EXCLUSIVE: Gold Star father calls Tim Walz 'nothing less than a coward' for justifying Biden-Harris Afghanistan withdrawal, 'abandoning' his military unit

Gold Star family members who lost their children in Biden-Harris admin's botched Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021 had harsh words for Kamala Harris' running may Time Walz after reports of his stolen valor. Darin Hoover and Mark Schmitz, respective fathers of fallen soldiers Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover and Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, responded to Tim Walz's comments justifying the Biden-Harris administration's Afghanistan withdrawal as well as on his leaving his military unit on the eve of an Iraq deployment in 2005. 

On July 28, prior to Walz being selected for Kamala Harris' VP pick, he justified the nature of the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, telling Jake Tapper on CNN that it was a "messy situation" and to have "stability was simply going to be incredibly difficult." Walz then placed some of the responsibility on the Trump administration. While in office, Donald Trump made beginning plans to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. When Joe Biden came into office, he did not continue those plans but simply stuck to the deadline, leaving masses of US equipment behind for the Taliban to use and resulting in the deaths of 13 US servicemembers.

Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover of Utah and Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz of Missouri died in the deadly suicide bombing attack at Abbey Gate during the withdrawal from Afghanistan under the Biden-Harris administration during August 2021. 


Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover (left) and Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz (right)

In response Walz's comments, Schmitz told The Post Millennial, "He conveniently leaves out the fact that Biden, and only Biden, chose to close Bagram Air Force Base after ignoring his top generals and the supporting dissent cables."  

"His refusal to listen to his advisors is what directly led to this mess that he speaks of. Since the proof of his stolen valor has come out, I would highly recommend he keep his mouth shut when it comes to anything military related," Schmitz added in his comments.   

Hoover expressed his feeling in response to Walz's comments, justifying the Afghanistan withdrawal, "The withdrawal was the first of many foreign relations nightmares for the Biden/Harris administration. And it was the only policy that they left in place from Donald Trump. But they didn't prosecute that plan according to the agreement set by President Trump."  

"To blame Trump for the failure is both misguided and ignorant, but it backfired on them miserably. The suits in Washington didn't know what the boots on the ground were facing and quite honestly didn't care," Hoover added.   

The two Gold Star fathers also took aim at Walz's military record, saying that him quitting right before a deployment to Iraq was tantamount to being a “deserter.” Walz has continued to use his military career as a talking point, even bringing up his senior title of Command Sergeant Major in campaign material, per the New York Post. This is despite the fact that, upon retirement, his title was reduced to Master Sergeant as a result of his quitting the military prior to completing his contract.   

"As the senior enlisted man who had some experience it seems in leading men to be up at that level, he up and quit the unit short of 8 months after being promoted," Hoover said. "He's basically a deserter to me. He left his men as the highest enlisted man in his unit when he found that he would be going to Iraq. He didn't live up to his contract and that should concern everyone."  

"He served in the reserves with his brothers and sisters in arms, and then when push came to shove he abandoned them and still tried to play it off with his play on words, as if he was deserving of the same recognition as those that actually went when they were called to do so," Schmitz said.

According to a letter written by Thomas Behrends, the service member who took the place of Walz in 2005, as well as fellow retired National Guardsman Paul Herr, "In early 2005, a warning order was issued to the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, which included the position [Walz] was serving in, to prepare to be mobilized for active duty for a deployment to Iraq. On May 16th, 2005 he quit, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war."