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    Raven

    Raven

    Master
    Joined
    Mar 30, 2020
    Messages
    9,082
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    Snake-Eyes said:
    In case the Twitter link didn’t work for you, here’s the copy/paste from the link. I have to split it into two separate posts due to the character-count limits of the forum:
    Part 1 of 2:



    The Ignominy of Master Sergeant Timothy Walz

    Image
    The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of controversy regarding the military service record of Democrat Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz. My X account has seen the most traffic it has ever known as I have discussed this issue at length, and I thought it would be a good idea now to take a deep breath and kind of recap where we are at in this controversy. I know for sure that the veteran community is fired up over this issue, but I sense that many from the non-veteran community do not know what to think given the competing arguments from both sides of the political aisle. I would like to share my own personal experiences and thoughts as a retired Army Colonel and veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. What I hope for civilians to understand is this: the issue is not the number of years Walz served, or when he submitted his retirement paperwork, or what his final rank was, or even—just as a stand-alone proposition—whether he ever went to combat. No, the issue is the unique and special position of trust he held when he decided to walk away from his soldiers, his unit, and his nation. I’ll explain.
    Image
    But first, some facts. There are all sorts of facts and disinformation flying around on this matter, so I want to highlight the most basic and most important facts, ones that not even the most rabid Democrat can dispute:
    1. Walz served for 24 years in the Minnesota Army National Guard, retiring at the rank of Master Sergeant (an “E-8” in the Army).
    2. In the spring of 2005, Walz was serving as the Command Sergeant Major (an “E-9”) of the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, a Minnesota Army National Guard battalion that is part of the 34th Infantry Division.
    3. Also in the spring of 2005, Walz and his battalion received a warning order that the battalion would be deploying to Iraq. (We know this because Walz’s own Congressional campaign told us at the time; see the link below from the Wayback Machine.)
    https://web.archive.org/web/20050420005951/http://www.timwalz.org/print.php?pr=1
    4. Knowing that his unit was deploying, Walz nevertheless chose to retire from the National Guard in May of 2005 to pursue his Congressional campaign.
    5. Serving members of the National Guard and the Reserves routinely also serve in Congress, and always have. Tulsi Gabbard is an excellent recent example. Walz did not necessarily need to retire to run for Congress. However, an Iraq deployment he might have instead chosen to participate in would, in fact, have prevented him from campaigning.
    6. Walz’s retirement meant he did not fulfill a contractual service commitment he willingly entered into when the Army selected him to attend the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy. As a result, the Army reduced his official retirement rank from E-9 to E-8.
    These are facts. Now let's explain what was so egregious in what Walz did.
    Image
    So Walz retired when he was allowed to and ran for Congress instead—what’s the big deal, right? Well had Walz been some slug E-8 holding down some clerical job in the 34th Infantry Division Headquarters, counting his days until retirement, and he had opted to take a lawful retirement rather than go to Iraq, no one would care. But that’s not what happened. Walz was a COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR (“CSM”), and that makes all the difference in the world.
    Image
    A CSM is the senior NCO in an Army battalion. He is the battalion commander’s most trusted advisor. He is the standard-setter for every other NCO and junior enlisted soldier in that battalion. All eyes are on him. He is as close to a god on Earth as a soldier could ever be. The rank and position of a CSM is exceptionally hard to attain—very few NCOs ever make it. More importantly, taking on the duties of a CSM is a sacred trust. The 500+ soldiers in your battalion are trusting you to train them and hold them to a standard where they can fight, win and survive in combat. Those soldiers put their faith, trust and lives in your hands. I'll say it again: this is a sacred trust. I’ll now be blunt. In the spring of 2005, Walz walked away from that sacred trust by abandoning his post when he learned of an upcoming Iraq deployment. He was a coward. He was a quitter. He placed his own self interest over that of his soldiers. He was an NCO Courtney Massengale (IYKYK).
    It is at this point that I would like to share a relevant personal anecdote to explain what it means when a CSM walks away on the eve of combat. When I was a battalion commander, just a few weeks before we were about to deploy to Afghanistan, and after we had done our intensive Joint Readiness Training Center rotation with the team we were taking to the fight--my CSM was relieved by the Division Commanding General because the CSM did something particularly stupid involving a junior enlisted soldier and got caught. I cannot describe how disruptive that was. It was like having the beating heart ripped out of my battalion. We overcame it, but it was tough—and it upset the entire NCO chain as we had to elevate multiple NCOs in the chain of responsibility to new positions they had not trained in, all because of our CSM being relieved. That disruption could have resulted in deaths in combat (thankfully it did not). If you are an Army battalion commander, NO ONE is more important than your CSM. So yeah--I understand the impact of Walz's cowardice better than almost all of the other people on this planet.
    (Someone asked me in good faith whether or not Walz simply left one kind of service for a higher level of service in Congress. I thought long and hard about an appropriate analogy as an answer to that question, and finally came up with one: what Walz did is the moral equivalent of a mother dropping off her five pre-teen children at an orphanage in the dead of night so she could run for Congress. Yes, it’s that bad.)https://x.com/CynicalPublius/article/1821768321630679397/media/1821762232080113664
    Click to expand...
    Well said sir
     
