Letters to the Editor: I was deployed to Iraq. Tim Walz’s military service deserves gratitude

To the editor: As a retired U.S. Army colonel with more than 25 years of service and two Iraq deployments, I am ashamed of the 50 Republican veterans who signed a letter denigrating the military service of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

They know better. They know that servicemembers sometimes serve in billets above their grade while waiting for schools or promotion lists. They know that deployment orders are hard to nail down. They know that whether deployed to a combat zone, or to a base in the rear, weapons are carried.

Most of all, they know that anybody who says “yes” to putting on the uniform deserves nothing less than, “Thank you for your service.”

Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, left the Marine Corps after four years, far less than the 24 that Walz was in the Army National Guard. To him, I still say, “Thank you for your service.”

Scott Sterling, Indio

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To the editor: A particularly egregious lie in the letter signed by 50 Republican veterans is the claim that Walz “abandoned his post.”

As a matter of public record, we know Walz served honorably. Instead of retiring after 20 years, he stayed on for four more out of patriotic duty after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

He retired months before his unit was notified of possible deployment in order to run for Congress. The deployment occurred the following year.

What is galling is that this cynical bunch serves a man who got five deferments during the Vietnam War. A man who claimed avoiding venereal diseases was his “personal Vietnam.” A man who has disparaged the service of veterans and war heroes.

Most recently, he asserted that the civilian Presidential Medal of Freedom was “better” than the military Congressional Medal of Honor. His reason? The soldiers who earn the latter are either “in very bad shape ... or they’re dead.”

Shameful.

Cathy Goldberg, Seal Beach