Oh Captain! My Captain

Tim Walz outranks Corporal SofaKing and Captain Bonespurs

Unless a service member goes AWOL, becomes a traitor, or is dishonorably discharged, it’s vile and cheap to question their service. You need facts before you accuse someone of “stolen valor.” When JD Vance accuses Governor Tim Walz of “stolen valor,” JD is trying to steal his. There is no valor in questioning a vet’s service.

Vance issued a statement, “When the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did. I did what they asked me to do, and I did it honorably, and I'm very proud of that service. When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him.”

That is a lie. Tim Walz was never asked to serve in Iraq. He retired after 24 years in the military two before his unit received orders to deploy to Iraq. By the way and for what it’s worth, JD did serve in a war zone but he didn’t see combat.

JD served honorably and I’m not going to disparage his service, but maybe a corporal who served four years shouldn’t question the commitment of a command sergeant major who served 24. Especially when he’s on the ticket with Captain Bonespurs.

Donald Trump received four deferments from the draft while in college. During that time, he was playing tennis, squash, football, and golf. As soon as college was over as well as his college deferments, his feet started to hurt. Trump received a fifth deferment for bone spurs, something that 80 percent of people have who are over 50. Trump was 22. Trump says his bone spurs magically healed up just around the same time he was no longer eligible for the draft, and he can’t remember which foot had the problem.

Trump also claimed he had a high draft number, which was the luck of the draw. But it contradicts his claim about bone spurs as his number wouldn’t be relevant with a medical condition.

In a TV interview in 2011, Trump said, “I’ll never forget; that was an amazing period of time in my life. I was going to the Wharton School of Finance, and I was watching as they did the draft numbers, and I got a very, very high number.”

Except the lottery was held 18 months after Trump had graduated.

During a radio interview, Trump told Howard Stern he liked walking in on teenage girls while they’re changing clothes. I’m sorry, that’s not the interview relevant to this issue. Trump told Howard Stern in an interview from the 1990s that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases while dating “is my personal Vietnam.”

My father is a Purple Heart recipient for injuries he received while fighting in Vietnam, not from avoiding syphilis.

While running for president in 2016, Trump said Senator John McCain was not a hero and then said that the late senator was only a hero because he got captured. That means Trump doesn’t think every service member and veteran are heroes. Trump said, “I like people who weren’t captured.”

In the Vietnam War, 766 Americans were known to be taken as prisoners of war. There were probably more. At least 114 died in captivity. Both of John McCain’s arms and a leg were broken when he was taken prisoner. McCain, son of a four-star admiral, refused offers to be returned to the USA until his fellow prisoners would also be returned. All of those men are heroes despite Donald Trump claiming they’re not.

During his presidency (sic), Trump told his Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, that American service members who died in combat are “suckers” and “losers.” Trump told Kelly this at a military grave.

Trump also feuded with Gold Star families, people who had sons, brothers, fathers, husbands, mothers, etc, who died in combat. One of them told Trump, “You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”

JD Vance doesn’t have an issue with Trump’s deferments. He doesn’t have an issue that each time Trump received a deferment, someone else had to go. JD doesn’t care that five other kids had to go in Trump’s place. You have to wonder if they came home. JD doesn’t care that Trump has insulted POWs, veterans, and even those who died in combat. But he cares about what time Tim Walz retired after 24 years.

It is beneath JD Vance to question the valor of another veteran. JD Vance is out of line.

JD once called Trump “America’s Hitler,” but now he has changed his mind. Unlike Trump, Hitler actually served in the military. Unlike JD, Hitler saw combat.

The men who have no valor are the men who question the military experience of others. JD Vance has no credibility challenging Walz’s valor while ignoring that his running mate, who he once called Hitler, doesn’t have any.

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