JD Vance Accuses Tim Walz Of ‘Stolen Valor,’ Avoiding Iraq War

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance on Wednesday criticized his counterpart on the Democratic ticket for exaggerating his military service and staying home from the Iraq War when his unit deployed.

Speaking at a campaign stop in Wisconsin, Vance, a Marine Corps veteran, said that when his country asked him to go to Iraq in 2005, he did, but Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who served in the Army National Guard for 24 years, did not.

“You know what really bothers me about Tim Walz, as a Marine who served his country in uniform? When the United States Marine Corps, when the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it,” Vance said. “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him.”

Vance’s running mate, of course, famously used a dubious medical diagnosis of “bone spurs” to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War.

Walz previously faced criticism about his military record in 2018 when he ran for governor of Minnesota, and again when he sought reelection four years later. In an open letter posted on Facebook in 2018, Thomas Behrends, a retired command sergeant major from the Minnesota National Guard, claimed Walz retired after his unit received a warning order “in early 2005” that it would deploy to Iraq.

“His excuse to other leaders was that he needed to retire in order to run for Congress,” the letter said.

A public affairs officer for the Minnesota National Guard said Wednesday, however, that the unit “received an alert order for mobilization to Iraq on July 14, 2005.” Walz had retired two months earlier, in May.

It’s not clear, however, if Walz has ever disputed Behrends’ timeline of