When Minnesota governor Tim Walz chose to leave the military on the eve of his deployment to Iraq, Thomas Behrends went in his place.
“I needed to hit the ground running and take care of the troops — and tell them we were going to war,” said Behrends of the 500 soldiers under his command. “For a guy in that position to quit is cowardice.”
Behrends, a 63-year-old farmer in Brewster, MN, called the Democratic vice-presidential candidate “a traitor” for retiring from their Minnesota National Guard unit just before their deployment to Iraq in 2005.
“When your country calls, you are supposed to run into battle — not the other way,” the retired command sergeant major told The Post Tuesday. “He ran away. It’s sad.
“He had the opportunity to serve his country, and said ‘screw you’ to the United States. That’s not who I would pick to run for vice-president.”
