Speaking to a crowd of veterans on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz talked about his time in the National Guard and missing a year of his daughter's life, then immediately followed that reference with a story about standing on the tarmac at Bagram Air Base and watching a ramp ceremony, and the emotional effect that had on him.
If listeners knew nothing else about Walz, they'd believe that he missed a year of his daughter's life because he deployed for combat and saw some hard things. But, as we all know now, that's not the case. He deployed to Italy in a support capacity and shamefully retired early, before his contract was up, when he knew that his unit was going to be sent to Iraq.
Here's a clip of Walz's 2021 speech with the relevant portion (full video at the bottom of the post):
He said:
In the years after that classroom, I had the privilege of serving in this state's [N[ational [G]uard. And when I left I had a two-year-old; when I left I had a three-year-old. But as I listened to Jill and I listed to Mariah, the guilt -- I came home, and my daughter went on. And when you're two and three, she knew no difference. That's not true for some. They can't do that. And over the preceding years of watching us, and as our nation changed and our political systems became more -- more difficult for all of us to understand --
I stood one night in the dark of night on the tarmac at Bagram and watched a military ramp ceremony. And if you've seen it, which these folks, many have, unfortunately, you don't leave the same. And it makes you wonder, what are we doing? What are we trying to get to?
In the spoken remarks, Walz doesn't say "In Iraq" which is fortunate since we all know that Bagram Air Base is in Afghanistan (and was abandoned by Joe Biden during his failed withdrawal from Afghanistan). But in the transcript, published in the book "Minnesota in the Global War on Terrorism: Post-9/11 Profiles," it's clear where he went off-script and at least corrected that portion. From that book:
In the years after that classroom, I had the privilege of serving in this state's [N[ational [G]uard. I stood one night in the dark of night on the tarmac at Bagram Air Base in Iraq and watched a military ramp ceremony–a soldier’s body being loaded onto a plane to be returned home. And if you've seen it, you don't leave the same. It makes you wonder, what are we doing? What are we trying to get to? And then watching as all of you have been, the confusing last few weeks with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
As if intending to further twist the knife of stolen valor, Walz's scripted remarks continued:
As we’ve been reminded today, it was this state that volunteered first when the nation was most in peril. From Gettysburg to Kabul, Minnesotans have been there and they've done what was asked of them.
Minnesotans have done what was asked of them, except for Tim Walz.
By inserting the unscripted remarks about his daughter immediately before talking about being at Bagram, Walz once again implies that his deployment was a combat deployment and that he was in Bagram as part of his National Guard duties. As it turns out, he was in Bagram, but as part of a Congressional delegation in 2011. He conveniently left that part out. As much as he talks about his alleged experiences in the Global War on Terror, it should be obvious that he didn't do anything. Most of the guys who were in the midst of the fighting very rarely talk about it, and they don't use it for political gain.
Here is the full video of Minnesota's 9/11 Day of Remembrance, at which Walz spoke.
UPDATED 12:15 AM EDT, August 12, 2024:
Walz apparently participated in a ramp ceremony during a January 2008 Congressional visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan related to healthcare for veterans, but as a member of the House of Representatives since he had already been retired from the National Guard for a few years at that point.