Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz defended his military record on Tuesday, and also thanked Republican opponent JD Vance for his military service.
Vance later responded in kind, but added a bit of snippiness in the process.
During a speech hosted by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Minnesota governor who served in the Army National Guard for 24 years, said he was “damn proud of my service to this country.”
Walz also said he firmly believed “you should never denigrate another person’s service record,” and used the moment to thank Vance for his own service as a combat correspondent in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“Anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice,” Walz said.
The soldier-to-soldier shout out was in response to Vance’s attacks against Walz for, among other things, supposedly retiring from the National Guard months before his unit deployed.
Vance has also accused Walz of exaggerating his military service, saying the governor shouldn’t have identified himself as a retired command sergeant major, even though he served in the position before his retirement.
Walz didn’t finish the paperwork required to maintain the rank in retirement, so it reverted back to master sergeant after he left the Guard.
Republicans have taken comments Walz made about witnessing a military ramp ceremony at Bagram Airfield as proof he was falsely claiming he served in Afghanistan.
But while Walz never deployed to Afghanistan, press releases and articles from 2008 show that he did visit the country on a congressional delegation that year.
Despite attacking Walz for stolen valor, Vance did attempt to sound mildly gracious in response to the governor’s public thank you, with a side order of snippiness.
Hi Tim, I thank you for your service.
But you shouldn’t have lied about it. You shouldn’t have said you went to war when you didn’t. Nor should you have said that you didn’t know your unit was going to Iraq.
He then told the governor he’s happy to discuss the issue further in a debate.
Many people had thoughts about Vance’s response to Walz, and thought he took the wrong approach to what most people would agree was a kind thing to say about a political opponent.
Other people called out Vance for trying to denigrate a fellow former service member.