In a speech to veterans commemorating the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Minnesota Governor. Tim Walz spoke about his National Guard service and how he missed a year in his daughter’s childhood. He then told a story of standing on the tarmac and watching the ramp ceremony at Bagram Air Base and the emotional impact that it had on him.
Listeners would believe Walz missed an entire year of his daughter’s life if they knew nothing about him. He was deployed to combat and witnessed some difficult things. As we now know, this is not true. He was sent to Italy to provide support and then retired before his contract ended, knowing that his unit would be sent to Iraq.
Here is a video clip from Walz’s speech in 2021 with the relevant part (full version at the bottom).
🚨Tim Walz at 2021 Minnesota 9/11 anniversary speech:
“I had the privilege of serving in this state’s NG. I stood one night in dark of night on 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” pic.twitter.com/6la4t4WHmT
— NOVA Campaigns (@NoVA_Campaigns) August 12, 2024
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 listen 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 —
One night, in the darkness of the night, I stood on the tarmac and watched the military ceremony. If you’ve been there, as many of these people have, you won’t be the same. It makes you question, “What are we doing?” What are we trying?
Walz does not say “In Iraq”, which is fortunate, since we know that Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan is where Joe Biden abandoned it during his failed withdrawal. In the transcript published in “Minnesota’s Global War on Terrorism Post-9/11 Profiles,” Walz at least clarified the part where he went off script. This is what was in the book:
After that class, I was allowed to serve in the [N]ational (G]uard of this state. One night, in the darkness of the night, I watched on the tarmac of Bagram Air Base a military ceremony. A soldier’s corpse was being loaded into a plane for return home. If you’ve been there, you won’t be the same. You wonder what we are doing. What are we aiming for? The last few weeks have been confusing for all of us, as you’ve seen.
Walz continued his scripted remarks as if to further aggravate the theft of valor:
We were reminded today that it was Minnesotans who volunteered to help when the country was in danger. Minnesotans are proud to have served in places like Gettysburg and Kabul.
Tim Walz is the only Minnesotan who has not done as asked.
Walz implies, once again, that his deployment to Bagram was a combat one and that it was part of his National Guard duty. He did visit Bagram in 2011 but as part of a Congressional delegation. He conveniently left out that part. It should be clear that, despite his claims of having participated in the Global War on Terror he did not. The majority of those who were involved in the fights rarely speak about them, and they do not use their experiences for political gain.
The full video of Walz’s speech at Minnesota’s 9/11 Day of Remembrance.
