Another video of Gov. Tim Walz has resurfaced where he appears to have dramatically embellished his military record to claim, falsely, that he had been deployed to a war zone.

In the C-SPAN video, then-U.S. Rep. Walz is telling a Gold Star family — that is, a family who has lost a loved one in battle — during a hearing on PTSD that he had been deployed to Afghanistan in 2004 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He further claimed that troops he was responsible for had suffered from some mental health issues and were shown “the horse whisperer” and “told us to be nice” when they returned home.

“And both of you, with your keen understanding of how this works, especially from National Guard families, I can tell you this, having been one of those that came back, we were in support of OEF, but being — sitting in there with OEF, OIF veterans. When we came back, they showed us the horse whisperer and told us to be nice when we went home. And that was the extent of it,” Walz claimed.

“That was in 2004. Now, I’m proud to say that because of the people sitting in here and people who came before me, things have changed over the last four years. They have not changed enough. But Mr. Kennedy is following and moving something forward that the late senator from Minnesota, Sen. [Paul] Wellstone advocated so clearly: Mental health parity and this issue of de-stigmatizing mental health, of understanding,” Walz continued.

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“And I, being in there and knowing as a first sergeant, knowing exactly what you’re saying and watching as people aren’t trained on this, that there’s a discrimination that goes against a soldier who has the courage, the fortitude, and, as you said, the insight to admit this. So there’s a couple of things I want to ask you,” he said.

WATCH:

BREAKING: In newly obtained tape, then-Rep. Tim Walz tells a gold-star family during hearing on PTSD that he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2004 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and says he and his troops suffering from mental health issues were “shown the horse… pic.twitter.com/mUzrJJR10S

— Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) August 10, 2024

Walz served in the Army and Army National Guard for 24 years but he never served in combat. In fact, he decided to retire once his unit got orders to deploy to Iraq rather than deploy with them, a decision that has earned him wide condemnation from Sen. J.D. Vance, who did deploy to Iraq as a Marine public affairs officer, as well as senior enlisted personnel from Walz’s former unit.

“He’s a veteran of a war nodding along in agreement instead of saying, ‘No, no, no, I did serve my country, and I did it honorably, but I never went to a war zone.’ I’m not criticizing Tim Walz’s service,” Vance told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday. “I’m criticizing the fact that he lied about his service for political gain, Dana. Now I served in the United States Marine Corps and you know this. And look, there are a lot of things that I’m proud about.”

“He knew he was going to Iraq,” Vance said. “He decided to quit — to retire; whatever word you want to use … because he wanted to run for Congress. He lied about that. He said that when he decided to retire, he did not know he was going to Iraq. That is another untruth, as even his senior military officer said.” He added: “The truth is that Tim Walz didn’t tell the truth, and importantly, Dana, this is about Kamala Harris’ judgment.”

Walz has also been criticized for an anti-gun statement where he claimed that Americans should not be able to carry the same weapons that he did “in war.”

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