@neko I don’t know about these “claims” coming from a place of privilege. I would say they came from a place of ignorance. @G_Allen Walsh’s letter is complete nonsense, it’s all
“bullet points of opinion” straight from any recent Vance or Trump podium prattle, or the rhetoric rubbish of Fox news talking heads.
I could go to town on each of Walsh’s “claims” and cite sources proving them erroneous, but
for the sake of this discussion board I’ll stick with you @G_Allen and “deal with the first two”.
The man misspoke, We’ve all been guilty of that. Fortunately most of us don’t make mistakes on such a big stage. Regardless of what he said, in no way does this statement or any version of it constitute “stolen valor” folks need to seriously educate themselves on what that term really means. Saying something about your service that isn’t true just makes you a liar and an a**hole. If you make fraudulent claims about your awards and military service with an intent to obtain money, property, or other benefits now that’s a crime and it is punishable. #facts https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/258
He said “that I carried in war” to make a point. He served during a time of war, he carried an M16 or M4, he has earned the right to his point of view, he just needs to be better about any embellishment.
I would however argue that if you are in the military and training with any pieces of the DOD’s arsenal, whether you deploy with it or not, you have the right to a point of view of its overall use. I’m sure 0341 (USMC Mortarman) doesn’t think folks should be able to own their own mortars & cannons. This is a lame storyline, an attack tactic from the right. Give it up!
To your second point, that “He definitely quit the National Guard”
Flat out, you can’t “quit” the military. That’s simply not how it works, never has and never will. You can go AWOL but when they find you there will be serious repercussions, and they will find you. You can get kicked out for an array of reasons, but that’s not the case with Gov. Walz, he retired after 24 years of service. When you join you sign a contract and you reup or get out at the end of that contract. When you are up for retirement, such as Gov. Walz, you put in a request to retire. Here is the big catch, so pay attention. That request to retire goes through the entire chain of command and in the guard and reserves it even goes to higher command levels to be approved by a General. Gov. Walz did not “quit” nor did he “abandon” his unit or the Guard, he simply retired. Whether he knew about the deployment or not is irrelevant. He did 24 years and retired honorably. It’s unfortunate what happened to that unit while deployed. I know that pain from my own experiences, but he can’t control that nor would he have known their fate. So many members of all ranks and positions would have been in and out of that unit prior to deployment and none of them owe any responsibility for what happened to that unit down range. That’s not how military service works.
There is nothing “unethical” about how Gov. Walz left his time in service. The only thing unethical is the appalling way in which the right is attacking this man’s time in service. Trump should just shut up about anyone who served. His team needs to tell him to just stop, he has no position to question or discuss anyone’s service. Vance should stay in his lane. He was a corporal in the USMC, did 4 years of service with a short 6 months in the sandbox as a cameraman for the Air Wing. If both men were still in uniform, Corporal Hamel would pop-tall in the presence of Command Sergeant Major Walz. #facts
SOURCES:
ME: I retired after 20 years in the US Navy, I was a Navy Fleet Marine Force Corpsman (combat medic) and survived 3 combat tours to Iraq.
None of these statements are true. Additionally, they were all made from a position of privilege and a lack of self awareness. Please start over, Finley.
"None of these statements are true" is complete nonsense. Perhaps one or two could be argued, but they all are true or mostly true.
I'll just deal with the first two. If you listen to the video of Gov. Walz speaking, he actually says these things. He said he carried these weapons "in war." He's never been in combat.
And besides his "stolen valor" misstatements, he definitely quit the National Guard, after 24 years, to run for Congress. I'd bet $100 that he knew about the deployment orders and decided to quit so he wouldn't have to go to Iraq.
Last week, Howie Carr had the parents of a young woman who was called up from Maine to serve in the Minnesota National Guard and deployed with Walz' unit. They were in different positions, but obviously holes were being filled. She served 22 months in Iraq and was not the same when she returned (she died several years ago).
So one can conclude that Walz simply didn't want an extended tour in Iraq and decided to "serve his country" in a different way by running for Congress while the rest of his unit fulfilled its duty.
His abandonment of his unit seems highly unethical, and his stolen valor claims (and there have been several) plus his exaggeration of his retirement rank are both despicable.
