Despite multiple reports indicating that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz did not retire from his service in the National Guard with the rank of ‘Command Sergeant Major,’ Wikipedia continues to give him this false military rank. Social media users have been sharing screenshots highlighting this inaccurate information, which has yet to be corrected by the online encyclopedia.
Although Tim Walz did serve as a Command Sergeant Major in the National Guard, he was not allowed to retire under that rank after failing to complete the necessary coursework. To maintain accuracy, Wikipedia would need to list him as a former Command Sergeant Major while also noting that he retired as a Master Sergeant.
Walz’s use of the rank “retired Command Sergeant Major” since his run for U.S. Congress has drawn considerable criticism from members of the military community, with claims of stolen valor. Walz was not permitted to use that title after retiring when he failed to complete the final and necessary coursework.
As Breitbart News reported, Walz “listed on his official biography a higher military rank than the one he ultimately retired with, drawing criticism from some veterans.” Following reports questioning his use of rank, the Kamala Harris campaign altered its official website’s biography of Walz by removing its reference to him as a “retired command sergeant major” and only noting that he once served at the command sergeant major rank.
According to CNN, Walz encountered criticism of his service characterizations going all the way back to 2006 during his run for U.S. Congress, which he denied at the time. A viral video featured Walz touting gun control before saying he carried a weapon in war: “I spent 25 years in the Army, and I hunt … I’ve been voting for common-sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can do CDC research … We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.
The Harris-Walz campaign later said he misspoke when he made that statement, even though Walz himself reposted the video just days prior to him being tapped as Kamala Harris’s VP pick. A subsequent report from the Washington Free Beacon claimed that Walz had previously presented himself as a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.