What we know about military records of Walz and Vance

Mr Vance claimed: “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him.”

Several former National Guard colleagues have previously publicly voiced frustrations at Mr Walz’s decision to leave their unit before deployment to Iraq – but others have rejected assertions that he retired to avoid combat duty.

Mr Walz served for 24 years in the Army National Guard, a military force which is usually deployed within the US to respond to events such as natural disasters, but is also part of the US Army’s reserve.

In February 2005, while he was still in the National Guard, Mr Walz filed an application, external to run to be elected as a member of Congress from Minnesota.

The following month it was announced that there would be “a possible partial mobilisation of roughly 2,000 troops from the Minnesota National Guard” to Iraq within the next two years, according to a 2005 press release, external from Mr Walz’s congressional campaign.

In the statement, Mr Walz said: “I do not yet know if my artillery unit will be part of this mobilisation.”

He added: “I don’t want to speculate on what shape my campaign will take if I am deployed, but I have no plans to drop out of the race.”

Mr Walz then retired from the National Guard in May 2005, which he later said was so he could focus fully on running for Congress.

It’s unclear exactly when he submitted his resignation notice. We’ve asked both the National Guard and the Harris campaign when this was.

His National Guard unit received orders to mobilise for Iraq in July 2005, and was sent there in March 2006, according to the battalion’s history page., external