Master Sargent Tim Walz Unit In Iraq 2005-2007 (Kamala's VP)
His unit, in which he was the acting Command Sargeant Major for, was stationed 2005-2007 at Camp Scania, in Iraq. (took me forever to confirm the location, they apparently don't have any unit historians).
As a field artillery unit, they would of on paper been considered low risk for front line combat. US Army Rangers, for example on paper get 3 month deployments. Airborne Infantry (me) on paper get 6 month deployments (mine went from Oct 2006 to Thanksgiving of Nov in 2007), and safe back in the rear Field Artillery stays much longer, expect more than a year (on paper). It turns out the unit had the longest deployment of any unit in the war, and like me had General Petreaus' surge tacked onto them. The unit took casualties, because it wasn't operating as a field artillery unit, but rather as a infantry unit, a role they would of been very poorly trained for.
I found this from 2008 describing their mission set 2005-2007:
CSM Walz would of course not know about General Patreaus' surge in 2005. But as soon as the unit got tapped for rotation into Iraq, he and the unit's commanding officer would of been told by the Brigade where they would be going (Camp Scania), and told to prepare to fly to Iraq to Camp Scania and meet with their current counterparts, have a question and anwser session, drive around in combat a bit, have classes on the most recent tactics by coalition members (not always a american doing it), etc.
I don't know if he even went to that. It seems as if he oaniced and got the hell out as fast as he could after discovering he wasn't going to be a REMF CSM (Rear Echelon Mother F'ker) but rather a platoon commander of undoubtedly his own hand picked body guard unit, doing road patrols, visiting civilian construction sites (one of which was a bridge), commanding whenever a IED goes off, etc.
Many vets here who didn't deploy to Iraq will be scratching their heads saying CSMs don't command troops, much less a platoon, on missions, officers of a Lt. rank do that, and only in the infantry, not artillery. And my anwser is, in Iraq they did exactly that.
A CSM in this period from receiving his first heads up to deploying with his artillery troops would of been one of retraining them to be infantry. This means going to either NTC at Fort Irwin in California (I did that) or Fort Polk (now Fort Johnson) in Louisiana at JRTC (also did that). Besides this, as the top enlisted NCO, who was responsibke for everyone's training, he would of been pushing learning infantry manuals like 7-8, and the Ranger Handbook, and leading his NCOs through drills, and demanding they lead their guys in the same, and would of ran them through training courses as much as possible to practice marksmenship, MOUT (Military Operation On Urban Terrain), and convoy tactics.
It was absolutely crucial for a CSM to be available. Yes, they have a backup, a Sargeant Major. He jumped from E8 (either a Master Sargeant or mkre probably a First Sargeant or Master Sargeant) directly into a CSM role, so maybe they didn't even have one able to promkte yet, I'm not in a position to confirm, I haven't a clue how to look that up right now.
I don't think it ever occured to him he would ever be on the front lines in combat as a artillery guy. In Iraq we were sending laundry guys out as infantry clearing highways and having gunfights. This would of been very well known to him.
If he knew he woukd be running for office, you think he would of declined his promotion and said no. You don't have to go to CSM School. Nobody even knows what goes on in CSM school, they keep that a secret from everyone E-8 down. I've never heard of a leadership school you couldn't just opt out of in advance or upon showing up.
This is a video of the unit operating in that time period in Iraq. Notice how they are operating as infantry and NOT as artillery:
70% of his time nevertheless would of been one of privledge, sitting behind a desk, handling demotions and promotions and kicking stuff that shouldn't be kicked, and telling guys to go fill sand bags, or telling the base BDOC (base security) to do stupid stuff like climb ladders and stand on roofs with night vision on, etc. But yeah, he definately would of been deploying out of the gate in a humvee, facing road side bombs, sitting in a porta potty in 115F weather as mortars start falling, having random snipers shoot at you, having Iranians shoot missiles into your base, etc.
He seems to of said F this and left. Even the most cowardly, shitheaded do nothing soldier in a FOB or Camp in Iraq, who refused to go out of the base, put his life at risk merely by using those porta potties, being in country. They at least filled sandbags and did guard duty. In many ways his life would of been easier, his own room, and his own office (same trailer, but yeah), nobody around to step on his authority.
How do you do this to your men? They had to switch from being artillery to infantry very fast, and he said F it, I'm out.
