Walz — Comer Opens Congressional Investigation of Walz trips to China

UNCMSinLS said:
Actual results may vary, huh, OSC? ;)
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Yeah, 1st Sergeant (E-8) is sort.of an administrative/supervisory post, one step up from a platoon Sergeant (E-7). A master sergeant is a technical specialist, one step up from a Specialist 7 (E-7.) I knew a lot of 1st Sergeants and usually tried to avoid drawing their notice or attention. I can probably count on one hand the number of Army Master Sergeants I knew or met.

First Army Master Sergeant I ever met was when I was asked to drive my radio van to Frankfurt because a bunch of guys in suits (civilian tech reps) wanted to try to transmit FDC codes through the KW-7 encryption device in my van. It didn't work. The Master Sergeant called me over while all the civilian tech reps were puzzling over why their plan wasn't working. The Master Sergeant asked me if I knew what was wrong. I replied I did and said all my equipment ran at 20 milliamps and the FDC equipment ran at 60 milliamps and they were never going to "talk" to each other. He just laughed and said, "I told them that last week, but they didn't believe me." It never worked.
 
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05C40 said:
Yeah, 1st Sergeant (E-8) is sort.of an administrative/supervisory post, one step up from a platoon Sergeant (E-7). A master sergeant is a technical specialist, one step up from a Specialist 7 (E-7.) I knew a lot of 1st Sergeants and usually tried to avoid drawing their notice or attention. I can probably count on one hand the number of Army Master Sergeants I knew or met.

First Army Master Sergeant I ever met was when I was asked to drive my radio van to Frankfurt because a bunch of guys in suits (civilian tech reps) wanted to try to transmit FDC codes through the KW-7 encryption device in my van. It didn't work. The Master Sergeant called me over while all the civilian tech reps were puzzling over why their plan wasn't working. The Master Sergeant asked me if I knew what was wrong. I replied I did and said all my equipment ran at 20 millivolts and the FDC equipment ran at 60 millivolts and they were never going to "talk" to each other. He just laughed and said, "I told them that last week, but they didn't believe me." It never worked.
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I realize “active” is different from “reserve” (although I can’t define the difference) and both are different from the National Guard (and, I can’t define that difference).

Just what is a “Command Sergeant Major?” Does a “Command Sergeant Major” in the National Guard matter at all?
 
Zoo_View said:
I realize “active” is different from “reserve” (although I can’t define the difference) and both are different from the National Guard (and, I can’t define that difference).

Just what is a “Command Sergeant Major?” Does a “Command Sergeant Major” in the National Guard matter at all?
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Well first off, your question probably exceeds what I knew or understood even when I was in the Army. Command Sergeant Majors are less common than Sergeant Majors. But both of them are E-9, the highest enlisted rank. Typically, I think of CSM as being the top enlisted man at a division or post level. These are guys with a lot of time in the military, don't take any gruff from anyone, and have the complete and utter confidence of the general they serve with, not under, but with, to deal with enlisted issues. A Sergeant Major, without the Command part, is usually, IIRC, either the senior enlsited person at below the division level or the senior enlisted person with a fairly large techincal team. Again, the administrative verses technical distinction.

But regardless, a Command Sergeant Major, is typically a much rarer rank, from a much larger pool (enlisted) than is the rank of general from the pool of officers. CSM's I typically think of as one per division or one per post. Very experienced, very competent, and very respected. That Walz retired as a CSM is very, very impressive. In my opinion more impressive than retiring as a general.

ETA: The 1st Sergeant (E-8) of the unit I was in had a BA and MA in counseliing/psychology, multiple tours in Vietnam, and a lot of decorations but thought he had no shot at becoming a CSM (E-9). As such, he was trying to become a Warrant Officer in the personnel area.
 
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It's a narrow scope, but facebook looks like teachers and more moderate folks seem really, REALLY excited about a teacher/coach on the ticket.

There's an energy for a ticket I haven't seen since 2008. Yeah the hard core western NC conservative teachers and stuff are still just quiet and will likely go with Trump because of (religion? hell I dont get it)...but the amount of people where I grew up that are commenting positively about this is stunning
 
The issue with Harris was always going to be if/how she related to people in middle America. If you could create someone in a lab who provides strength to Harris’s weaknesses, it wouldn’t have been a better creation than Walz.
 
“… Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard in Nebraska in 1981 and retired honorably in 2005 as the top enlisted soldier for 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery Regiment, in the Minnesota National Guard, according to a copy of his records provided by the Minnesota Guard. He reached the rank of command sergeant major and served in that role, but he officially retired as a master sergeant for benefits purposes because he didn't finish a required training course, according to the records and a statement from the Minnesota Guard.

His Guard career included responding to natural disasters in the United States, as well as a deployment to Italy to support U.S. operations in Afghanistan, according to a 2018 article by Minnesota Public Radio. Walz earned several awards, including the Army Commendation Medal and two Army Achievement Medals, according to his military records. Working a civilian job as a high school teacher and football coach, the Nebraska native was also named that state's Citizen Soldier of the Year in 1989, according to official biographies.

During the 2022 Minnesota governor's race, Walz' opponent accused him of leaving the Guard when he did in order to avoid a deployment to Iraq, though Walz maintained he retired in order to focus on running for Congress, according to the Star Tribune newspaper.

Far-right commentators and media resurfaced those allegations and knocked him for never serving in combat -- something he has never claimed to do -- in contrast with Vance's deployment to Iraq as a combat correspondent. …”

Tim Walz, Who Spent Decades as an Enlisted Soldier, Brings Years of Work on Vets Issues to Dem Ticket | Military.com

www.military.com www.military.com
 
Republicans should tread carefully if they’re going to play the “he never deployed to the Middle East” game.

First, the large majority of Republican leadership never served at all. Second, the Reserves & Guard are a different beast when it comes to deployments that isn’t the same as active duty. Third, Walz never ran on being a Special Ops/Rambo wannabe.
 
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