# Kamala Harris's choice of Tim Walz as VP **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** kamala-harris\ **Created:** [August 6, 2024, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamala-harriss-choice-of-tim-walz-as-vp/1005352 "2024-08-06T21:19:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 84
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamala-harriss-choice-of-tim-walz-as-vp/1005352/84 "2024-08-07T04:47:12Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > I really hope they don’t hype his military experience. It’s already being turned against him in a way I’m having a hard time disagreeing with. > > He voluntarily joined the National Guard and continued to serve during wartime. He honorably served out his enlistment contract. And then some. He then used his earned GI Bill benefits to go to college. He gets disparaged for “only” giving up a few weeks or months out of any given year, for _twenty years of his life_ to volunteer when very few do? He is getting disparaged because he rose all the way to the highest enlisted rank where he was the top enlisted soldier in his battalion but he left his unit and retired immediately after they got orders to deploy to Iraq. Leaving a hole at the top of their leadership the had to be hastily filled by someone else. He’s being disparaged because he calls himself a retired CSM despite the fact that it was a conditional promotion and he didn’t meet the conditions. He left before the promotion became permanent and retired as a master sergeant. I spent 4 years of my life on active duty and another 23 years in the guard. You don’t have to tell me about what is sacrificed. The problem is that also gives me insight into the culture. There is a long standing stereotype of the senior NCO or officer who likes staying in for the extra pay and benefits, who loves the good ol boy network and beers at the end of drill but when they have to put it on the line and actually go into harms way they chicken out. I’ve seen it many times. A CSM leaving his battalion on the eve of their deployment is a very bad thing. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamala-harriss-choice-of-tim-walz-as-vp/1005352)._