    Raven

    Raven

    Master
    Joined
    Mar 30, 2020
    Messages
    9,082
    Points
    113
    Snake-Eyes said:
    In case the Twitter link didn’t work for you, here’s the copy/paste from the link. I have to split it into two separate posts due to the character-count limits of the forum:
    Part 1 of 2:



    The Ignominy of Master Sergeant Timothy Walz

    Image
    The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of controversy regarding the military service record of Democrat Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz. My X account has seen the most traffic it has ever known as I have discussed this issue at length, and I thought it would be a good idea now to take a deep breath and kind of recap where we are at in this controversy. I know for sure that the veteran community is fired up over this issue, but I sense that many from the non-veteran community do not know what to think given the competing arguments from both sides of the political aisle. I would like to share my own personal experiences and thoughts as a retired Army Colonel and veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. What I hope for civilians to understand is this: the issue is not the number of years Walz served, or when he submitted his retirement paperwork, or what his final rank was, or even—just as a stand-alone proposition—whether he ever went to combat. No, the issue is the unique and special position of trust he held when he decided to walk away from his soldiers, his unit, and his nation. I’ll explain.
    Image
    But first, some facts. There are all sorts of facts and disinformation flying around on this matter, so I want to highlight the most basic and most important facts, ones that not even the most rabid Democrat can dispute:
    1. Walz served for 24 years in the Minnesota Army National Guard, retiring at the rank of Master Sergeant (an “E-8” in the Army).
    2. In the spring of 2005, Walz was serving as the Command Sergeant Major (an “E-9”) of the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, a Minnesota Army National Guard battalion that is part of the 34th Infantry Division.
    3. Also in the spring of 2005, Walz and his battalion received a warning order that the battalion would be deploying to Iraq. (We know this because Walz’s own Congressional campaign told us at the time; see the link below from the Wayback Machine.)
    https://web.archive.org/web/20050420005951/http://www.timwalz.org/print.php?pr=1
    4. Knowing that his unit was deploying, Walz nevertheless chose to retire from the National Guard in May of 2005 to pursue his Congressional campaign.
    5. Serving members of the National Guard and the Reserves routinely also serve in Congress, and always have. Tulsi Gabbard is an excellent recent example. Walz did not necessarily need to retire to run for Congress. However, an Iraq deployment he might have instead chosen to participate in would, in fact, have prevented him from campaigning.
    6. Walz’s retirement meant he did not fulfill a contractual service commitment he willingly entered into when the Army selected him to attend the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy. As a result, the Army reduced his official retirement rank from E-9 to E-8.
    These are facts. Now let's explain what was so egregious in what Walz did.
    Image
    So Walz retired when he was allowed to and ran for Congress instead—what’s the big deal, right? Well had Walz been some slug E-8 holding down some clerical job in the 34th Infantry Division Headquarters, counting his days until retirement, and he had opted to take a lawful retirement rather than go to Iraq, no one would care. But that’s not what happened. Walz was a COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR (“CSM”), and that makes all the difference in the world.
    Image
    A CSM is the senior NCO in an Army battalion. He is the battalion commander’s most trusted advisor. He is the standard-setter for every other NCO and junior enlisted soldier in that battalion. All eyes are on him. He is as close to a god on Earth as a soldier could ever be. The rank and position of a CSM is exceptionally hard to attain—very few NCOs ever make it. More importantly, taking on the duties of a CSM is a sacred trust. The 500+ soldiers in your battalion are trusting you to train them and hold them to a standard where they can fight, win and survive in combat. Those soldiers put their faith, trust and lives in your hands. I'll say it again: this is a sacred trust. I’ll now be blunt. In the spring of 2005, Walz walked away from that sacred trust by abandoning his post when he learned of an upcoming Iraq deployment. He was a coward. He was a quitter. He placed his own self interest over that of his soldiers. He was an NCO Courtney Massengale (IYKYK).
    It is at this point that I would like to share a relevant personal anecdote to explain what it means when a CSM walks away on the eve of combat. When I was a battalion commander, just a few weeks before we were about to deploy to Afghanistan, and after we had done our intensive Joint Readiness Training Center rotation with the team we were taking to the fight--my CSM was relieved by the Division Commanding General because the CSM did something particularly stupid involving a junior enlisted soldier and got caught. I cannot describe how disruptive that was. It was like having the beating heart ripped out of my battalion. We overcame it, but it was tough—and it upset the entire NCO chain as we had to elevate multiple NCOs in the chain of responsibility to new positions they had not trained in, all because of our CSM being relieved. That disruption could have resulted in deaths in combat (thankfully it did not). If you are an Army battalion commander, NO ONE is more important than your CSM. So yeah--I understand the impact of Walz's cowardice better than almost all of the other people on this planet.
    (Someone asked me in good faith whether or not Walz simply left one kind of service for a higher level of service in Congress. I thought long and hard about an appropriate analogy as an answer to that question, and finally came up with one: what Walz did is the moral equivalent of a mother dropping off her five pre-teen children at an orphanage in the dead of night so she could run for Congress. Yes, it’s that bad.)https://x.com/CynicalPublius/article/1821768321630679397/media/1821762232080113664
    Click to expand...

