As vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has recently come under fire for his military service record, Sen. Tom Carper speaks out against the disparaging remarks.
Carper is currently the last Vietnam war veteran in the U.S. Senate, serving as a naval flight officer for five years beginning in 1968 and serving three tours of duty in Southeast Asia.
He ended his 23 year-long military career in the Naval Reserve as an aircraft mission commander and retired with the rank of captain in 1991.
Carper says he is saddened to see Walz under the microscope after serving in the Army National Guard for 24 years.
Walz's service has been characterized as serving overseas with his battalion in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, known as the first stage of the war in Afghanistan and the larger-scale global war on terrorism.
His unit was stationed in Italy, not the Middle East, but of the 45,000 personnel assigned to Operation Enduring Freedom, only 10,000 were stationed in Afghanistan.
50 GOP lawmakers signed a letter Wednesday condemning Walz for “egregiously misrepresenting” his military background after saying he carried a weapon in war and retired as a command sergeant major, one of the highest enlisted ranks possible.
The Harris-Walz Campaign has since clarified that Walz misspoke about implying he has been in active combat, and while Walz served as a command sergeant major in his final weeks with the National Guard, he did not complete required coursework to solidify his rank, therefore reverting him one rank lower when he retired.
"The idea that a man who served his country for 24 years all as an enlisted person and as a senior enlisted person, somehow get elected to Congress and lead the effort to protect the interests of veterans — he could somehow be tarred and feathered today is very said," Carper said.
Carper says "we all misspeak from time to time" and believes if anybody's service record should be under scrutiny, it should be Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“Let's compare the service of Tim Walz to the service of Donald Trump. He could have served with the rest of us in the Vietnam War — he never did. And for a lot of us who did put our lives on the line, he would be thought of as a draft dodger," Carper said.
"To make matters worse, as president, he has spoken on more than one occasion about those of us who did serve and sacrificed as 'losers and suckers,' which just makes my blood boil. I think we ought to keep in mind his lack of service, and not only that, but the way he has demeaned the service of those who did lay [their] lives on the line."
The number of veterans in Congress has been steadily declining overall since the mid-1970s with 97 veterans currently serving in Congress out of its 535 members.
Carper says as military service becomes more uncommon, he hopes future leaders still find ways to serve their communities.
“You don't have to wear a uniform. You don't have to run for office to be able to serve, but there are all kinds of ways we can serve our community, our states and our nation. Find ways that work for you and you'll be glad you did."
Walz accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for vice president Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Carper will be honored among other veterans on the last night of the convention Friday, where Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to accept the party’s nomination to be its presidential candidate.
