american tour of duty

Tour of Duty

Tour of Duty was a CBS network drama series created by Steve Duncan and L. Travis Clark.

The show aired from September 24, 1987 to April 28, 1990, lasting for three seasons & 58 episodes. It was produced by Braun Entertainment Group and New World Television.

• 3 Accolades
• 4.1 Season 1
• 4.2 Season 2
• 4.3 Season 3

The series followed an American infantry platoon on a tour of duty during the Vietnam War.

• Stephen Caffrey as Myron Goldman
• Terence Knox as Clayton Ezekiel "Zeke" Anderson
• Kim Delaney as Alex Devlin
• Tony Becker as Daniel "Danny" Percell
• Miguel A. Núñez Jr. as Marcus Taylor
• Ramón Franco as Alberto Ruiz
• Stan Foster as Marvin Johnson

Accolades [ ]

"Tour of Duty" won an Emmy Award in 1988 for "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series" and was nominated again in 1989 & 1990.

Emmy Award nominations

• 1989: Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series (for "I Wish it Could Rain")
• 1990: Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series (for "And Make Death Proud to Take Us")

Eddie Award nominations

• 1988: Best Edited Episode from a Television Series (for the pilot episode)

Episode lists [ ]

Season 1 [ ].

• Notes from the Underground
• Dislocations
• Sitting Ducks
• Burn, Baby, Burn
• Brothers, Fathers and Sons
• The Good, the Bad and the Dead
• Battling Baker Brothers
• Nowhere to Run
• Pushin' Too Hard
• Under Siege
• Gray-Brown Odyssey
• Blood Brothers
• The Short Timer
• Paradise Lost
• Angel of Mercy

Season 2 [ ]

• Saigon part 1
• Saigon part 2
• For What It's Worth
• Non-Essential Personnel
• Sleeping Dogs
• I Wish It Would Rain
• Popular Forces
• Terms of Enlistment
• Promised Land
• Lonesome Cowboy Blues
• Sins of the Fathers
• Sealed with a Kiss
• Hard Stripe
• The Volunteer

Season 3 [ ]

• The Ties That Bind
• Lonely at the Top
• A Bodyguard of Lies
• A Necessary End
• Thanks for the Memories
• I Am What I Am
• World in Changes
• Green Christmas
• Odd Man Out
• And Make Death Proud to Take Us
• Dead Man Tales
• Road to Long Binh
• Acceptable Losses
• Vietnam Rag
• War is a Contact Sport
• Three Cheers for the Orange, White & Blue
• 3 Young Sheldon

TOUR OF DUTY – 10 Facts About the 1980s Vietnam War Drama

By the mid-1980s, there had been TV shows set during the Civil War, World War II, and the Korean Conflict, but never the Vietnam War. That all changed with  Tour Of Duty.

Set in 1967–1968, this groundbreaking drama series follows an infantry platoon as they fight the enemy — and each other — in Southeast Asia. Members of the platoon in season one include Capt. Rusty Wallace ( Kevin Conroy ), Sgt. Zeke Anderson ( Terence Knox ), Lt. Myron Goldman ( Stephen Caffrey ), Pvt. Roger Horn ( Joshua Maurer ), Pvt. Doc Matsuda ( Steve Akahoshi ), Cpl. Danny Percell ( Tony Becker ), Pvt. Scott Baker ( Eric Bruskotter ), Sgt. Marvin Johnson ( Stan Foster ), Pvt. Alberto Ruiz ( Ramon Franco ), and Pvt. Marcus Taylor ( Miguel A. Nunez Jr .). Subsequent seasons attracted marquee stars in limited roles.

With its continuing narrative, big name stars, and historically high production values,  Tour of Duty  has many of the qualities of today’s premium dramas. But it struggled to find an audience in a primetime landscape littered with light comedies. Thirty years later, the critically acclaimed series feels more groundbreaking than ever. And you can see for yourself what makes  Tour Of Duty  a unique TV classic every Monday–Thursday late night on getTV! Here are some fascinating facts about this groundbreaking series.

1. It was inspired by  Platoon.

In December of 1986, Oliver Stone’s  Platoon  drew raves from critics and moviegoers with its unflinching depiction of the Vietnam War. More than a decade after the conflict ended, American audiences finally seemed to ready to examine a highly divisive chapter in our history. And when the film won four Oscars — including Best Picture — a TV show dealing with the same period was inevitable.  Tour Of Duty  is not based on  Platoon , but its depiction of an infantry platoon in the same period (1967–68) is clearly inspired by it.

2. The series was produced with military cooperation.

While  Platoon  was made without any official involvement by the Army,  Tour Of Duty  producers New World Television sought the blessing of the Department of Defense. With it came advice, equipment, and the use of the Army’s Schofield Barracks in Hawaii as the production’s home base. But government cooperation came with a catch: veto power. The Army insisted on changes during season one and, though executive producer  Zev Braun  agreed, he made it clear who was running the show. “It is our avowed purpose to show the reality of war,” he told the  Los Angeles Times  in 1987. “We will not accede (to a change) if it is a major part of the story."

3. Changes were made for season two.

After surviving a low-rated but critically acclaimed first season,  Tour Of Duty  was retooled for its second season. The setting was changed to the Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base near Saigon and new cast members were added, including  Kim Delaney  (a future Emmy winner for  NYPD Blue ) as a young reporter on the base. Women were added to the cast, in part, to better compete with  China Beach , a soapy, Vietnam War drama series that debuted on ABC in 1988.

4. It had tough competition.

When  Tour of Duty  premiered in September of 1987, CBS scheduled it on Thursdays at 8pm. Its competition was T he Cosby Show  and  Family Ties , then the two top rated primetime shows on network TV. Fans breathed a sigh of relief when CBS moved the timeslot to Saturday for season three — until they found out it was up against  The Golden Girls  and  Empty Nest .

