Here's a look at questions about Tim Walz's military record

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Here's a look at questions about Tim Walz's military record

2024-08-09 06:24 Last Updated At：06:30

CINCINNATI (AP) — Republicans are questioning Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's military record after Vice President Kamala Harris named him as her running mate this week.

Here's a look at the issue:

Walz served a total of 24 years in various units and jobs in the Army National Guard. But it's his retirement in 2005 that's prompting criticism from some Republicans who are suggesting he abandoned his team to pursue a campaign for Congress.

As he ramped up for a congressional bid in 2005, Walz's campaign in March issued a statement saying he still planned to run despite a possible mobilization of Minnesota National Guard soldiers to Iraq. According to the Guard, Walz retired from service in May of that year.

In August 2005, the Department of the Army issued a mobilization order for Walz’s unit. The unit mobilized in October of that year before it deployed to Iraq in March 2006.

There is no evidence that Walz timed his departure with the intent of avoiding deployment. But the fact remains that he left ahead of his unit's departure. In a statement, the Harris campaign pushed back on GOP characterizations of Walz's service, and also noted that he advocated for veterans once he was elected to the U.S. House.

“After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired Veterans Affairs and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform — and as Vice President of the United States he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families,” the campaign said.

Before leaving Detroit, where she and Walz played up their support for organized labor, Harris on Thursday responded to a question about the criticism of her running mate's record.

“Listen, I praise anyone who has presented themselves to serve our country," she said. "And I think that we all should.”

Earlier this week Harris’ campaign circulated on X a 2018 clip of Walz speaking out against gun violence, and saying, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.” That comment suggests that Walz portrayed himself as someone who spent time in a combat zone.

According to the Nebraska Army National Guard, Walz enlisted in April 1981 — just two days after his 17th birthday — and entered service as an infantryman, completing a 12-week Army infantry basic training course before graduating from high school.

While attending the University of Houston in 1985, he was reclassified as a field artillery cannoneer as a member of the Texas Army National Guard, later serving as an instructor with the Arkansas Army National Guard.

In 1987, Walz returned to Nebraska’s Guard detachment, continuing field artillery assignments while he completed a college degree. By 1996, he transferred to the Minnesota Army National Guard. In 2003, he deployed to Italy in a support position of active military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he was not in a combat zone himself.

“Do not pretend to be something that you’re not,” Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Wednesday as he campaigned in Michigan. “I’d be ashamed if I was saying that I lied about my military service like you did.”

Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating high school, serving four years as a combat correspondent, a type of military journalist, and deploying to Iraq in that capacity in 2005.

Neither Trump nor Harris has served in the U.S. military. Trump received a series of deferments during Vietnam, including one attained with a physician’s letter stating that he suffered from bone spurs in his feet.

The Harris campaign statement said Walz “would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country” and “thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It’s the American way.”

Harris' campaign has referred to Walz as a “retired Command Sergeant Major,” one of the top ranks for an enlisted soldier. He did in fact achieve that rank, but personnel files show he was reduced in rank months after retiring. That left him as a master sergeant for benefits purposes.

Minnesota National Guard officials have said that Walz retired before completing coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy, along with other requirements associated with his promotion.

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Trenton Daniel and Richard Lardner contributed to this report.

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

More torrential rain and flash flooding coming to heavily waterlogged central US

2025-04-05 23:48 Last Updated At：23:50

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Another round of torrential rain and flash flooding was coming Saturday for parts of the South and Midwest already heavily waterlogged by days of severe storms that also spawned some deadly tornadoes.

Round after round of heavy rains have pounded the central U.S., rapidly swelling waterways and prompting a series of flash flood emergencies in Missouri, Texas and Arkansas. The National Weather Service said 45 river locations in multiple states were expected to reach major flood stage, with extensive flooding of structures, roads and other critical infrastructure possible.

Many communities on Saturday were surveying the aftermath of tornadoes that destroyed entire neighborhoods and killed at least seven people, and the weather service warned that more twisters were possible in places this weekend. An additional weather-related death was also reported Friday — 9-year-old boy was swept away in flooding and killed, Kentucky’s governor said.

And interstate commerce is affected — the extreme flooding across a corridor that includes the major cargo hubs in Louisville, Kentucky and Memphis could lead to shipping and supply chain delays, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.

The outburst comes at a time when nearly half of NWS forecast offices have 20% vacancy rates after Trump administration job cuts — twice that of just a decade ago.

Downtown Hopkinsville, Kentucky, reopened early Saturday after floodwaters from the Little River receded, giving a much needed reprieve, but still more rainfall was on its way Saturday and Sunday, Mayor James R. Knight Jr. said.

Torrential rain since Wednesday had turned the downtown of the city of 31,000 into a lake Friday before the bands of weather shifted slightly.

“We got a little rain but most of it went north of us,” Knight said Saturday. “Thank goodness on that. Gave us a little break.”

Flash flood emergencies continued to be issued Saturday across Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee, with more heavy rains and damaging winds in the mix. Weather officials in Tennessee, at least, predicted that the crescendo of severe weather risks would subside after Sunday.

“The finish line is in sight!” NWS Nashville posted on social media.

Yet worst of it was expected Saturday afternoon and evening in Hopkinsville, where predictions of another 3-4 inches of rain had people filling more sandbags to hold back another potential surge of floodwaters, Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam said Saturday.

“We anticipate this water coming back quickly if it comes down quickly,” he said. “There are supposed to be three or four bursts of heavy rains throughout the day.”

A light drizzle was falling on the city as he spoke. Local jail inmates were filling sandbags, and officials allotted 20 bags for each resident, he said.

Hundreds of Kentucky roads were impassable Friday because of floodwaters, downed trees or mud and rock slides, and the number of closures were likely to increase with more rain Saturday, said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

Flash flooding is particularly worrisome in rural Kentucky where water can rush off the mountains into the hollows. Less than four years ago, dozens died in flooding in the eastern part of the state.

Over in Arkansas, weather officials pleaded with the public to avoid all travel unless absolutely necessary due to the widespread flooding.

"The magnitude of flash flooding taking place in portions of the state is catastrophic, the NWS warned.

Since Wednesday, more than a foot of rain — or 30.5 centimeters — has now fallen in parts of Kentucky, and more than 8 inches (20 centimeters) has fallen in parts of Arkansas and Missouri, forecasters said Saturday.

Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.

At least two reports of observed tornadoes were noted Friday evening in Missouri and Arkansas, according to the NWS. One, near Blytheville, Arkansas, lofted debris at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers) high, according to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin. The state’s emergency management office reported damage in 22 counties from tornadoes, wind, hail and flash flooding.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said entire neighborhoods in the hard-hit town of Selmer were “completely wiped out,” after it was hit by a tornado with winds estimated by the NWS of up to 160 mph (257 kph). Advance warning of storms likely saved lives as hundreds of people sheltered at a courthouse, the governor said.

Mississippi's governor said at least 60 homes were damaged. And in far western Kentucky, four people were injured while taking shelter in a vehicle under a church carport, according to the emergency management office in Ballard County.

Schreiner reported from Shelbyville, Kentucky. Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Jeff Martin in Marietta, Georgia; Obed Lamy in Hopkinsville; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.