Real Leadership
Governor Walz, the recent selection as candidate for the Vice Presidency on the Democratic ticket, was assigned to a senior enlisted leadership position in the Minnesota National Guard.
I do not refer to him as a “leader” because he isn’t. He was assigned to a leadership position and failed. He failed his unit, failed the Soldiers that depended on him, he failed the National Guard and he failed his nation.
He quit. Period. Governor Walz was assigned as the senior enlisted leader, Command Sergeant Major, for a field artillery battalion. His organization was told they were mobilizing to deploy to Iraq. He quit. He left his unit so he could run for office. When his unit, his soldiers, his organization needed him most…he quit.
I’m not going to claim cowardice, cold feet, or anything else. I don’t know what was going through the man’s head. I do know that leaders don’t quit on their organization like that.
Let me give you an example of what real senior enlisted leadership looks like.
On the morning of 9/11, my Company First Sergeant (senior enlisted leader for our infantry company) was scheduled for surgery on both his feet. From years and years of being an infantryman, the bones in his feet had become deformed and he was going to have surgery to repair them. For us, it would be a few days of him recovering at home, then a few weeks of physical therapy, but we had a plan in place. One of the Platoon Sergeants was stepping up and the First Sergeant chair temporarily.
Everything was good, until it wasn’t.
The news started coming. The towers, the Pentagon, Flight 93. We didn’t know what it was, but we knew it was bad. Being assigned to a rapid deployment unit, there was always the potential for ‘the call” to come and for all of us Paratroopers to get sent anywhere across the globe. I decided to be proactive.
I gave directives through my acting First Sergeant to have Paratroopers that lived off the base be back in no more than one hour and the ones living in the barracks to draw weapons out of the armsroom. We could always put them back if the weren’t needed. It was flowing smoothly, although not having the calming presence of the actual First Sergeant amidst the controlled chaos could be felt throughout the company.
First Sergeant was sitting on a gurney with an IV in his arm, anesthetic slowly beginning to drip, when the news reports of the terrorist attacks began to flash across the screen. Like all of us, he didn’t know exactly what he was looking at, but he knew it was bad. He pulled the IV out of his arm and got dressed. The medical staff tried to stop him from leaving. He pointed at the television.
“I have a company that needs me right now. Surgery can wait.” He grabbed his stuff and came straight to the company. I knew he was coming because the hospital called me. They weren’t happy, but I was. I gave him a quick update to let him know what we were doing and why, all the while he was changing into his uniform. First Sergeant was back to work.
We didn’t go anywhere that day. No one knew where to go, really. But we did spend the next three days as the first company to secure Fort Bragg. Regardless of the mission, my Senior Enlisted Leader knew where to be…with his Paratroopers, with his unit, doing all the things leaders do.
That’s NOT what Governor Walz did. When put in a similar situation where his leadership was needed, where his leadership would be put to the test, where he would care for his unit and his Soldiers, that shitbag quit. Period. He walked away from his unit. He left his Soldiers hanging. Left his unit hanging.
Now, he has been selected to be the Vice-Presidential candidate. So, if you vote Harris-Walz, understand that you aren’t getting leadership. Governor Walz doesn’t know Real Leadership.