Former commander retired Army Command Sergeant Major Doug Julin confirmed Friday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, now the Democrat vice presidential candidate, knew months in advance he would deploy to Iraq well before choosing to retire and miss the deployment.
In addition, Julin said that Walz assured him that, as a then-command sergeant major of his battalion, he would lead his battalion into Iraq. However, later on, Julin said he found out that Walz went around him — to two levels above him — to get his retirement approved before he could actually deploy.
In an interview with CNN, Julin said he and other senior leaders were told in fall of 2004 about an upcoming deployment to Iraq:
I’m going to kind of start of back in the fall of 2004, is what we received — my own commander and myself, of the 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division Brigade Combat Team, what’s called a notification of sourcing, which is a ‘NOS.’ We were informed that we would be alerted to go to Iraq within the next upcoming year or time period out there, start preparing your team, get your team together and let’s get the process in play.
Julin said after that, he met with Walz’s battalion. Julin did not say exactly when that meeting was, but indicated it was sometime before February 2005. At the time, Walz was the senior enlisted leader of the battalion, which is a role referred to as “commander sergeant major.” Julin said Walz was conditionally serving in that rank. (Walz eventually retired at a lower rank of master sergeant since he did not complete the requirements of a sergeant major, but has since falsely claimed he was a retired command sergeant major).
“From that, going forward, we met with the [1-125th Field Artillery Battalion], introduced ourselves, gave them the heads up, this is what’s happening, we don’t have the full particulars but we will get to it,” he said.
He recalled Walz telling him at a February 2005 meeting that he put in a bid to run for Congress:
In approximately February of 2005, my boss, my commander, [and] the command team, we scheduled a meeting at Camp Ripley, Minnesota, for meeting, getting everyone together, so all the battalion sergeant majors, the battalion commanders and the staff, would get to see each other and kind of start the team building event and that concept there.
At that meeting was Gov. Tim Walz, or Sergeant Major Tim Walz at the time. When we had the meeting, and it was over with, he asked to speak with me, and we sat down and spoke one-on-one, and that’s where he informed me. He says, ‘Just to let you know, I have put a bid in for Congress. I have not been selected yet, I have not been nominated yet, but I just want to let you know.’
Julin said the division got a warning order, which is a preliminary order before an official order. He said the following month, he talked to Walz again, who assured him that he would lead his battalion into Iraq.
He said:
The following month, in March of 2005, or it could have been April, give or take a month in there, we had another meeting at Camp Ripley. At that time, Tim Walz was there, we had our meeting, everybody was talking about who what when and where, what everyone was going to be doing, what our mission was coming up to be, how we were going to handle it, how we need to build the team. Again, this whole time period, we’re doing what’s called building a team to go forward to Iraq.
After the meeting, Tim Walz came in and sat down with me because I talked to him before, and I said I need to know what his answer is at that time. He came in, we sat and talked, he told me, he says, “I have not been nominated, I’m going forward with the battalion.” I said, “Good. Let’s go. We got the team built, and we’re starting to build the team out there.”
Julin said at the next meeting, in June 2005, he found out that Walz was not there, and was replaced by Command Sergeant Major Tom Behrends. He said that is when he found out that Walz “quit.”
“The individual that approved this was two levels higher than myself in the enlisted corps, and should have had Tim Walz come back to me and discuss this as to why he was not going forward now, after he had already told me he was going forward,” Julin said.
Julin said if Walz had been “an early-entry, low-level ranking” individual, he could be forgiven for not knowing the process.
“Tim Walz knew the process and procedures. He went around me and above and beyond me, and basically went to get somebody to back him to get him out of there without … it was just a backdoor process that he handled against me,” Julin said.
Julin said Walz went around him because he thought he might have turned down his request to retire and said, “No, it’s too late, you’re going forward.”
Julin said although the official deployment orders did not come until later, Walz clearly knew long before he was supposed to deploy.
Julin said clearly, “Well, people say he never knew he was going foward [to Iraq]. Yeah, he knew he was going forward. Had he gotten his orders yet? No, at that time, he had not.”
CNN said they reached out for comment from the Harris-Walz campaign, but had not heard back.
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