JD Vance accuses Tim Walz of never having fought on the front lines as a soldier. But in his view, his own time in the military was not as heroic as he likes to make it out to be.
JD Vance attacks Kamala Harris’ vice presidential candidate Tim Walz for his time in the military. “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He resigned from the army and let his unit go without him,” Vance said at a campaign rally in Michigan.
The reason for the attack is a statement by Walz in a Kamala Harris campaign ad. In it, Walz says: “We can make sure that the weapons of war that I carried in war are the only place where those weapons are.”
Vance now accuses Walz of taking credit for something he doesn’t deserve. In fact, Walz retired from active duty after 24 years with the National Guard shortly before his unit was deployed to Iraq because he wanted to concentrate fully on his campaign for Congress. Vance now interprets this as cowardice in the face of the enemy.
“Well, I’m wondering, Tim Walz, when have you ever been to war? What was that weapon you carried into war, considering you left your unit just before it went to Iraq? He never spent a day in a combat zone,” Vance said.
Vance, on the other hand, presents himself as an honorable war hero. “When the United States Marine Corps (…) asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did. I did what they asked me to do and I did it honorably, and I am very proud of that service,” Vance explains to his supporters. But the truth is that while Vance was actually stationed in Iraq for six months during his time with the US Marines, he worked in the PR department and did not perform active service on the front lines.
The Harris and Walz campaign team then issued a statement saying: “In his 24 years of service, the Governor has carried, fired and trained others in the use of weapons of war countless times. Governor Walz would never insult or belittle an American’s service to this country – in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for risking his life for our country.”
