Kamala Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, is a respected 24-year veteran of the Army National Guard, but the GOP, with J.D. Vance as the face of the smear, is working hard to “swiftboat” Walz by conflating issues to frame him as a coward, discredit his long record of military service, and accuse him of being a liar, guilty of stolen valor.
First, what is swiftboating? From the Free Dictionary, swiftboating is the “act of making exaggerated or unsubstantiated allegations to damage the credibility of a political candidate or other public figure.” The term’s origin is from “the name of the organization Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT, later the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth) because of their widely publicized—and later discredited—political smear campaign against 2004 U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry.”
The GOP is also claiming that Walz is guilty of ”stolen valor” (a federal crime signed into law by President Obama in 2013). This is when a person commits fraud by lying about their military service record. Specifically, the GOP is trying to say that Walz lied about his rank by listing Command Sergeant Major (CSM) as his highest rank, but more on that later.
Another important part of the “stolen valor” smear is J.D. Vance himself. He is on the campaign trail trying to persuade voters that he is more honorable than Tim Walz because he served overseas in a “real” war, but Walz didn’t. Walz did, in fact, serve overseas in Italy with his unit for almost year in 2003 during the geopolitically tense period of active military deployment to Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks on America in September 2001. Vance, although sent to Iraq for 6 months, served as a military journalist, or “combat correspondent” in the PR branch of the Marines. However, neither Vance nor Walz ever witnessed active battle or served as frontline combatants. So, for Vance to suggest higher ground than Walz by alluding to have been a “combat veteran” is false.
The next part of this story is that in 2005, following 24-years of service, Tim Walz filed for resignation from the Army after making the decision to run for Congress. Ten months later, in 2006, the unit Walz oversaw was deployed to Iraq. J.D. Vance is twisting this truth and falsely insinuating that Walz is a coward, unfit for the vice presidency, because he abandoned his unit by dropping out when he knew that his unit was going to be deployed overseas.
There is no proof that Tim Walz knew that his unit was being deployed to Iraq ahead of time.
Additionally, the GOP is claiming that Walz fraudulently claimed higher rank, but he did not. Walz legitimately rose to the rank of Command Sergeant Major (CSM). However, he retired before (1) finishing a minimum of 3 consecutive years as a CSM and (2) completing all required coursework. In the Army, both are necessary in order to hold rank after retirement. So, after the Army’s post-retirement administrative review, Walz’s rank was reassigned to his previous level of Sergeant Major (SM). Walz understood that this administrative adjustment would be made after he retired, but he was ready to move on to fulfill another level of service to his country in Congress.
The key takeaway is that Walz was not committing stolen valor by falsely stating his highest rank as CSM—it was legitimate and true. In the armed services, the issue of rank reassignment after retirement is separate from highest rank served, as Adam Kinzinger explains:
