The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of controversy regarding the military service record of Democrat Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz. My X account has seen the most traffic it has ever known as I have discussed this issue at length, and I thought it would be a good idea now to take a deep breath and kind of recap where we are at in this controversy. I know for sure that the veteran community is fired up over this issue, but I sense that many from the non-veteran community do not know what to think given the competing arguments from both sides of the political aisle. I would like to share my own personal experiences and thoughts as a retired Army Colonel and veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. What I hope for civilians to understand is this: the issue is not the number of years Walz served, or when he submitted his retirement paperwork, or what his final rank was, or even—just as a stand-alone proposition—whether he ever went to combat. No, the issue is the unique and special position of trust he held when he decided to walk away from his soldiers, his unit, and his nation. I’ll explain.