Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, center, listens to local authorities in 2019 talk about the damage caused by a winter storm. Minnesota National Guard leaders and Walz listen to how the 224th Transportation Company assisted after the storm. (Sebastian Nemec/Minnesota National Guard photo)
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has long credited his Army National Guard service with developing his leadership capabilities, skills he hopes to take to the White House as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.
Her selection of Walz, a 24-year veteran of the Nebraska and Minnesota Army National Guards, practically ensures a military veteran will become the next vice president.
Walz, a Democrat who has served as Minnesota’s governor since 2019, rose to a command sergeant major in the artillery before retiring in 2005 to enter politics. He served six terms in Congress and was twice elected Minnesota’s governor.
“I couldn’t be more grateful for the skills that being a member of U.S. Army National Guard gave me,” Walz said in a 2020 Army release, highlighting how he was leveraging his Guard experience to help him manage the coronavirus pandemic. “In the Guard, you put your community first. Everything you do, you do to ensure the health, safety and security of the people who are depending on you. And as governor, those are principles of servant leadership that I rely on every day.”
The selection of Walz also nearly guarantees a former enlisted service member will serve as vice president. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in the election, chose JD Vance, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq as an enlisted combat correspondent, as his running mate.
Waltz served in numerous leadership positions during his National Guard career, records show. He achieved the rank of command sergeant major, briefly serving as the top enlisted soldier for the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery Regiment before his retirement. He ultimately retired at the rank of master sergeant because he did not complete sergeant major training requirements before his service ended, according to the Minnesota National Guard.
Walz enlisted in the Nebraska Army National Guard as an infantryman at 17 years old in 1981, military records show. In campaign material, Walz said he was encouraged to serve by his father, a Korean War-era veteran who went to college on the G.I. Bill.
Walz eventually went into artillery, according to the Guard. He served primarily as a traditional Guardsman, serving as a schoolteacher and football coach in his civilian job.
In 1989, Walz was named the Nebraska Citizen-Soldier of the year, according to his governor’s biography. He earned numerous other awards, including an Army Commendation Medal and two Army Achievement Medals, according to the Guard.
Walz served in several disaster response missions in Nebraska and Minnesota during his time in uniform, and he deployed to Italy in 2003 to serve with the European Security Force, which was supporting operations in Afghanistan, according to the Army.
During his second campaign for governor in 2022, Walz faced criticism for retiring from the Army National Guard when his battalion was preparing for a deployment to Iraq. Walz pushed back on the criticism, saying he left the military to focus on his first run for Congress.
Walz acknowledged in a 2018 interview with Minnesota Public Radio that he never saw combat even after reenlisting following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“I know that there are certainly folks that did far more than I did. I know that,” Walz said. “I willingly say that I got far more out of the military than they got out of me, from the GI Bill to leadership opportunities to everything else.”
Walz won his 2006 election to Congress, his first foray into politics. He served time on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, becoming the latter committee’s top Democrat in 2017.
Before winning his 2018 race for governor, he told MPR that his time in the military was important, but he had many other defining experiences in his life.
“I’m certainly proud of my military service, but it’s one piece of me,” he said. “It doesn’t define me.”
