Veterans who served alongside Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz appeared on Megyn Kelly’s show to speak out against his alleged misrepresentation of his military record amid a growing stolen valor scandal.
Megyn Kelly opened the segment by outlining the accusations against Walz, who has been accused of embellishing his military service. She then introduced four veterans who served with Walz before his political career. Among them were retired Command Sergeant Majors, a rank that Walz has falsely claimed to hold multiple times over the years.
The veterans featured on the show included retired Command Sergeant Major Tom Behrends, retired Sergeant First Class Tom Schilling, retired Command Sergeant Major Paul Herr, and Rodney Town, a retired First Sergeant who was a peer of Walz.
Kelly asked the veterans about Walz’s military career and whether he would have known about his upcoming deployment to Iraq in the spring of 2005. Behrends, who took over Walz’s position, stated, “I spent 34 years in the Army, almost 13 of those as a Sergeant Major.” He emphasized that leaving one’s unit just before deployment, as Walz did, is “a morale crusher” and detrimental to the military’s cohesion and effectiveness. “It may not legally be wrong, but it is morally indefensible,” Behrends added.
The veterans unanimously agreed that Walz would have been aware of his impending deployment before receiving his official orders. When Kelly asked how they felt about Walz’s actions as a peer, Rodney Town remarked, “I don’t know how he could live with himself after he did that to his soldiers. … That military unit is the same thing as a family, that’s your military family.” Town recounted how he asked, “How could he just quit?” and expressed that Walz’s actions reflected a lack of integrity.
Tom Schilling also criticized Walz for suggesting he took weapons into combat. “What he said about going into combat that’s sacred. Because people lose their lives, limbs. Sometimes they have kids at home,” Schilling said, underscoring the seriousness of such claims.
The four veterans shared their belief that Walz did not honor his responsibilities in the military. They pointed out that when Walz retired, his rank was reduced from Command Sergeant Major to Master Sergeant because he did not complete the necessary qualifications for a permanent Command Sergeant Major appointment. They called for Walz to publicly apologize for his false claims about his military record.
Behrends previously wrote a letter about Walz, stating, “In early 2005, a warning order was issued to the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, which included the position [Walz] was serving in, to prepare to be mobilized for active duty for a deployment to Iraq. On May 16th, 2005, he quit, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war.”