Fact Checking Claims About Vance's and Walz's Military Records

Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance criticized his Democratic counterpart Tim Walz for retiring from the National Guard before his unit deployed to Iraq, kicking up a partisan media scrap.

The Claim: Per Fox News (Right bias), Vance said to reporters that Walz "dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go [to Iraq] without him, a fact that he's been criticized for aggressively by a lot of the people that he served with."

How the Media Covered It: Just the News (Lean Right) reported that Walz retired with a lower rank than claimed by his official bio and sought to avoid the Iraq War. Rolling Stone (Left) hit back, arguing that Walz left the army to run for Congress in the 2006 election and alleging that those who have publicly questioned his decision were resentful soldiers “passed over for promotions.” Fox 25 KOKH (Center) called out Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) for saying on CNN (Lean Left) that she was “not aware of any military service that J.D. Vance has ever served” — Smith was immediately corrected by the host and apologized.

Walz’ Service:

• Walz served in the Nebraska National Guard from 1981 to 1996 and the Minnesota National Guard from 1996 to 2005, a combined 25 years of army service.
• He held the rank of command sergeant major for his final assignment, but retired at the lower rank of master sergeant, which a Minnesota National Guard spokesperson stated was “for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”
• Walz has stated that he never saw direct combat.

Vance’s Service:

• Pentagon records show that Vance served in the Marines for four years from 2003 to 2007 as a combat correspondent, including a six-month deployment to Iraq in 2005.
• In his book Hillbilly Elegy, Vance wrote that he never saw direct combat.