Both current vice presidential candidates have military experience. Republican JD Vance served four years in the Marine Corps and Democrat Tim Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard. Last week, Vance accused Walz of “stolen valor,” a phrase that involves falsely claiming military service, rank, medals earned, or duties and actions while serving.
Strictly speaking, stolen valor is illegal. The Stolen Valor Act of 2013 makes false claims of having earned a military medal such as the Navy Cross or Silver Star federal crimes. And there is an enhanced penalty for offenses involving the Medal of Honor. I am a former Marine Corps judge advocate and it appears to me that nothing done or said by Walz comes anywhere close to violating this law.
But Republicans, led by Vance, have been raising several other criticisms of Walz’s service. First, they contend that he shirked deployment to Afghanistan with his Minnesota National Guard unit by retiring from the service in 2005. But Walz had notified his unit of his plans to retire from the guard before official notice of a possible deployment. He said he planned to run for Congress — and he did, winning a seat in 2006.
Second, Republicans contend that Walz inflated his rank after his retirement, calling himself a command sergeant major, one of the highest ranks an enlisted soldier can attain. But Walz had indeed achieved the rank of command sergeant major while in the service. But due to technical reasons, including that he did not complete military coursework, he retired at a lower rank, master sergeant. The fact that he had achieved the higher rank while in the service makes his lower rank in retirement a minor difference without much of a distinction.
What I do find misleading is Walz’s statement that he had carried weapons of war “in war.” He was talking about his support for banning military-style assault weapons when he told a group of voters “we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.”
The phrase “I carried in war” seems to imply that he had been in combat situations. The Harris-Walz campaign later said he “misspoke.” But even in this situation I am not aware of Walz directly stating that he saw combat or falsely claiming to having earned a combat action medal or ribbon. (For that matter, neither has Vance.)
Vance’s own military service has been questioned. CNN’s Brianna Keilar asked whether Vance had a right to attack the timing of Walz’s retirement because he had not been a front-line combat Marine himself. In fact, Vance was a Marine “combat correspondent,” meaning “someone who did not see combat,” Keilar said, adding: “The title combat correspondent kind of gives you a different impression.” When you “dig a little deeper,” Keilar asserted, “he was a public affairs specialist.”
But that’s another distinction without a difference, in my mind. Vance is not claiming to be a combat veteran and he did serve in a war zone. Keilar herself walked back her initial critique, later saying on air that Vance’s and Walz’s military experiences gave them special insights into the rigors and challenges of military life — something that neither of the presidential candidates can claim.
I do find it amusing that Vance said that the Marine Corps “asked” him to go to Iraq. Unless the protocol has changed, I suspect that, like me, he was “ordered” to overseas duty.
Still, because neither man has falsely claimed to have received an award for being wounded or for valor, and neither has falsely claimed to be a combat veteran, I don’t think either candidate is guilty of stolen valor.
Whenever I hear someone falsely and substantively inflate their military record, I am offended and disgusted. Many, actually most, people who serve in the military never see combat and don’t earn valor awards. Many leave for other jobs before they are ever deployed. Take my experience. Though I joined the military voluntarily, I never would have volunteered for duty in Vietnam itself. I served during that war, but on Okinawa, where I was a Marine judge advocate. I also left active duty when my enlistment was up in 1973 even though the Marine Corps was short of attorneys, especially in Okinawa.
So I have great admiration for individuals like Walz and Vance who served voluntarily.
My boyhood friend Lee Herron was a Marine who volunteered for Vietnam duty. Once there he insisted to be placed on the front lines. He died Feb. 22, 1969, while saving the lives of fellow Marines. He received the prestigious Navy Cross posthumously. Military individuals like Herron are in a separate class of patriots and heroes.
If anyone falsely claimed to have achieved even close to the status of someone like Herron, Senator John McCain, or Medal of Honor recipient Marine Colonel Wes Fox (Herron’s company commander), the public would and should be furious at the stolen valor involved.
But the nitpicking going on between Vance and Walz seems frivolous in comparison. I suggest the subject be dropped; aren’t there much more important issues to be confronted?
David Nelson is a retired attorney in Houston.