5. It was filmed on the set of another famous military-themed series.

Along with a change in setting in season two came a change in location. Production moved from Hawaii to Hollywood, specifically to the back lot where the long-running  M*A*S*H  had wrapped production just a few years earlier. That Korean War-set series shared 22 cast and crew members with  Tour of Duty , including  Rosalind Chao ,  Mako , and  Robert Ito .

6. Season two was cut short.

While seasons one and three had standard, full-season episode orders from CBS, season two was cut to just 16 shows. It wasn’t necessarily the fault of low ratings or budget cuts, but rather a strike by the Writer’s Guild of America that endured for 5 months and hobbled primetime television. Thirty years later, it remains the longest strike in WGA history.

7. Big names were added for season three.

For the third season, action moved away from the base and back out to the field, as the platoon was transferred to a Studies and Observation Group unit. Big names were added to the cast to boost the ratings, including  Carl Weathers  ( Rocky ) as Colonel Brewster and  Lee Majors  ( The Six Million Dollar Man ) as Pop Scarlett. Future star  Kyle Chandler  ( Friday Night Lights ) also had a recurring role in season three as Pvt. William Griner. Notable guest stars included  Angela Bassett ,  Ving Rhames , and  David Allan Grier .

8. It was an expensive show to produce.

“We've got a series that we think is like none other,” executive producer Zev Braun told UPI when the series debuted in 1987. Production costs were unusually expensive for a primetime series of the era: $1.25 million per show. The pilot itself had a budget of more than $3 million, with season one costing more than $30 million. While that may not have paid off in the ratings, it did in critical acclaim and awards consideration.  Tour of Duty  was nominated for three Emmys, winning once for the show’s complex and highly realistic sound design.

9. It depicted real events.

Tour Of Duty  frequently depicted actual events that happened during the Vietnam War, including the raid of Son Tay Prison. And the first story arc of season three dealt with the highly emotional topic of missing in action soldiers. “Over 2,300 soldiers Americans classified 'Missing' in the Vietnam War are still unaccounted for,” a title read on the first episode of season three. “Reported live sightings could indicate some are still held prisoner in Southeast Asia.” On the show, the two M.I.A soldiers — Terence Knox as Anderson and Stephen Caffrey as Goldman — were recovered after being held captive in a Viet Cong prison camp.

10. There were  five  soundtrack albums.

Because of the huge popularity of the 1960s pop songs of the era,  Tour of Duty  inspired not one but four soundtrack releases between 1988 and 1989. There was also a fifth compilation release in 1992 after the series had concluded its three-season run.

For more,  visit the getTV schedule .

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The trials of a U.S. Army platoon serving in the field during the Vietnam War.

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Sitting Ducks

• Episode aired Oct 29, 1987

After getting what they think is an easy mission, Bravo Company discover that the village that they are protecting is surrounded by the enemy. What's more, the enemy seem to know their every... Read all After getting what they think is an easy mission, Bravo Company discover that the village that they are protecting is surrounded by the enemy. What's more, the enemy seem to know their every move. After getting what they think is an easy mission, Bravo Company discover that the village that they are protecting is surrounded by the enemy. What's more, the enemy seem to know their every move.

• Aaron Lipstadt
• L. Travis Clark
• Steve Duncan
• Steve Bello
• Terence Knox
• Stephen Caffrey
• Joshua D. Maurer
• 1 User review

Top cast 17

• Sgt. Clayton 'Zeke' Anderson

• Lt. Myron Goldman
• Pvt. Roger Horn
• (as Joshua Maurer)
• Pvt. Randy 'Doc' Matsuda

• Cpl. Daniel 'Danny' Percell

• Pvt. Scott Baker
• SP4 Marvin Johnson

• Pvt. Alberto Ruiz
• (as Ramon Franco)

• Pvt. Marcus Taylor
• (as Miguel A. Nunez Jr.)

• Capt. Rusty Wallace
• (credit only)

• VC Peasant Woman

• Platoon Sergeant
• (as George O'Hanlon)

• (uncredited)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia The entire poem that Pvt. Horn reads a portion of from the VC peasant women's diary can be found on page 115 of the 1987 book (mass market edition, 2004) "Stalking the Vietcong. Inside Operation Phoenix: A Personal Account" by Stuart A. Herrington (first published in 1982 with the title "Silence Was a Weapon"). The actual poem had been found in a diary on the body of NVA warrant officer Vo Dinh Phuoc in Vietnam: "If you are to be a flower, then be one that always faces the sun. And if you want to be a rock, then try to be a precious stone. And if it is a bird that you must be, then by all means be a white dove. But if you want to be a real human being, then you must be a Communist."
• Goofs The first VC "corpse" Anderson and Goldman inspect is visibly breathing as they approach.

User reviews 1

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• May 21, 2020
• October 29, 1987 (United States)
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• Braun Entertainment Group
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Tour of Duty (TV series)

Tour of Duty is an American military drama television series based on events in the Vietnam War , broadcast on CBS . The series ran for three seasons, from September 24, 1987, to April 28, 1990, for a total of 58 one-hour episodes. The show was created by Steve Duncan and L. Travis Clark and produced by Zev Braun .

The show follows an American infantry platoon on a tour of duty during the Vietnam War. It was the first television series to regularly show Americans in combat in South Vietnam and was one of several similarly themed series to be produced in the wake of the acclaimed Oliver Stone film Platoon (1986).

The series won an Emmy Award in 1988 for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series , and it was nominated again in 1989 and 1990.

• 1.1 Season 1
• 1.2 Season 2
• 1.3 Season 3

Episode lists [ ]

Season 1 [ ].

