Image by Gage Skidmore
CV NEWS FEED // The former leader of Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s military battalion sharply criticized Walz’s performance as an enlisted soldier and blasted him for boasting of his service record.
Lt. Col. John Kolb’s scathing remarks came in the form of a Facebook post shortly after multiple critics, including Walz’s Republican opponent Sen. J.D. Vance, R-OH, accused Walz of “stolen valor” for allegedly misrepresenting parts of his military career.
“Feeling a need to say this,” Kolb began his post:
I do not regret that Tim Walz retired early from the Minnesota Army National Guard, did not complete the Sergeants Major Academy, broke his enlistment contract or did not successfully complete any assignment as a Sergeant Major.
Unwittingly, he got out of the way for better leadership.
Kolb went on to note that the soldier who replaced Walz in his capacity, Thomas Behrends, “was the right leader at the right time.”
“[Behrends] earned the privilege of being called Command Sergeant Major,” Kolb wrote, contrasting him with Walz. “Like a great leader [Behrends] ran toward and not away from the guns.”
Later in his post, Kolb specified that while he has “no opinion of Mr. Walz’s decision to leave service at the time he did,” he does take issue with Walz calling himself a Command Sergeant Major (CSM).
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“[Walz] did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9,” wrote his former battalion commander. “It is an affront to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps that he continues to glom onto the title.”
“I can sit in the cockpit of an airplane, it does not make me a pilot,” Kolb added. “Similarly, when the demands of service and leadership at the highest level got real, [Walz] chose another path.”
Kolb concluded his post with the hashtag “#notmyCSM.”
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump posted a screenshot of Kolb’s statement to TRUTH Social on Sunday night.
“Colonel John Kolb — Tim Walz’s battalion commander and direct supervisor — TRASHES Walz’s stolen valor lies,” Trump wrote.
FOX News reported:
Kolb served as a lieutenant colonel of the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery from 2005 to 2007, the Minnesota National Guard shows on its website. Walz served in the same battalion until 2005, when he retired ahead of the battalion deploying to Iraq that same year.
