WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Republican lawmaker from Ohio who worked with Tim Walz in Congress said he now felt deceived by how the Democratic vice-presidential candidate portrayed his military service.

As a former combat surgeon and Army Reserve officer in Iraq, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said he was proud to work with then-Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The two served together from 2007 to 2019.

“He always said that he was the highest-ranking enlisted officer ever to serve in Congress, and that he was command sergeant major,” Wenstrup said.

Walz served 24 years in the National Guard and retired in 2005 to run for Congress. He did rise to the rank of command sergeant major, but did not complete the coursework needed to retire with that rank.

Though the distinction may not seem significant for civilians, Wenstrup said it is for those in the military.

“There's no shame to me in saying, ‘I served as a command sergeant major, but I left before I could retire as a command sergeant major, and therefore I retired as a master sergeant.’ We had plenty of time to have conversations, and I don't know why he just didn't explain it. And among soldiers that matters,” said Wenstrup.

Wenstrup said he only learned the truth after Walz was selected as Kamala Harris’ vice-presidential candidate.

He said he still considered Walz a friend, having recently caught up with him at the 80^th anniversary commemoration of D-Day in June in Normandy, France. Yet he said he felt misled.

“Why would you want to be misrepresenting what you actually did?” Wenstrup said. “Because it just mars you rather than let you take the compliments that you should get for your service.”

Since Harris selected Walz to be her running mate, Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, and other Republicans have seized on Walz’s claim about his military rank at retirement. Walz’s critics have also jumped on a comment he made in 2018 that falsely implied he had served in combat.

“It matters because you look into our candidates, especially at that level, where we always say character counts. And what kind of a record do you have?” Wenstrup said. “People always want to know that you can be somebody that can be trusted, if you say something that you mean it.”

Wenstrup has endorsed Donald Trump for president.

Walz’s supporters rejected the criticism as politically motivated and said it disrespected Walz’s decades of military service.

The Harris-Walz campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Walz has responded to similar attacks in the past by saying he was proud of his service.

The Harris campaign also changed language on its website to more accurately reflect his rank when he left the military.

Walz has also faced criticism for previously saying he had been in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing, when in fact he arrived several months later. He addressed that discrepancy at the vice-presidential debate, saying he “misspoke.”