COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating
The Tim Walz military service brouhaha is an object lesson in two long-established axioms: You can’t plump your record, and you can’t piss off your unit.
Veterans are calling out Walz, number two on the ticket with presidential candidate Kamala Harris, for touting an inaccurate military record, and for what they say is a “Blue Falcon” move on fellow soldiers headed to war.
Walz should have known better than to think his military record would go unchallenged. Military service is meticulously documented, while servicemembers themselves have long, precise memories. And yet, there is an enduring cadre of folks whose chops have been busted over military claims that don’t hold up.
In Walz’s case, his official biography as governor of Minnesota states that he retired at the prestigious rank of command sergeant major, when in fact he retired as a master sergeant. The Minnesota National Guard confirmed that Walz “retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”
He also left his unit at a crucial time before it deployed to Iraq, soldiers say.
In early 2005, Walz’s unit was told that members should prepare to be mobilized for active duty in Iraq, according to two retired Command Sergeants Major. Soon afterwards, Walz quit the Guard, leaving other soldiers hanging, the retired CSMs wrote in a letter posted to Facebook.
“It was a total Blue Falcon move,” one active duty member of the Minnesota Guard told Soldier of Fortune.
Walz’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The Walz episode overall is a page from a well worn book. Flip through the volume to find any number of examples that should serve as warnings.
Jeffrey “Mad Dog” Beck was a flamboyant Wall Street deal-maker who said he was a Green Beret in Vietnam. He loved to startle colleagues by shouting his favorite battle cry, “Lock and load!” He claimed to have garnered a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and four Purple Hearts. He was on tap to be the subject of a Hollywood film.
Beck was unmasked when a former girlfriend tried to get help for his war-induced problems. The truth leaked out, and Beck was exposed.
Another so-called Green Beret tried for office in Massachusetts.
Royal H. Switzler ran for governor in 1986, when he claimed to have served with Special Forces in Vietnam. He was indeed a veteran, but his military service consisted only of a peacetime hitch in Korea.
The pages flip quickly by.
In Kansas, Robert Lyons passed himself off as a four-star general, even though he was only 35 years old. He claimed to be a CIA agent. He was charged with impersonating a federal officer.
In Utah, Robert Fife convinced everyone, including his therapist, that he was shot down in combat, captured, and tortured by the Viet Cong. The truth came out only after he died, when his wife of 23 years learned that he had been discharged after eight unremarkable months in the Navy.
There are so many such cases that anyone who claims a military record should know to tell the unvarnished truth. Otherwise, it will come back to bite them.
As for antagonizing the people in your unit: Proceed with caution.
Soldier of Fortune readers know the score.
One follower wrote on our Facebook page: “Is there a better litmus test to command leadership than watching a leader taking the personal benefit left at the fork in the road while he knowingly sends his command element on the hard right to violence?
“Character matters.”
It’s a lesson that never should be left unlearned.
Susan Katz Keating is the publisher and editor in chief at Soldier of Fortune.
