JD Vance has accused his rival, Tim Walz, of evading combat duty by quitting the National Guard before his unit was deployed to Iraq.

But a man who served under Walz’s command in the same unit told journalists that Walz retired to run for Congress before the unit received orders to deploy to Iraq.

The Hill published the story:

Al Bonnifield, who served 22 years in the Minnesota National Guard, told NewsNation’s Joe Khalil that Walz, like many of the men in their unit, suspected they might be deployed soon but had been given no such official order when he decided to retire.

“He told us that he wanted to run for Congress, and he was in a tough spot, because he was pretty sure we were going to Iraq,” Bonnifield said. “We didn’t have orders. We didn’t have any kind of orders at all.” 

Bonnifield added that Walz struggled with the decision, and talked with his fellow service member for 30 to 45 minutes about, “‘What do I do? Where can I be a better person for the soldier? Where can I be a better person for Minnesota? Where can I be a better person for the United States?’…”

Joe Eustice, who served with Walz for years, told The Washington Post he disagreed with the governor’s politics, but Walz did not avoid combat duty and was a good soldier. At the time Walz left the unit, Eustice told the Post there had only been speculation the unit could be deployed.

“When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did?” Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), former President Trump’s running mate, said at the Michigan campaign event. “He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him.” 

But Bonnifield vehemently pushed back on the assertion that Walz abandoned his unit, calling it “wrong” and “bulls‑‑‑.”

And after Walz retired, Bonnifield said there was “a little remorse” in the unit, given he had trained many of them across a decade.

“He was our person to go to. He had the answers. He was also a father figure to us. If we had a problem we needed to talk to somebody, he was there.” 

It’s ironic that Vance would bring up this topic since Donald Trump was a notorious draft-dodger. When he was eligible for the draft, his father arranged for him to evade the draft by getting a diagnosis of “bone spurs” from a storefront podiatrist in Queens, enabling him to receive five deferments. The podiatrist rented office space from Donald Trump’s Father, Fred Trump. Neither Donald nor his older sons—Don Jr. and Eric—ever wore their country’s uniform.