No one was shocked when CBS News moderators gave Minnesota Governor Tim Walz a complete pass on his history of stretching the truth about his military service during the 2024 vice-presidential debate. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate, has a well-documented history of puffing up his military record to score political points. But, of course, the debate focused on all the “important” stuff—like trying to rehash January 6 and dredging up misleading questions about abortion—while conveniently ignoring Walz’s questionable claims about his Army National Guard service. Shocking, right?
Let’s get one thing straight: Walz regularly touts himself as a retired command sergeant major, but the truth is a bit more complicated. Yes, he was promoted to that rank in the twilight years of his service, but he didn’t serve long enough to actually keep it. He’s technically just a master sergeant—still a respectable rank, sure, but it doesn’t sound nearly as impressive when you’re out there trying to climb the political ladder. Oh, and let’s not forget that Walz left his unit just before they were deployed to Iraq. So much for leading from the front.
And speaking of his “military heroics,” Walz has made some bold claims about his supposed combat experience. At a campaign event back in 2018, he lamented that the “weapons of war” he allegedly carried during his time in the military shouldn’t be on America’s streets. Sounds like a powerful moment, right? The only problem is that Walz was never deployed to a combat zone—unless you count Italy as the front lines. His unit was called up during the Iraq War, but they were stationed in Europe, far from the chaos and “weapons of war” he likes to reference.
It doesn’t stop there. Walz also claimed that he reenlisted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and he even backed a book that suggested he served in Afghanistan—yet another flat-out fabrication. You’d think something as serious as falsifying military service might get a mention in a debate, but no such luck. The moderators, of course, steered clear of that landmine, preferring to focus on softball topics and friendly talking points.
The one time Walz was actually confronted about his military exaggerations was during a CNN interview in August. When pressed on his “weapons of war” comment, he chalked it up to—you guessed it—bad grammar. Yes, seriously. Apparently, his wife, who’s an English teacher, is to blame for his shaky command of the English language. That’s his defense? Grammar?
In the end, Tuesday’s debate was a missed opportunity to hold Walz accountable for his misleading statements about his military service. But it’s par for the course when it comes to mainstream media moderators—who, let’s face it, had no intention of making their preferred candidate squirm.
