When Tim Walz retired from the Army National Guard ahead of deployment to Iraq, he told very few of his fellow soldiers that he was abandoning their unit — leaving even his commander in the dark and going above his head to quit, The Post has learned.
The Democratic vice-presidential candidate and governor of Minnesota “went behind everyone’s back,” according to Thomas Behrends, who took Walz’s place in the summer of 2005 to prepare 500 troops for combat in Iraq.
Allegations of stolen valor have haunted Walz for years, but they came to a head last week when veterans on both sides of the political divide questioned his military record after vice-president Kamala Harris announced that he would be her running mate.
“If Walz had any integrity, he would have told everybody,” Behrends, a retired command sergeant major, told The Post of the way Walz stepped down. “There was something really fishy about the way he did it.”
Walz did not inform Doug Julin, the more senior command sergeant, in the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery of the Minnesota National Guard and Walz’s superior, Behrends said.
“It’s very rare [for Walz] not to have gone to the next level, to the non commissioned officer who was Doug Julin,” said John Kolb, a retired colonel who served in Walz’s unit.
Instead, Walz submitted his paperwork to two senior officers who outranked Julin, Behrends claimed.
David Eliciero, the commander of the First Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 34th Infantry Division, would have had to sign off on the retirement, and Walz’s application would have also crossed the desk of Thomas Shoemaker, who was in charge of personnel for the unit, Behrends said. Neither returned calls for comment.
Behrends said it was he, not Walz, who informed Julin of Walz’s retirement plans in the summer of 2005 when they were both at the Camp Ripley military training center near Little Falls, Minn., preparing for deployment to Iraq.
Julin apparently expected Walz to show up — and was allegedly surprised to see Behrends, who had taken over Walz’s role as CSM.
“You could just see him turn red,” Behrends said of Julin. “That’s what ticked him off the most — the people above him knew [of Walz’s retirement] but he had no idea. Doug got bypassed because, I think, [Walz] knew that he would say ‘no.’
“There was some kind of shady, behind the scenes dirty dealing,” Behrends claimed, adding that Walz likely felt other senior officers would be more accommodating.
Julin did not return repeated requests for comment.
Walz, 60, had previously told Julin that he was prepared for the unit’s upcoming deployment to Iraq, but said he was also interested in running for Congress, Julin told the Washington Post last week.
Julin said doing both was “no big deal” and noted that members of Congress had deployed in the past, the outlet reported.
Walz’s congressional campaign issued a statement in March 2005 saying that he still planned to run despite a possibility that he would be called up for combat. He retired two months later, in May 2005, according to the National Guard.
Walz, who spent 24 years in the Army National Guard in Nebraska and Minnesota, retired to run for Congress before a “stop loss order” was issued to his unit in July 2005, said Behrends. At that point, only soldiers who develop an illness that prevents them from going into combat can be excused from military service, he explained.
In July 2005, the Department of the Army issued a mobilization order for the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery. The unit mobilized on October 12 of that year and deployed to Iraq in late March 2006 after training in Camp Shelby, Mississippi, according to reports.
Although Walz was not required under National Guard rules to tell Julin he was planning to retire, many of the veterans contacted by The Post said it was a “lack of courtesy” not to inform fellow soldiers, especially those in a command position.
Walz was the only member of his unit to drop out, according to Jon Erickson, a former chief warrant officer with the Minnesota National Guard.
“There’s a process,” said Erickson, 57, who told The Post he personally gave six months’ notice and made it a point to tell his commanding officer when he retired from the Minnesota National Guard.
“We didn’t have anyone who didn’t go to Iraq,” he said. “Everyone was committed.”
Other veterans in Walz’s unit said they were disappointed with the way in which Walz had left.
“Julin was right to think it should have been run through him. It was irregular that Tim’s request to retire was not made to Doug in the non-commissioned officer chain,” Kolb said.
When Walz retired, he used his rank as command sergeant major in campaign literature and later on his Congressional web-site, further angering veterans who say the rank had not been earned. Walz needed to complete two more years of service in order to be able to say he had retired with that rank, they said.
Last week, the Harris-Walz campaign updated Walz’s online biography, removing a reference to him as “retired command sergeant major.” It now says Walz once served at the command sergeant major rank.
As a result of his hasty retirement, Walz saddled other soldiers with his responsibilities, Kolb said.
“It’s very hurtful for many people, including for Tom Behrends who took his place at great personal expense,” said Kolb. “It’s questionable as to whether he lived up to his commitments. In the military it’s a big deal when someone walks away from their commitments … A sergeant major is a giant and sets the standard and is about holding the standard.”
Walz’s office did not return a request for comment.
