Among the many controversies swirling around newly chosen Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is this “stolen valor” thing….

 After 24 years of service, Walz evidently gave notice of quitting his National Guard unit in February 2005, with the intent of running for Congress — an honorable pursuit, done with honorable intentions.  

He was an acting command sergeant major. Walz never completed the command sergeant major’s school, so he did not hold the rank permanently; therefore, when he retired, he went back in rank from an E-9 to an E-8 rank of master sergeant.  

Walz did serve (temporarily) as a sergeant major.  

His unit received an intent to deploy order in May 2005, but he made plans to leave his unit before that order came out. 

Later, Walz made a statement about gun control, in which he said that the U.S. “shouldn’t allow weapons I used in war to be on America’s streets.”  

He never went to war.  

Walz does not have a Combat Infantryman’s Badge, proof — with your DD-214 Form — that you went to war. 

It is illegal to falsely wear one.  

There are sources that dispute these dates, saying the record goes the “other way” — that he abandoned his unit.  

I suppose, at our pay grade, we will never know; but one thing is certain, we are not Democrats, and unlike the way Donald Trump has been treated, “the tie goes to the runner.” When I worked for the justice system, it was: “You are innocent until proven guilty.”  

I like the idea that we hold ourselves to a higher, more noble standard than they do.  

I like the idea that Republicans are moral — and Democrats have no morals.  

Perhaps this is a problem with Walz.  

He perceived it easier, or would give him a little boost, if he told a part of the story and knowingly let fawning people fill in the rest.  

He ain’t no combat veteran.  

However, he did give 24 years of service to our country as a high-ranking, non-commissioned officer in the Minnesota Army National Guard. 

That is a lot of missed weekends and two-week periods away from family at summer camp....