• Notes from the Underground
• Dislocations
• Sitting Ducks
• Burn, Baby, Burn
• Brothers, Fathers and Sons
• The Good, the Bad and the Dead
• Battling Baker Brothers
• Nowhere to Run
• Pushin' Too Hard
• Under Siege
• Gray-Brown Odyssey
• Blood Brothers
• The Short Timer
• Paradise Lost
• Angel of Mercy

Season 2 [ ]

• Saigon part 1
• Saigon part 2
• For What It's Worth
• Non-Essential Personnel
• Sleeping Dogs
• I Wish It Would Rain
• Popular Forces
• Terms of Enlistment
• Promised Land
• Lonesome Cowboy Blues
• Sins of the Fathers
• Sealed with a Kiss
• Hard Stripe
• The Volunteer

Season 3 [ ]

• The Ties That Bind
• Lonely at the Top
• A Bodyguard of Lies
• A Necessary End
• Thanks for the Memories
• I Am What I Am
• World in Changes
• Green Christmas
• Odd Man Out
• And Make Death Proud to Take Us
• Dead Man Tales
• Road to Long Binh
• Acceptable Losses
• Vietnam Rag
• War is a Contact Sport
• Three Cheers for the Orange, White & Blue
• 1 List of Columbia Pictures films
• 3 Bethany Walker

Attacks on Walz’s Military Record

By Robert Farley , D'Angelo Gore and Eugene Kiely

Posted on August 8, 2024 | Corrected on August 9, 2024

Este artículo estará disponible en español en El Tiempo Latino .

In introducing her pick for vice presidential running mate, Kamala Harris has prominently touted Tim Walz’s 24 years of service in the Army National Guard. Now, however, GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance and the Trump campaign are attacking Walz on his military record, accusing the Minnesota governor of “stolen valor.”

We’ll sort through the facts surrounding the three main attacks on Walz’s military record and let readers decide their merit. The claims include:

• Vance claimed that Walz “dropped out” of the National Guard when he learned his battalion was slated to be deployed to Iraq. Walz retired to focus on a run for Congress two months before his unit got official word of impending deployment, though the possibility had been rumored for months.
• Vance also accused Walz of having once claimed to have served in combat, when he did not. While advocating a ban on assault-style weapons, 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.”
• The Republican National Committee has criticized Walz for misrepresenting his military rank in campaign materials. The Harris campaign website salutes Walz for “rising to the rank of Command Sergeant Major.” Walz did rise to that rank, but he retired as a master sergeant because he had not completed the requirements of a command sergeant major.

A native of West Point, Nebraska, Walz joined the Nebraska Army National Guard in April 1981, two days after his 17th birthday. When Walz and his wife moved to Minnesota in 1996, he transferred to the Minnesota National Guard, where he served in 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery.

“While serving in Minnesota, his military occupational specialties were 13B – a cannon crewmember who operates and maintains cannons and 13Z -field artillery senior sergeant,” according to a statement released by Army Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, the Minnesota National Guard’s state public affairs officer.

According to MPR News , Walz suffered some hearing impairment related to exposure to cannon booms during training over the years, and he underwent some corrective surgery to address it.

On Aug. 3, 2003, “Walz mobilized with the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery … to support Operation Enduring Freedom. The battalion supported security missions at various locations in Europe and Turkey. Governor Walz was stationed at Vicenza, Italy, during his deployment.” Augé stated. The deployment lasted about eight months.

“For 24 years I proudly wore the uniform of this nation,” Walz said at a rally in Philadelphia where he was announced as Harris’ running mate on Aug. 6. “The National Guard gave me purpose. It gave me the strength of a shared commitment to something greater than ourselves.”

Walz’s Retirement from the National Guard

In recent years, however, several of his fellow guard members have taken issue with the timing of Walz’s retirement from the National Guard in May 2005, claiming he left to avoid a deployment to Iraq.

Vance, who served a four-year active duty enlistment in the Marine Corps as a combat correspondent, serving in Iraq for six months in 2005, advanced that argument at a campaign event on Aug. 7.

“When the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it,” Vance said. “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, a fact that he’s been criticized for aggressively by a lot of the people that he served with. I think 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.”

In early 2005, Walz, then a high school geography teacher and football coach at Mankato West High School, decided to run for public office. In a 2009 interview Walz provided as part of the Library of Congress’ veterans oral history project, Waltz said he made the decision to retire from the National Guard to “focus full time” on a run for the U.S. House of Representatives for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District (which he ultimately won in 2006). Walz said he was “really concerned” about trying to seek public office and serve in the National Guard at the same time without running afoul of the Hatch Act , which limits political speech by federal employees, including members of the National Guard.

Federal Election Commission records show that Walz filed to run for Congress on Feb. 10, 2005.

On March 20, 2005, Walz’s campaign put out a press release titled “Walz Still Planning to Run for Congress Despite Possible Call to Duty in Iraq.”

Three days prior, the release said, “the National Guard Public Affairs Office announced a possible partial mobilization of roughly 2,000 troops from the Minnesota National Guard. … The announcement from the National Guard PAO specified that all or a portion of Walz’s battalion could be mobilized to serve in Iraq within the next two years.”

According to the release, “When asked about his possible deployment to Iraq Walz said, ‘I do not yet know if my artillery unit will be part of this mobilization and I am unable to comment further on specifics of the deployment.’ Although his tour of duty in Iraq might coincide with his campaign for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional seat, Walz is determined to stay in the race. ‘As Command Sergeant Major I have a responsibility not only to ready my battalion for Iraq, but also to serve if called on. I am dedicated to serving my country to the best of my ability, whether that is in Washington DC or in Iraq.'”

On March 23, 2005, the Pipestone County Star reported, “Detachments of the Minnesota National Guard have been ‘alerted’ of possible deployment to Iraq in mid-to-late 2006.”

