Hundreds of veterans hit back in Walz’s defense after Trump attacks his service record

More than 1,000 US military veterans and family members of veterans have signed on to an open letter condemning what they describe as “politically motivated attacks” on Democratic vice presidential pick Tim Walz’s military service by former President Donald Trump and his running-mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.

The thousand-strong group of “veterans, veteran families, military families, caregivers, and survivors” said they are all “appalled” at the attacks on Walz, who retired from the Minnesota Army National Guard after a 24-year career that saw him ascend to the rank of command sergeant major, the highest rank for any enlisted person in the Army.

Because the Minnesota governor did not complete required coursework before retiring, his official rank for retirement pay and benefit purposes is that of master sergeant, one below the highest rank at which he served. Republicans have seized on this administrative reduction in retirement grade to accuse Walz of lying about his service.

Vance, a US Marine Corps veteran who served as a combat correspondent in Iraq, has also falsely accused his Democratic counterpart of deserting his unit by retiring before it left for combat even though his retirement papers were submitted months before the unit was notified of a possible deployment.

In reality, Walz enlisted in the guard as a 17-year-old in 1981 and officially retired on May 16, 2005 — two months before his unit was informed of the potential deployment. According to National Guard records, he became eligible to retire in August 2002 but served another three years before retiring, including during a deployment to Europe in support of the US invasion of Afghanistan.

“Vance’s recent comments attacking Governor Walz’s service record