The Swiftboating of Walz is Sick, Inacurate, and Will Fail.

Agreed. So the big scandalous news is that Walz retired after serving 24 years in the Guard? The Republicans have to do better if they want to have any hope (besides another coup).

His unit was fully staffed and had adequate leadership without him. In fact, had the unit not had appropriate staffing, they could have denied his retirement and ordered a “stop loss,” which happened to thousands of military members in jobs that needed people. Stop loss was used regularly and would have been enacted if the situation deemed it.

Exactly. I was at risk for stop loss when I got out because my unit was going to be sent to Kosovo. Like Walz, I’d already declined to re-enlist before I knew this deployment was likely to occur. Luckily, I did not get stop-lossed but it was a real possibility.

The article I linked to is slightly inaccurate, though. There is no “Chief Master Sgt.” in the Army National Guard (or regular Army). That’s an Air Force rank. It’s Command Sergeant Major. Walz held that rank for a few years, but never completed the coursework to keep it upon retirement. Happens all the time, especially in the Guard. It’s probably more appropirate to say he is a “retired Master Sergeant” or whatever it says on his DD-214 but really it’s irrelevant. Walz served as a CSM and then retired. End of story.

Nothing really to see here.