“Major Kevin Olson of the Minnesota National Guard said a brigade-sized contingent of soldiers could be expected to be called to Iraq, but he was not, at this time, aware of which batteries would be called,” the story said. “All soldiers in the First Brigade combat team of the 34th Division, Minnesota National Guard, could be eligible for call-up. ‘We don’t know yet what the force is like’ he said. ‘It’s too early to speculate, if the (soldiers) do go.’

“He added: ‘We will have a major announcement if and when the alert order moves ahead.’”

ABC News spoke to Joseph Eustice, a retired command sergeant major who served with Walz, and he told the news organization this week that “he remembers Walz struggling with the timing of wanting to serve as a lawmaker but also avoiding asking for a deferment so he could do so.”

“He had a window of time,” Eustice told ABC News. “He had to decide. And in his deciding, we were not on notice to be deployed. There were rumors. There were lots of rumors, and we didn’t know where we were going until it was later that, early summer, I believe.”

Al Bonnifield, who served under Walz, also recalled Walz agonizing over the decision.

“It was a very long conversation behind closed doors,” Bonnifield told the Washington Post this week. “He was trying to decide where he could do better for soldiers, for veterans, for the country. He weighed that for a long time.”

In 2018, Bonnifield told MPR News that Walz worried in early 2005, “Would the soldier look down on him because he didn’t go with us? Would the common soldier say, ‘Hey, he didn’t go with us, he’s trying to skip out on a deployment?’ And he wasn’t. He talked with us for quite a while on that subject. He weighed that decision to run for Congress very heavy. He loved the military, he loved the guard, he loved the soldiers he worked with.”

But not all of Walz’s fellow Guard members felt that way.

In a paid letter to the West Central Tribune in Minnesota in November 2018, Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr — both retired command sergeants major in the Minnesota National Guard — wrote, “On May 16th, 2005 he [Walz] quit, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war. His excuse to other leaders was that he needed to retire in order to run for congress. Which is false, according to a Department of Defense Directive, he could have run and requested permission from the Secretary of Defense before entering active duty; as many reservists have.”

“For Tim Walz to abandon his fellow soldiers and quit when they needed experienced leadership most is disheartening,” they wrote. “When the nation called, he quit.”

Walz retired on May 16, 2005. Walz’s brigade received alert orders for mobilization on July 14, 2005, according to the National Guard and MPR News . The official mobilization report came the following month, and the unit mobilized and trained through the fall. It was finally deployed to Iraq in the spring of 2006.

The unit was originally scheduled to return in February 2007, but its tour was extended four months as part of President George W. Bush’s “surge” strategy , the National Guard reported. In all, the soldiers were mobilized for 22 months.

Responding to Vance’s claim that Walz retired to avoid deploying to Iraq, the Harris-Walz campaign released a statement saying, “After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform – and as Vice President of the United States he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families.”

Walz on Carrying a Weapon ‘in War’

Vance also called Walz “dishonest” for a claim that Walz made in 2018 while speaking to a group about gun control.

“He made this interesting comment that the Kamala Harris campaign put out there,” Vance said, referring to a video of Walz that the Harris campaign posted to X on Aug. 6. “He 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? 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.”

In the video , Walz, who was campaigning for governor at the time, talked about pushing back on the National Rifle Association and said: “I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. … I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can do [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] research. We can make sure we don’t have reciprocal carry among states. And we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.”

But, as Vance indicated, there is no evidence that Walz carried a weapon “in war.”

As we said, Augé, in her statement, said Walz’s battalion deployed “to support Operation Enduring Freedom” on Aug. 3, 2003, and “supported security missions at various locations in Europe and Turkey.” During his deployment, Walz was stationed in Vicenza, Italy, and he returned to Minnesota in April 2004, Augé said. There was no mention of Walz serving in Afghanistan, Iraq or another combat zone.

In the 2009 interview for the veterans history project, Walz said he and members of his battalion initially thought they would “shoot artillery in Afghanistan,” as they had trained to do. That didn’t happen, he said, explaining that his group ended up helping with security and training while stationed at an Army base in Vicenza.

“I think in the beginning, many of my troops were disappointed,” Walz said in the interview. “I think they felt a little guilty, many of them, that they weren’t in the fight up front as this was happening.”

In a statement addressing his claim about carrying weapons “in war,” the Harris campaign noted that Walz, whose military occupational specialties included field artillery senior sergeant, “fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times” in his 24 years of service.

Walz’s National Guard Rank

The Republican National Committee has criticized Walz for saying “in campaign materials that he is a former ‘Command Sergeant Major’ in the Army National Guard despite not completing the requirements to hold the rank into retirement.”

Walz’s biography on the Harris campaign website correctly says that the governor “served for 24 years” in the National Guard, “rising to the rank of Command Sergeant Major.” 

Walz’s official biography on the Minnesota state website goes further, referring to the governor as “Command Sergeant Major Walz.”

“After 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Walz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005,” the state website says. 

Walz did serve as command sergeant major , but Walz did not complete the requirements to retire with the rank of command sergeant, Augé told us in an email. 

“He held multiple positions within field artillery such as firing battery chief, operations sergeant, first sergeant, and culminated his career serving as the command sergeant major for the battalion,” Augé said. “He retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”

This isn’t the first time that Walz’s National Guard rank has come up in a campaign. 

In their 2018 paid letter to the West Central Tribune, when Walz was running for governor, the two Minnesota National Guard retired command sergeants major who criticized Walz for retiring before the Iraq deployment also wrote: “Yes, he served at that rank, but was never qualified at that rank, and will receive retirement benefits at one rank below. You be the judge.”

Correction, Aug. 9: We mistakenly said a 2007 “surge” strategy in Iraq occurred under President Barack Obama. It was President George W. Bush.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through  our “Donate” page . If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, 202 S. 36th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104. 

