Michael Knowles claims that Tim Walz's military deployment in Italy was “a taxpayer-funded vacation”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the August 8, 2024, edition of The Daily Wire's The Michael Knowles Show

MICHAEL KNOWLES (HOST): This is all true is the thing. It's very misleading, it's very deceptive, but it's all true. He says, I deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Operation Enduring Freedom was the American intervention in Afghanistan. But he doesn't say I deployed into Operation Enduring Freedom. He says in support of. Well, what does in support of mean? It means he went to Vicenza, Italy. He went on a taxpayer-funded vacation to Italy, which obviously that was in the European theater.

There's no European theater in Operation Enduring Freedom. What are you talking about? It's a war in Afghanistan. Yeah. I was over there, and then the unit that I was in is now in Afghanistan. Yeah. But you dropped out of the unit before they went. Yeah, I that's why — and so I deployed, theater, Operation Enduring Freedom. This is very slippery language.

Read more: Right-wing media push old debunked smear of Walz’s military record despite his 24 years of service

Right-wing media are reviving old smears pushed by political rivals of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz about his retirement from the military, accusing him of “stolen valor” and misleading their audience about the reality of his 24-year service record with the National Guard. Specifically, right-wing media are claiming that Walz resigned and “abandoned” his National Guard unit and resigned after the unit received deployment orders to go to Iraq when in reality, Walz resigned two months before the unit received orders, and Walz likely submitted his retirement papers even earlier.

According to a copy of his service record obtained by Military.com, Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1981 and reached the rank of command sergeant major before retiring in 2005, following a reenlistment after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. Walz retired honorably as a master sergeant — a lower rank than command sergeant major — since he did not complete all of the necessary coursework for the higher rank before his service ended. Walz went on to successfully campaign for Congress, where he served for multiple terms, helping veterans exposed to toxins during their military service, sponsoring a veterans suicide prevention bill, and advocating for more GI Bill benefits.

During Walz’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign, retired Command Sgts. Maj. Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr wrote a “paid endorsement letter” just days before the election accusing Walz of “abandon[ing]” his unit in order to run for Congress. Specifically, they claimed that he retired in mid-2005 to dodge a unit deployment to Iraq the following year. This smear was repeated by Walz’s gubernatorial opponent in October 2022.