Tim Walz’s direct supervisor from the Minnesota National Guard has a message for the Democrat VP nominee and his false claim of rank: “It is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title.”

Col. John Kolb, Walz’s battalion commander, said, “Unwittingly, [Walz] got out of the way for better leadership.” Walz did spend over two decades in the Minnesota National Guard, but he got out just before his unit’s 2005 deployment to Iraq. Despite this fact, Walz has asserted he saw combat and served in a fighting capacity, carrying “weapons of war.” 

Walz also claimed he retired as a Command Sergeant Major, which he did not. As Kolb put it, “He did not earn the rank … I can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, it does not make me a pilot.”

Kolb posted a statement on Facebook. “I do not regret that Tim Walz retired early from the Minnesota Army National Guard, did not complete the Sergeants Major Academy, broke his enlistment contract, or did not successfully complete any assignment as a Sergeant Major,” he began.

Holy shit, Tim Walz's Battalion Commander absolutely destroys him over his Stolen Valor. How long is the leftwing media going to keep ignoring all of this? pic.twitter.com/eyu2tnMOUs

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 11, 2024

Related: Even Walz's Former Chaplain Is Speaking Out Against Him

He explained his reasoning. “Unwittingly, [Walz] got out of the way for better leadership. Thomas Behrends was the right leader at the right time. He sacrificed to answer the call, leaving his family, business, and farming-partner brother to train, lead, and care for soldiers,” Kolb wrote.

Ret. Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends accuses @Tim_Walz of stolen valor: "He's used the rank that he never achieved in order to, advance his political career." #2024Election https://t.co/IyB7N1lfr1 pic.twitter.com/xYHB11DOGY

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) August 8, 2024

Behrends’ actions provide a major contrast to Walz’s shameful behavior. Kolb stated of Behrends, “He earned the privilege of being called Command Sergeant Major [CSM]. Like a great leader, he ran toward and not away from the guns.” 

Walz, however, is not the stuff of which great leaders are made. “I have no opinion of Mr. Walz's decision to leave service at the time he did. It was his right to retire early. I also have no criticism of his service as an E7 and E8 in the MNARNG. By all accounts and on the record, he was a competent Chief of Firing Battery/Gunnery Sergeant and First Sergeant,” Kolb wrote. “I cannot say the same of his service sitting, frocked, in the CSM chair.”

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Kolb added, “He did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9. It is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title. I can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, [but] it does not make me a pilot.” Of course, Walz is the nominee for a party that thinks using female pronouns makes one a woman; he’s not concerned with reality.

But everyone should remember, as Kolb concluded, “Similarly, when the demands of service and leadership at the highest level got real, [Walz] chose another path.”