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Some US soldiers in South Korea will now serve 2-year tours

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the history of U.S. troops’ presence in South Korea.

Certain soldiers embarking to South Korea will call it home for longer than usual, according to an Aug. 1 Army memo .

The memo calls for “single soldiers without dependents assigned to the Republic of Korea to serve the accompanied tour length” of 24 months versus the typical unaccompanied one-year tour length.

The extension applies to specific occupational specialties and concentration areas, including air traffic control operators (15Q), UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter repairers (15T), working military dog handlers (31K), criminal investigations special agents (31D), counterintelligence agents (35L), signal intelligence analysts (35N) and criminal investigation division special agents (311A).

Soldiers with the listed specialties who have no dependents, are not married to other service members and are on permanent-change-of-station orders to South Korea must serve the 24-month accompanied tour length.

The revision does not apply to soldiers assigned to the defense attaché system or security cooperation organizations or to assignments in Korea without an approved accompanied tour, according to the memo.

The extension also does not affect soldiers who were placed on orders or already in South Korea before Aug. 1, according to a service spokesman.

“This affects between 100 to 200 soldiers overall in those military occupational specialties,” said U.S. Army spokesman Christopher Surridge.

The 24-month requirement, according to the memo, aims to improve readiness in the listed specialties “that require soldiers to undergo extensive training and or certification requirements prior to being fully mission capable.”

“For these seven occupations, it takes an extended amount of time to get them trained and certified to be fully mission capable for the unit,” said Surridge.

Several years after America’s occupation of southern Korea , U.S. ground troops arrived on the peninsula July 1, 1950, in response to North Korea’s capture of Seoul in the Korean War. The U.S. military has maintained a presence in South Korea ever since.

The U.S. has maintained its military alliance with South Korea ever since, seeking to deter armed conflict in the region, according to the Department of Defense.

Approximately 28,500 U.S. troops are based in South Korea as of 2023, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Riley Ceder is an editorial fellow at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice and human interest stories. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the ongoing Abused by the Badge investigation.

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Tour of Duty is an American military drama television series based on events in the Vietnam War, broadcast on CBS. The series ran for three seasons, from September 24, 1987, to April 28, 1990, for a total of 58 one-hour episodes. The show was created by Steve Duncan and L. Travis Clark and produced by Zev Braun.

The show follows an American infantry platoon on a tour of duty during the Vietnam War. It was the first television series to regularly show Americans in combat in South Vietnam and was one of several similarly themed series to be produced in the wake of the acclaimed Oliver Stone film Platoon (1986).

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Tim Walz, Who Spent Decades as an Enlisted Soldier, Brings Years of Work on Vets Issues to Dem Ticket

A retired Army National Guard noncommissioned officer who was once the top Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee could become the next vice president.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris announced Tuesday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will be her running mate. That puts someone with an enlisted background on both presidential tickets after Republican nominee former President Donald Trump chose Marine veteran Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate.

Patrick Murphy, an Army veteran who was Walz' roommate when they were both freshmen in Congress, called Walz a "soldier's soldier."

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"The two largest federal agencies are DoD and the VA, so someone who has intimate knowledge of both is incredibly important," Murphy, who served as Army under secretary during the Obama administration, said in a phone interview with Military.com. "He was a field artilleryman who has tinnitus as diagnosed by the VA, so he understands the plight of our brother and sister veterans."

Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard in Nebraska in 1981 and retired honorably in 2005 as the top enlisted soldier for 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery Regiment, in the Minnesota National Guard, according to a copy of his records provided by the Minnesota Guard. He reached the rank of command sergeant major and served in that role, but he officially retired as a master sergeant for benefits purposes because he didn't finish a required training course, according to the records and a statement from the Minnesota Guard.

His Guard career included responding to natural disasters in the United States, as well as a deployment to Italy to support U.S. operations in Afghanistan, according to a 2018 article by Minnesota Public Radio . Walz earned several awards, including the Army Commendation Medal and two Army Achievement Medals, according to his military records. Working a civilian job as a high school teacher and football coach, the Nebraska native was also named that state's Citizen Soldier of the Year in 1989, according to official biographies.

During the 2022 Minnesota governor's race, Walz' opponent accused him of leaving the Guard when he did in order to avoid a deployment to Iraq, though Walz maintained he retired in order to focus on running for Congress, according to the Star Tribune newspaper .

Far-right commentators and media resurfaced those allegations and knocked him for never serving in combat -- something he has never claimed to do -- in contrast with Vance's deployment to Iraq as a combat correspondent.

"Looks like it is time to bring back Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Oof. Walz is a really unforced error. He bailed on the military when they decided to send him to Iraq. JD Vance actually served," conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson posted on social media Tuesday.

Walz was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2006, becoming the highest-ranking retired enlisted soldier to serve in Congress.

His tenure in Congress included sitting on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, rising to be its ranking member in 2017.

"Walz' leadership on behalf of his fellow veterans when he was in the U.S. House of Representatives is notable at a time when our all-volunteer force continues to struggle to recruit," Allison Jaslow, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said in a statement praising the choice of a veteran to be vice presidential nominee. "How we care for our veterans is as important to our national security as how we care for our troops, and Walz has a record to prove that he understands that imperative."

As the top Democrat on the committee, Walz was a chief adversary for the Trump administration's Department of Veterans Affairs . He battled with then-acting VA Secretary Peter O'Rourke in 2018 during a standoff over O'Rourke's handling of the inspector general's office, and pushed for an investigation into the influence of a trio of informal VA advisers who were members of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. An investigation by House Democrats completed after Walz left Congress concluded that the so-called Mar-a-Lago trio "violated the law and sought to exert improper influence over government officials to further their own personal interests."

