Veterans have accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz of “embellishing” his military career and abandoning his National Guard battalion, highlighting that the now-vice presidential pick for the Democrats never served in combat and retired from service ahead of his unit’s 2005 deployment to Iraq.

In a letter posted to Facebook in 2018 as he first ran for governor, retired Command Sergeants Major Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr said Walz retired from his 24-year tenure in the National Guard after learning that his battalion would be deployed to Iraq, despite allegedly assuring his fellow troops he would join them.

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“On May 16th, 2005, [Walz] quit, betraying his country, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war,” Behrends and Herr wrote.

Walz, 60, wrapped his military career just in time for him to launch his political career the following year, successfully running for Congress in 2006.

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Behrends and Herr criticized him for leaving the National Guard for Congress despite being fully aware that he could have requested permission from the Pentagon to seek office while on active duty.

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Walz further dodged the necessary paperwork to ensure a smooth transition out of military service and “instead … slithered out the door,” the pair added, with his retirement filing showing “soldier not available for signature.”

The National Guard members also accused the now-two-term Minnesota governor of having “embellished and selectively omitted facts of his military career for years.”

The letter was first unearthed by the Daily Wire.

Still, Walz has said he has “an honorable record.”

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“We all do what we can. I’m proud I did 24 years,” Walz said about his service.