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(3) comments
@neko I don’t know about these “claims” coming from a place of privilege. I would say they came from a place of ignorance. @G_Allen Walsh’s letter is complete nonsense, it’s all
“bullet points of opinion” straight from any recent Vance or Trump podium prattle, or the rhetoric rubbish of Fox news talking heads.
I could go to town on each of Walsh’s “claims” and cite sources proving them erroneous, but
for the sake of this discussion board I’ll stick with you @G_Allen and “deal with the first two”.
The man misspoke, We’ve all been guilty of that. Fortunately most of us don’t make mistakes on such a big stage. Regardless of what he said, in no way does this statement or any version of it constitute “stolen valor” folks need to seriously educate themselves on what that term really means. Saying something about your service that isn’t true just makes you a liar and an a**hole. If you make fraudulent claims about your awards and military service with an intent to obtain money, property, or other benefits now that’s a crime and it is punishable. #facts https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/258
He said “that I carried in war” to make a point. He served during a time of war, he carried an M16 or M4, he has earned the right to his point of view, he just needs to be better about any embellishment.
I would however argue that if you are in the military and training with any pieces of the DOD’s arsenal, whether you deploy with it or not, you have the right to a point of view of its overall use. I’m sure 0341 (USMC Mortarman) doesn’t think folks should be able to own their own mortars & cannons. This is a lame storyline, an attack tactic from the right. Give it up!
“Misspoke source:
https://apnews.com/article/walz-military-record-weapons-harris-video-89fc6fa0c5f51c0ba657b8f808afcd87
To your second point, that “He definitely quit the National Guard”
Flat out, you can’t “quit” the military. That’s simply not how it works, never has and never will. You can go AWOL but when they find you there will be serious repercussions, and they will find you. You can get kicked out for an array of reasons, but that’s not the case with Gov. Walz, he retired after 24 years of service. When you join you sign a contract and you reup or get out at the end of that contract. When you are up for retirement, such as Gov. Walz, you put in a request to retire. Here is the big catch, so pay attention. That request to retire goes through the entire chain of command and in the guard and reserves it even goes to higher command levels to be approved by a General. Gov. Walz did not “quit” nor did he “abandon” his unit or the Guard, he simply retired. Whether he knew about the deployment or not is irrelevant. He did 24 years and retired honorably. It’s unfortunate what happened to that unit while deployed. I know that pain from my own experiences, but he can’t control that nor would he have known their fate. So many members of all ranks and positions would have been in and out of that unit prior to deployment and none of them owe any responsibility for what happened to that unit down range. That’s not how military service works.
There is nothing “unethical” about how Gov. Walz left his time in service. The only thing unethical is the appalling way in which the right is attacking this man’s time in service. Trump should just shut up about anyone who served. His team needs to tell him to just stop, he has no position to question or discuss anyone’s service. Vance should stay in his lane. He was a corporal in the USMC, did 4 years of service with a short 6 months in the sandbox as a cameraman for the Air Wing. If both men were still in uniform, Corporal Hamel would pop-tall in the presence of Command Sergeant Major Walz. #facts
SOURCES:
ME: I retired after 20 years in the US Navy, I was a Navy Fleet Marine Force Corpsman (combat medic) and survived 3 combat tours to Iraq.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/08/12/tim-walz-military-service-under-attack-trump-campaign-here-are-facts.html
None of these statements are true. Additionally, they were all made from a position of privilege and a lack of self awareness. Please start over, Finley.
"None of these statements are true" is complete nonsense. Perhaps one or two could be argued, but they all are true or mostly true.
I'll just deal with the first two. If you listen to the video of Gov. Walz speaking, he actually says these things. He said he carried these weapons "in war." He's never been in combat.
And besides his "stolen valor" misstatements, he definitely quit the National Guard, after 24 years, to run for Congress. I'd bet $100 that he knew about the deployment orders and decided to quit so he wouldn't have to go to Iraq.
Last week, Howie Carr had the parents of a young woman who was called up from Maine to serve in the Minnesota National Guard and deployed with Walz' unit. They were in different positions, but obviously holes were being filled. She served 22 months in Iraq and was not the same when she returned (she died several years ago).
So one can conclude that Walz simply didn't want an extended tour in Iraq and decided to "serve his country" in a different way by running for Congress while the rest of his unit fulfilled its duty.
His abandonment of his unit seems highly unethical, and his stolen valor claims (and there have been several) plus his exaggeration of his retirement rank are both despicable.
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Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.