Walz also opposed the Mission Act, the bill that expanded veterans' access to VA-funded care by non-VA doctors that Trump considers one of his signature achievements. Walz said in statements at the time that, while he agreed the program for veterans to seek outside care needed to be fixed, he believed the Mission Act did not have sustainable funding. VA officials in recent years have said community care costs have ballooned following the Mission Act.

Walz supported another bill that Trump touts as a top achievement, the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, which sought to make it easier for the VA to fire employees accused of misconduct or poor performance. But the implementation of that law was later part of Walz' fight with O'Rourke . The law also faced legal challenges that prompted the Biden administration to stop using the expedited firing authorities granted by the bill.

Walz was also an early proponent of doing more for veterans exposed to toxins during their military service, sponsored a major veterans suicide prevention bill and advocated for the expansion of GI Bill benefits. And he repeatedly pushed the VA to study marijuana usage to treat PTSD and chronic pain, something that could come up in a future administration if the Department of Justice finalizes reclassifying marijuana into a category of drugs considered less dangerous.

Walz' time in Congress also included a stint on the House Armed Services Committee, a perch he used to advocate for benefits for members of the National Guard .

Walz consistently voted in support of the annual defense policy bill, as well as advocated for repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that effectively banned gay and lesbian service members.

"He was my battle buddy in the fight to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' and it wouldn't have happened if we didn't have Command Sgt. Maj. Tim Walz helping lead the fight," Murphy said.

Since becoming governor of Minnesota in 2019, Walz' role as commander in chief of the Minnesota National Guard has come under a spotlight several times. In response to a request from the Minneapolis mayor, he activated the Guard in May 2020 to assist law enforcement when some protests over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd turned destructive. At the time, Minneapolis' mayor accused Walz of being too slow to order the deployment, a charge he denied.

"It is time to rebuild. Rebuild the city, rebuild our justice system, and rebuild the relationship between law enforcement and those they're charged to protect," Walz said in a statement when he announced the activation.

He also activated the Guard to protect the Minnesota state Capitol in January 2021 amid fears that Trump supporters could riot at state houses like they did at the U.S. Capitol that month. And he's used the Guard for missions that are more routine for the service, such as to help after heavy flooding earlier this summer .

As news broke Tuesday of Walz' selection, he quickly won praise from other Democratic veterans.

"Having a person who wore the uniform and who deployed around the world adds to the ticket someone who can connect with veterans and military families in a way that no one but a veteran can," Jon Soltz, chairman of liberal political action committee VoteVets, said in a statement.

-- Steve Beynon contributed to this story.

Related: Here's Kamala Harris' Record on Veterans and Military Issues

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Tim Walz a ‘coward’ and ‘traitor’ for retiring from military before Iraq, says Guardsman who replaced VP pick

W hen Minnesota governor Tim Walz chose to leave the military on the eve of his deployment to Iraq, Thomas Behrends went in his place.

“I needed to hit the ground running and take care of the troops — and tell them we were going to war,” said Behrends of the 500 soldiers under his command. “For a guy in that position to quit is cowardice.”

Behrends, a 63-year-old farmer in Brewster, MN, called the Democratic vice-presidential candidate “a traitor” for retiring from their Minnesota National Guard unit just before their deployment to Iraq in 2005.

“When your country calls, you are supposed to run into battle — not the other way,” the retired command sergeant major told The Post Tuesday. “He ran away. It’s sad.

“He had the opportunity to serve his country, and said ‘screw you’ to the United States. That’s not who I would pick to run for vice-president.”

Walz, 60, joined the National Guard after high school and served 24 years in the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, rising to the rank of command sergeant major. He retired in 2005 — months after a warning order that the battalion would be deployed to Iraq — to run for Congress. He was elected to office in 2006.

“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 fellow retired Guardsman Paul Herr wrote in a letter posted to Facebook during Walz’s first gubernatorial run, in 2018.

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Behrends and Herr wrote that Walz could have requested permission from the Pentagon to seek Congressional office while on active duty.

When Walz left the unit, he offered to raise funds to cover his fellow soldiers’ bus trips home for Christmas — a gesture that was seen as a cynical ploy by some of them, according to Behrends.

“If it were me, I would feel guilty about leaving and do something to make up for it, but if you ask me he was doing it to buy votes,” Behrends told The Post. “He will do anything for votes.”

The unit spent 17 months in Iraq and suffered three casualties, including Kyle Miller, a 19-year-old from Willmar, MN.

Like Walz, Miller signed up for the National Guard in high school, and hoped to work as an auto mechanic after his deployment, according to reports. He died when the vehicle in which he was a passenger was hit by a roadside bomb on June 29, 2006.

“Unlike Walz, Kyle volunteered to go with his unit,” said Behrends, who worked with Miller’s mother, Cathy Miller, to create a bronze memorial of her son.

According to Behrends, Walz had been selected for the US Army Sergeants Major Academy and promoted to Command Sergeant Major in 2004 — which required him to serve two more years or lose the promotion.

His retirement nullified the promotion and, on September 10, 2005, his rank was reduced to Master Sergeant, according to the Daily Wire.

However, Walz continued to use the rank in descriptions of his military career in campaign materials, Alpha News reported in 2022.

“He continued to say ‘retired Command Sergeant Major’ for his political career,” Behrends told The Post. “When he used that … it was stolen valor.”

Behrends and Herr wrote about this in their letter.

“If he had retired normally and respectfully, you would think he would have ensured his retirement documents were correctly filled out and signed, and that he would have ensured he was reduced to Master Sergeant for dropping out of the academy,” the two wrote. “Instead he slithered out the door and waited for the paperwork to catch up to him.”

The Post has reached out to Walz’s office for comment.

In 2006, another Iraq war veteran who was part of Walz’s unit reportedly called his retirement just before deployment “disturbing.”

