October 2018: Former National Guardsmen: Tim Walz Is Misleading The Public About His Time In Service https://archive.ph/QS7S9

The discrepancies in Walz’s story starts with how long he re-enlisted for. In 2006, as Walz was amid his first campaign for Congress, questions were raised about the timing of Walz’s retirement. Tom Hagen, a Minnesota military reservist who served in Iraq, sent a letter to the editor of The Winona Daily News questioning Walz’s sudden retirement after learning his unit would be deployed to Iraq.
“But even more disturbing is the fact that Walz quickly retired after learning that his unit —southern Minnesota’s 1-125 FA Battalion — would be sent to Iraq,” Hagen wrote. “For Tim Walz to abandon his fellow soldiers and quit when they needed experienced leadership most is disheartening. It dishonors those brave American men and women who did answer their nation’s call and who continue to serve, fight and unfortunately die in harm’s way for us.”
Walz was quick to respond to the letter, writing a follow up in The Winona Daily News that criticized Hagen for what Walz considered a “partisan political attack.”
In his response, Walz claimed he re-enlisted for four additional years, implying his retirement was unrelated to the news of the deployment.
[...]
However, official documents from the National Guard contradict Walz’s story. According to Walz’s Report of Separation and Military Service form, Walz re-enlisted for six years, with his service obligation being complete on September 18, 2007.
According to [Thomas] Behrends, Walz’s battalion received a warning order to prepare to be mobilized for active duty for a deployment to Iraq in early 2005. On May 16, 2005, Walz retired, leaving his battalion and its soldiers without a key leader as they prepared to go to war.
Even if Walz did re-enlist for 4 years, he still retired months before his obligation was complete, Behrends noted, adding that it furthers the belief that Walz retired to avoid deployment.
Behrends ended up taking Walz’s place, and the battalion was deployed to Iraq for over 22 months from 2006 to 2007.
[...]
Behrends also called into question Walz’s use of the title of command sergeant major. Before his sudden retirement, Walz was conditionally promoted to command sergeant major. However, Walz left the military before completing necessary training and service. His discharge documents show he was reduced in rank, retiring as a master sergeant. Despite this, Walz still uses the title of command sergeant major.
While National Guard officials have said it is technically acceptable for Walz to use the title given that he did serve in the role, the former guardsmen Alpha News spoke with considered the continued use of the title as a further attempt to mislead the public on Walz’s service.
“Tim Walz was reduced in rank to Master Sergeant and that is what he will receive retirement benefits for,” Wenzel said. “Walz lied in his campaign literature that he retired as a Command Sergeant Major. Not true.”