innuendo to defame a candidate’s character has no place in this debate,” he wrote at the time. “This nation must do better because we have too many important issues facing us to do anything less.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Jeremy Herb, Haley Britzky and Andrew Kaczynski contributed to this report.