“But even more disturbing is the fact that Walz quickly retired after learning that his unit — southern Minnesota’s 1-125 FA Battalion — would be sent to Iraq,” wrote Tom Hagen in a Nov. 1, 2006, letter to the editor of the Winona Daily News, according to the Daily Wire. “For Tim Walz to abandon his fellow soldiers and quit when they needed experienced leadership most is disheartening.”

Walz reportedly responded with his own letter to the editor of the Winona Daily News, writing: “After completing 20 years of service in 2001, I re-enlisted to serve our country for an additional four years following Sept. 11 and retired the year before my battalion was deployed to Iraq in order to run for Congress. I’m proud of the 24 years I served our country in the Army National Guard.”

Walz has said he did not see any combat during his more than two decades of service with the National Guard.

He was part of several disaster response deployments in the Midwest and deployed to Italy in 2003 to serve with the European Security Force, which was supporting operations in Afghanistan, according to reports. The seven-month deployment was connected to the post-Sept 11 Operation Enduring Freedom.

He has an Army Commendation Medal and two Army Achievement Medals, according to the Stars and Stripes.

“Tim Walz has embellished and selectively omitted facts and circumstances of his military career for years,” said Behrends in a second social media post co-authored with Herr during Walz’s second gubernatorial campaign.

Behrends said he hung a giant yellow sign on his grain silo during Walz’s 2022 gubernatorial race, reading, “Abject failure! Walz is a traitor! Vote him out!!”

He told The Post that Harris made the wrong choice in tapping Walz as the Democratic candidate for vice president.

“I think picking Walz shows the nation the incompetence of vetting who he is,” Behrends said. “I would think they wouldn’t want his baggage.

J.D. Vance’s ‘Stolen Valor’ Claim Against Tim Walz Is Total B.S.

By Nikki McCann Ramirez

Nikki McCann Ramirez

There’s very little the two men running to be the nation’s next vice president have in common, but the one thing they do share is a history of military service. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz , who as of Tuesday is running alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, served for 24 years as a member of the Army National Guard after voluntarily enlisting at the age of 17. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), former President Donald Trump’s running mate , served for four years as a member of the Marines. 

On Wednesday, Vance took a swing at Walz over his military record, repeating viral claims that Walz had “dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him” to Iraq. Vance described Walz’s military record as “stolen valor garbage.” 

JD Vance accuses Tim Walz of "stolen valor": "[Walz] said we shouldn't allow weapons that [he] used in war to be on America's streets. … When were you ever in war? … Do not pretend to be something that you're not." pic.twitter.com/TI09Yil0RL — The Recount (@therecount) August 7, 2024

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 . 

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Vance also accused Walz of feigning a record in active combat: “[Walz] said — and he was making a point about gun control — he said, ‘We shouldn’t allow weapons that I used in war to be on America’s streets.’ Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when you ever in war?”

The senator actually misquoted Walz in his screed. In the clip Vance was referencing, Walz says that he “carried” weapons of war, not that he “used” them, and that “in war is the only place where those weapons are at.” Given that Operation Enduring Freedom was a part of the post-9/11 War on Terror, and that Walz was deployed to Italy under it and likely had a service weapon, the claim that he is engaging in “stolen valor” holds little water. 

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In 2022, former battalion commander Joseph Eustice, who served with Walz, told the Star Tribune that the accusations against Walz stemmed from ill-informed or “sour-grapes” soldiers who were passed over for promotions. “He was a great soldier,” Eustice told the Tribune . “When he chose to leave, he had every right to leave … The man did nothing wrong when he chose to leave the service; he didn’t break any rules.” 

In 2018, Al Bonnifield, who served under Walz in the Guard, told MPR News that Walz “talked with us for quite a while on that subject [of retiring]. He weighed that decision to run for Congress very heavy. He loved the military, he loved the Guard, he loved the soldiers he worked with.”

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“I know that there are certainly folks that did far more than I did. I know that,” Walz added. “I willingly say that I got far more out of the military than they got out of me, from the GI Bill to leadership opportunities to everything else.”

Twenty-four years of service is nothing to sneeze at, and Vance is running alongside a known draft dodger who has repeatedly disparaged veterans and Gold Star families. If Vance wants to critique a man’s honor, he should start with his running mate.

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19 Facts About Tim Walz, Harris’s Pick for Vice President

Mr. Walz, the governor of Minnesota, worked as a high school social studies teacher and football coach, served in the Army National Guard and chooses Diet Mountain Dew over alcohol.

• Share full article

By Simon J. Levien and Maggie Astor

• Published Aug. 6, 2024 Updated Aug. 9, 2024

Until recently, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota was a virtual unknown outside of the Midwest, even among Democrats. But his stock rose fast in the days after President Biden withdrew from the race, clearing a path for Ms. Harris to replace him and pick Mr. Walz as her No. 2.

Here’s a closer look at the Democrats’ new choice for vice president.

1. He is a (very recent) social media darling . Mr. Walz has enjoyed a groundswell of support online from users commenting on his Midwestern “dad vibes” and appealing ordinariness.

2. He started the whole “weird” thing. It was Mr. Walz who labeled former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, “weird” on cable television just a couple of weeks ago. The description soon became a Democratic talking point.

3. He named a highway after Prince and signed the bill in purple ink. “I think we can lay to rest that this is the coolest bill signing we’ll ever do,” he said as he put his name on legislation declaring a stretch of Highway 5 the “Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway” after the musician who had lived in Minnesota.

4. He reminds you of your high school history teacher for a reason. Mr. Walz taught high school social studies and geography — first in Alliance, Neb., and then in Mankato, Minn. — before entering politics.

5. He taught in China in 1989 and speaks some Mandarin. He went to China for a year after graduating from college and taught English there through a program affiliated with Harvard University.

6. He is a veteran . Mr. Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard as a teenager and retired 24 years later in 2005. He deployed to Italy from 2003 to 2004 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and received the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service and two Army Achievement Medals.

