The Minnesota National Guard has disputed Governor Tim Walz’s military biography, saying that his claims of retiring at the rank of command sergeant major is untrue.

Minnesota National Guard spox Army Lieutenant Colonel Kristen Augé told Just the News that Walz, Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate, was demoted and did not retire as a command sergeant major as he has claimed for years – including on his official gubernatorial biography – as he failed to complete a 750-hour course in the Army’s Sergeants Major Academy, a mandatory course for E-9s, the Army’s highest enlisted rank.

While Walz temporarily held the title of command sergeant major he “retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy,” Army Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, the Minnesota National Guard’s State Public Affairs Officer, told Just the News.

The statement reignited a controversy that began during his 2018 election for governor in which National Guardsman claimed on social media and in a paid ad that Walz declined to deploy to Iraq for combat duty in 2005 and forfeited his title of command sergeant major. Walz chose to run for Congress that year. -Just the News

The governor’s biography, however, says that “Command Sergeant Major Walz” retired from the Minnesota National Guard in 2005. At the time he was serving as one of the highest ranking members of the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion.

“He retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy,” said Augé.

WATCH: More stolen valor from Kamala’s VP pick Tim Walz:

Tim Walz on August 10, 2018: “I’m a retired sergeant major.”

Fact check: Walz NEVER completed the coursework for the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. pic.twitter.com/fFUzQRyQ6e

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) August 8, 2024

That said, an unnamed Guard spokesperson told Task & Purpose, in direct contradiction to Augé, that Walz’s demotion was a technicality.

“Soldiers who do not finish the course revert back to their prior rank,” they told the outlet. “This is what we refer to as an administrative reduction and not punitive in nature.”

The outlet also claims that the Guard ‘confirmed’ that Walz was properly promoted and served in the E-9 role, and “retired as” an E-9, despite the later reduction.

That said, Task & Purpose also framed the entire stolen valor controversy as “The ‘Swift Boating’ of Tim Walz” – as if his on-record lies about ‘weapon of war, that I carried in war’ (he never saw war), are the same as disputed allegations over John Kerry’s (D) Vietnam war record.

Tim Alberta thinks that this is a question of They Said vs He Said

It’s not. Walz is on video, and in print embellishing his service but this is about protecting this ticket at all costs. https://t.co/LBPugpearO

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 8, 2024

On Wednesday we noted that Walz straight up lied about having been deployed in a combat zone.

“We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war” – Tim Walz

What’s more disturbing about what Tim Walz says here?

1. Gov. Walz never went to war yet clearly said he did
2. Gov Walz is a far left gun grabber#TamponTimmy #TimWalz… pic.twitter.com/P7gK6l5qbt

— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) August 6, 2024

The lies were so egregious that even CNN acknowledged they were less than ideal.

“Walz did make a comment speaking to a group, he’s done it a couple of times, where he has used language that has suggested that he carried weapons in a fighting situation,” said CNN correspondent Tom Foreman in a fact check. “As you know, with your contact with the military, I know from coming from a military family, there is a difference between being in a combat area, being involved at a time of war and actually being in a position where people are shooting at you. There is no evidence that at any time Governor Walz was in a position of being shot at, and some of his language could easily be seen to suggest that he was.”

“So that is absolutely false when he said that about gun rights out there. The campaign has essentially come forward to say, ‘Look, he had a long career, he would never want to purposely mislead people about this.’ It’s what campaigns tend to say,” Foreman continued.

CNN Reporter Delivers Devastating Fact Check On Walz’s Claim That He ‘Carried Weapons In A Fighting Situation’ pic.twitter.com/YXQghYf1LZ

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 7, 2024

Meanwhile, in a 2006 press release issued by his campaign, Walz is described as a “veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom,” the US military operation in Afghanistan. As modernity.news notes, some have charged that this is misleading given that Walz was stationed in Italy at the time, with his battalion providing base security in Europe.

Tim Walz held a sign in 2004 falsely identifying himself as an Operation “Enduring Freedom veteran,” even though he never served in Afghanistan. https://t.co/e4wRUWS08N pic.twitter.com/egUG45GtNx

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) August 8, 2024

In 2007, @Tim_Walz talked to C-SPAN about his military service: “I spent 24 years in the National Guard, some of that full-time. I was an artilleryman. I deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. My battalion provided base security throughout the European theater from… pic.twitter.com/igULhtIhgB

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 7, 2024

Walz has also come under fire from the men he served with, who they described in a 2019 letter as ‘Traitorous, fraudulent and shameful.’

In my experience if you want to understand someone talk to the men he served with in the military. The men who served with Tim Walz describe his service as Traitorous, fraudulent, and shameful. Read their open letter from 2019 (before he was running as Kamala Harris’s vice… pic.twitter.com/mYft0jj0NL

— @amuse (@amuse) August 6, 2024

The men and women who served with Tim Walz were shocked when he quit after receiving the order to deploy to Iraq. “What is he? Some sort of coward.”
To then imply he served in combat is disgusting and a further betrayal to those who went.
Credit: @MegynKellyShow pic.twitter.com/afj5NNmwvf

— Big Fish (@BigFish3000) August 7, 2024

🚨Just in: A Video from 2009 shows a veteran confronting Tim Walz’s staff over claims that he served in Afghanistan. The veteran said Walz could go to jail for violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2006 for claiming to have served in Afghanistan when he didn’tpic.twitter.com/LdvtHJ5FnQ

— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) August 8, 2024

Meanwhile, the Free Beacon reports that Walz knew his National Guard battalion was being eyed for a likely redeployment to Iraq when he decided to retire.

“As Command Sergeant Major, I have a responsibility not only to ready my battalion for Iraq, but also to serve if called on,” Walz said in a campaign statement on March 20, 2005. Just three days prior, the National Guard Public Affairs Office announced that at least part of his battalion could be shipped overseas to the Middle East in the next two years.

Walz left the National Guard that May. Two months later, his battalion was put on notice that they would be deploying to Iraq.

When questioned about all of it, Walz decided to duck, cover, and run from a journalist before an explanation could be ‘deployed.’ 

REPORTER: Your response to allegation of stolen valor?

WALZ: *ignores*

REPORTER: Your response to allegation of stolen valor!?

WALZ: *runs away* pic.twitter.com/el3sPGDYuM

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 7, 2024