    Raw Egg Nationalist:
    "Here’s what Tim Walz’s battalion commander, retired Lt. Col. John Kolb, had to say about the Minnesota Governor.

    “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”
     
    Rebel_Rider1969

    Rebel_Rider1969

    Well Known Nuisance
    Joined
    Sep 12, 2019
    Messages
    22,071
    Points
    113
    Location
    Range, Al. Near Brewton.
    Raven said:
    Raw Egg Nationalist:
    "Here’s what Tim Walz’s battalion commander, retired Lt. Col. John Kolb, had to say about the Minnesota Governor.

    “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”
    Click to expand...
    So a slug that couldn't pull his weight went to politics. Great. Just what we need more of. Everyday we get closer to an Atlas Shrugged reality.
     
    DustyDog

    DustyDog

    Master
    Joined
    Jan 16, 2022
    Messages
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    FL
    NOTE: The video below has a product promotion near the beginning. That is not the end... 2/3 of the video comes after the promotion.

     
    fl57caveman

    fl57caveman

    eclectic atavist
    GCGF Supporter
    Joined
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    n.w. florida
    fl57caveman

    fl57caveman

    eclectic atavist
    GCGF Supporter
    Joined
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    n.w. florida
    DustyDog

    DustyDog

    Master
    Joined
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    Southalabama said:
    From 2001 to 2009 when Trump was a Democrat and donating to them including Harris they loved him.
    Click to expand...
    Bingo. And my opinion of him hasn't ever changed (over 40+ years), since I don't give a crap about "party". I've voted for (or would have voted for) only three presidential candidates in the last 30 years:

    Perot in '92 and '96 (Independent/Reform)

    Dean in '04 (Democrat)

    Trump in '16, '20, and '24 (former Democrat running as a Republican, but... see above)
     
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