7. He was a rare breed in Congress: a Democrat from the rural Midwest. For more than a decade, Mr. Walz represented Minnesota’s First District, in the southern part of the state. He was the top Democrat on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, supported funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, voted for the Affordable Care Act and voted against restricting federal funding for abortion.

8. He is a Nebraskan by birth. He was born in West Point, Neb., grew up in Valentine, Neb., attended high school in Butte, Neb., and graduated from Chadron State College before moving to earn a master’s degree in experiential education from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

9. He got involved in politics after being barred from a George W. Bush rally. In 2004, when he was still a teacher, he accompanied students to the rally and objected when, in his telling , they were denied entrance for having volunteered for Democrats.

10. The woman who trained him to run for office is now his lieutenant governor. Mr. Walz attended Camp Wellstone, a Democratic political training camp named after former Senator Paul Wellstone, before ousting a Republican incumbent to win his House seat in 2006. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan was a trainer there .

11. He was an early supporter of gay rights. At Mankato West High School in Minnesota in the 1990s, he sponsored a gay-straight alliance and has said it was important at that time for the sponsor to be “the football coach, who was the soldier and was straight and was married.” When he won his House seat in 2006 in a conservative district, he ran on support for same-sex marriage.

12. He has shifted politically on other issues. He was more moderate than many Democrats during his time in the House, voting for stricter vetting of refugees and receiving endorsements from the National Rifle Association. He shifted significantly to the left on guns and on other subjects when he ran for governor in 2018, and he and Minnesota’s Democratic legislature have enacted a sweeping progressive agenda.

13. He is a gun owner and hunts pheasants and turkeys. He introduced a “Governor’s Turkey Hunting Opener” to kick off the turkey-hunting season in Minnesota and runs a similar event for the pheasant-hunting season. “I guarantee you he can’t shoot pheasants like I can,” he said on CNN of Mr. Vance.

14. He would be the third vice president from Minnesota. Hubert Humphrey (who served under President Lyndon B. Johnson) and Walter Mondale (who served under President Jimmy Carter) were the first two.

15. He and his wife had their two children through in vitro fertilization. It took seven years of fertility treatments for them to have their daughter, whom they named Hope. Mr. Walz spoke about the experience publicly after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling this year upended I.V.F. treatment there.

16. He coached the 1999 football state champions. It was the first state championship title for Mankato West High School.

17. He is a Lutheran. More specifically, he sometimes describes himself as a “Minnesota Lutheran.” “Because we’re good Minnesota Lutherans, we have a rule: if you do something good and talk about it, it no longer counts,” Walz joked during a speech last spring. “So what you have to do is to get someone else to talk about you.”

18. He doesn’t drink after a D.W.I. in 1995. Mr. Walz has said he stopped drinking alcohol after he was pulled over for speeding in 1995 and failed a sobriety test . His wife told him at the time: “You have obligations to people. You can’t make dumb choices.”

19. He also does not drink coffee . He prefers Diet Mountain Dew. As does his Republican counterpart.

John Ismay contributed reporting.

Simon J. Levien is a Times political reporter covering the 2024 elections and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers. More about Simon J. Levien

Maggie Astor covers politics for The New York Times, focusing on breaking news, policies, campaigns and how underrepresented or marginalized groups are affected by political systems. More about Maggie Astor

Keep Up With the 2024 Election

The presidential election is 91 days away . Here’s our guide to the run-up to Election Day.

Tracking the Polls . The state of the race, according to the latest polling data.

Election Calendar. Take a look at key dates and voting deadlines.

Candidates’ Careers. How Trump, Vance, Harris and Walz got here.

Who Is Tim Walz? Meet the Minnesota governor, who Harris picked as her V.P.

Harris on the Issues. Here’s where Harris stands on abortion, immigration and more.

Trump’s 2025 Plans. Trump is preparing to radically reshape the government.

Green Day setlist: All the Saviors Tour songs

After a month in Europe with their fiery tour celebrating landmark albums “Dookie” and “American Idiot,” Green Day landed in Washington D.C. July 29 with their stadium spectacle that will circle the U.S. through late September.

As promised when they announced The Saviors Tour ― which also spotlights fellow ‘90s punk rockers Rancid, the moody rock of Smashing Pumpkins and the youthful vigor of The Linda Lindas on most dates ― Green Day unleashed all of “Dookie” and “American Idiot.”

The band also sprinkled in a handful of cuts from their current “Saviors” album , including the opening punch of “The American Dream is Killing Me” and their No. 1 Billboard rock hit, “Dilemma,” as well as other fan favorites “Know Your Enemy” and the show-closing “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”

Here is the 37-song setlist from the first U.S. date of Green Day’s Saviors Tour.

More: Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins roar through impressive sets after rain hits tour opener

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Green Day Saviors Tour setlist

“The American Dream Is Killing Me”

“Dookie” album (in full)

“Burnout”“Having a Blast”“Chump”“Longview”“Welcome to Paradise”“Pulling Teeth”“Basket Case”“She”“Sassafras Roots”“When I Come Around”“Coming Clean”“Emenius Sleepus”“In the End”“F.O.D”“All by Myself”

“Know Your Enemy”“Look Ma, No Brains!”“One Eyed Bastard”“Dilemma”“Minority”“Brain Stew”

“American Idiot” album (in full)

“American Idiot”“Jesus of Suburbia”“Holiday”“Boulevard of Broken Dreams”“Are We the Waiting”“St. Jimmy”“Give Me Novacaine”“She's a Rebel”“Extraordinary Girl”“Letterbomb”“Wake Me Up When September Ends”“Homecoming”“Whatsername”

More: Def Leppard, Journey and Steve Miller romp through five hours of rock sing-alongs

“Bobby Sox”“Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”