Vance’s claim that Walz abandoned his unit to avoid deployment to Iraq – which has been echoed throughout the right – was directly countered by Army Lt. Col. Ryan Rossman, director of operations for the Minnesota National Guard, who spoke to HuffPost.

The unit “received an alert order for mobilization to Iraq on July 14, 2005,” Rossman said, two months after Walz retired. According to CNN, Walz first filed his paperwork to run for Congress in January of that same year, and – as several veterans have noted – the administrative process of a military retirement typically takes several months before approval. His unit would not deploy to Iraq until March of 2006.

JustseemingDesperate Vance is lying about as much as his idol