JD Vance and Tim Walz's Military Service Has Become a Hot Topic — Did Either of Them See Combat?

For the first time in more than a decade, we have two military veterans on the presidential ticket: Donald Trump's VP running mate JD Vance, and Kamala Harris's VP running mate Tim Walz.

The last time we had a veteran on the presidential ticket was 2008, when John McCain ran for office. And whoever ends up winning the election, it'll be the first time we have a veteran in office since George W. Bush, who served in the Texas Air National Guard.

As predicted, Vance and Walz's time in the service has become a hot topic, especially as Democrats try to appeal to centrist voters with Walz's Midwestern roots and military background — and as Republicans try to paint him as a radically far-left liberal.

Walz never saw combat during his 24 years in the Army National Guard, and he's faced criticism for retiring right before his battalion was sent to Iraq. But what about JD Vance — did he see combat during his four years in the Marine Corps?

In August 2024, Vance — who had been deployed to Iraq for about six months during his time in the Marines — told reporters (via Raw Story) that while he did serve in a combat zone, he never saw "a firefight" himself.

"I was never in a firefight myself, but I've always told the truth about my Marine Corps service," he said.

Indeed, Vance wrote about his military service in his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, where he acknowledged that he was "lucky to escape any real fighting."

However, he has since faced criticism for seemingly framing his time in the service as a "boots-on-the-ground experience," as The New Republic put it.

Vance has also come after Walz for seemingly lying about experiencing combat, referring to a speech Walz made in 2018 after the Parkland shooting in which Walz said, "We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at."

About these comments, Vance told reporters at a Detroit rally in August 2024 (via Fox News): "[Walz] said, 'We shouldn't allow weapons that I used in war to be on America's streets.' Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? When was this? What was this weapon that you carried into war, given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq, and he has not spent a day in a combat zone? What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage."

Vance also said he believed "it's shameful to prepare your unit to go to Iraq, to make a promise that you're going to follow through, and then to drop out right before you actually have to go," referring to Walz's retirement two months before his battalion was deployed to Iraq — and allegations that he had assured his battalion that he would serve with them there.