Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) is a native of Boynton Beach and Jacksonville, Florida. He was raised by his mom, a single parent, and is the son and grandson of Navy Chiefs.

He is a Distinguished Military Graduate from the Virginia Military Institute. Breaking ranks with his family’s Navy legacy, shortly after graduation in 1996, he volunteered for military service in the Army, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He then graduated from Ranger School and, as a Green Beret, served as a Special Forces officer during multiple tours in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and other tours in the Middle East and North Africa. He earned four Bronze Stars, two “V” for valor.

Mike served four years on active duty and, from 2000 until the present, served and deployed with the Army National Guard, attaining the rank of Colonel.

In Afghanistan, among other things, Mike led teams searching for Army deserter PFC Bowe Bergdahl. Six Americans were killed during those searches. Ultimately, Barack Obama illegally exchanged five of the most dangerous Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay for the return of this America-hating deserter. Two of the “Taliban Five” were under indictment by the UN as “war criminals.”

Once back on American soil, Obama disgracefully celebrated Bergdahl’s return at a Rose Garden ceremony, where he said, “Sergeant Bergdahl has missed birthdays and holidays and the simple moments with family and friends which all of us take for granted.” To his parents, Obama said, “Today, families across America share in the joy that I know you feel.” Notably, the Americans who lost their lives will forever miss “birthdays and holidays and the simple moments with family and friends.”

At the time, Mike Waltz publicly protested Obama’s actions, declaring, “Bergdahl owes the mothers of soldiers who did not come home answers.” None were forthcoming.

Prior to the Biden/Harris regime’s disastrous and deadly surrender and retreat from Afghanistan, Waltz noted that to protect our critical national interests, we needed a long war strategy in the region: “Are we in for a lot more fighting, and do we need a long-term strategy to undermine the ideology of Islamic extremism — just like we did fascism and just like we did communism? Yes, we do.” He added: “I think we’re in for a long haul, and I think our nation’s leadership needs to begin telling the American people, ‘I’m sorry, we don’t have a choice; [it’s] going to be a multi-generational war because we’re talking about defeating an idea.’ It’s easy to bomb a tank; very difficult to defeat an idea, and that’s exactly what we have to do.”

The Biden/Harris withdrawal was a complete departure from the drawdown former President Trump had negotiated. Biden left the Taliban in power with $billions in American military hardware, and one result was the torture and murder of countless Afghan civilian men, women, and children.

During Mike’s tenure in the National Guard, he worked as a policy director to Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates, and he additionally served as a White House counterterrorism advisor. His experience is the subject of his book, Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan. He says it recounts some of his experience with President George W. Bush and what combat taught him, and “the proceeds go to veterans charities, by the way, so that is not a shameless book plug on my part.”

Between his time as a policy advisor and his 2018 run for Congress, Mike started and grew a small business, Metis Solutions, which now has more than 400 employees.

He was elected to Congress from Florida’s 6th district, the seat previously held by now-Gov. Ron DeSantis. He was the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress. He has been reelected twice with substantial majorities, joining other notable military members of Congress.

He says his commitment in Congress is the same now as it was in combat: “To serve with everything I have, without regard for my own self and with a sense of duty.”

Regarding how his military experience has prepared him for leadership, Mike observed: “I think the military in general — and the Guard as well — teaches you these life skills that I don’t think you get anywhere else. Leadership. Followership. Teamwork. Discipline. Having an objective mindset. All of those things have served me well in business and certainly now in Congress.” He adds: “But I think the thing that is just as important is, you know, in the foxhole or on a plane or ship, nobody cares about black, white or brown. Nobody cares about political party or religion or what have you. You’re all American, you’re all soldiers with a job to do. You take care of the men and women to the left and right of you, and you accomplish big things for your country.”

In June of this year, marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Europe at Normandy, Mike joined other Ranger veterans returning to France to reenact parachuting from a C-47.

He just completed a second book, Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret, on how his military career has informed his civilian leadership roles.

That book release coincides with the announcement by Donald Trump that he has named Mike to be his national security advisor. The next administration will have its hands full cleaning up after the current administration’s dangerous foreign policy failures with China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and its terrorist proxies, in addition to identifying the estimated 350 terrorists who are in our country now, the direct result of the Biden-Harris open border policy.

Mike is the right guy at the right time.

Waltz is married to Julia Nesheiwat, also an Army combat veteran. She served as Trump’s homeland security advisor in his first term. Mike has a daughter in college, and they have a young son.

Michael Waltz: Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty and in disregard for the peril to your own life — is eternal.

Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.

(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

Follow Mark Alexander on X/Twitter.

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