They really should of extended this option to everyone. I don't knkw how I would of reacted to be honest if everyone in my platoon was a get out of army free card after it being announced we were going to Iraq. Alot of us would of been looking bewildered at one another, trying silently to jusge who was staying and who was leaving. He was in a truely unique position to opt out, and unbelievably for a CSM he did. They just don't do that sort of thing. You would expect them to be the very last of anyone in a battalion to leave voluntarily. It's literally who they are. They are there to convince everyone else to stay.
I don't know how my CSM would of reacted if I walked up to him in 2006 when I first heard of the deployment and announced I was leaving to go pursue a political career.
I'm not saying I was the best soldier, or was superman or deserving of thanks, etc. I'm merely noting I went through the process of being in America, went to Iraq, and was lucky to come back when everyone else came back. A couple of hundred thousand guys did exactly this, some went to jail, some got medals of honor and valor, bjt most just went with the process for better or worst unknown. Patriotism or merit isn't a issue here.
He wasn't being asked anything extraordinary. He would of known years in advanced he likely would serve not as artillery but as infantry if sent overseas.
There is a phenomena right before a unit deploys, men start committing crimes to get themselves jailed. We had one guy rob multiple liqour stores with his girlfriend (didn't get caught the furst few times), and another from the Domincan Republic got police lights for his car, started pulling women over and raped them, one girl on the hood of her cwr as her mother watched from inside the car (he got a 50 year jail sentence for that). They are too macho to admit to being scared of deploying or going AWOL, so instead they do that so someone else takes them out of the equation. I'm thinking Walz' sudden retirement and claim of wanting to pursue a political career was exactly that. It's like Sartre's military draft dodger's conceit in No Exit, took him time to admit in hell that it was not wanting to be a heroic pacifist anti-war ideology but rather his cowardess that drove him to avoid the draft and die by a firing squad. Abuptly announcing your retirement and plans for politics is pretty much the same bullshit. I get it, you didn't want to go tk war, the shit is scary. It really is. Really. But ummm, you were a F'kin Command Sargeant Major. Your most important duty in life is making sure the men are trained up and ready for their combat roles, and field artillery by default is not remotely ready to be infantry. I know, I had to train our artillery guys up in Alaska. A few good platoons, but most were absolutely clueless. I deployed with a bad knee, and was the High Value Target they were all after. Some of them couldn't even figure out how to kick open the door, and once in (I let a few units in after a few failed attempts to breech) some couldn't even properly zip tie me, or search me for weapons, etc. They were guys who sucked at doing infantry jobs, because they were not infantry. Completely understandable. Their CSM stuck around to make sure they went through the training, so they would die less. He undoubtledly rode around with them in Iraq too, and like me had his humvee hit by a IED, was shot at, had a missle launched at him, mortars aimed at him. But at the same time living a life of luxury most enlisted couldn't comprehend. But they went. This A Hole is the only guy I heard of at his rank who didn't for reasons other than medical.
To let you guys know how bad this is.... every brigade has a Read Detachment CSM, which is usually someone ranks E6 to E9, but usually just below at E8, like a Master Sargeant. If he really didn't want to go and just wanted to stay behind, he could of gone that route. My company First Sargeant was shit in the head (had a graze wound across his head above the ear), the guys were too creeped out by his scar (was pretty badassed) so they made him RD CSM. He never left Alaska, absolutely nobody spoke ill of him. Hard to call such a guy a coward. Walz could of said he was interested in running for politics and let him be the RD CSM while the unit deploys. They could of promkted someone else to CSM rank. No, he took the rank instead and fled the second he found out he wasn't going to deploy in a field artillery role never leaving some FOB, but had to go do infantry work. No, his patriotic love of America suddenly mattered too much all of a sudden, he just had to run for office, and opt out of the deployment. How f'king demoralizing would that of been to his men suddenly sh'tting themselves realising they were likely to get shot at and blown up, and their big leader who was supposed to train and lead them into combat was opting out. Can you imagine someone going AWOL, getting caught and standing before him, asking why they fled, looking their CSM in the eyes saying "Because I too wanted to run for office'.
Elwood already posted about Cadet Bonespurs. What's your opinion of JD Vance making hay over his six months in Iraq in an air-conditioned office, writing promotional materials? What about how Trump and the MAGA crowd have vilified John McCain, a true hero who spent 5 years as a POW?
It's weird how you people deify the military, but have no problem denigrating any military member who doesn't worship Trump enthusiastically enough.
