NORFOLK, Va. — For 24 years, Minnesota Gov. and Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz served in the National Guard and did deploy to Italy in support of the war in Afghanistan.
Ohio Senator and Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance served in the Marine Corps for four years and deployed to Iraq in 2005 for six months, but did not serve in combat.
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Both men are now in position to potentially clinch the vice presidency, so how could their military service influence them in office?
"In general, veterans are more mission-driven. They understand it doesn't matter where you came from, who you love. If you have something to get done, you gotta lock hands and move forward," said former Virginia Republican Congressman Scott Taylor, who's also a Navy veteran.
"These are two people who have a very unique perspective on service in the modern area," said Mike Lavigne, an Army veteran who is also from the organization VoteVets, a progressive political action committee.
Taylor and Lavigne are on different sides of the aisle, but do agree it's fair game to examine a veteran's record when they run for office.
"If you're going to step up and offer to serve at that level, every aspect of your life is going to be under the microscope," said Lavigne.
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Walz has faced particular scrutiny, including over a video of him saying he carried weapons of war in war.
The campaign later said he misspoke and in an interview, he explained it as a grammatical error.
"You know if you say things you didn't do, it's a shame amongst your veterans, and that's what he did. I mean the grammatical error is absolute B.S. when you watch the video," said Taylor.
"Anyone on the right that's caught up on the words Tim Walz used, weapons of war or weapons in war, really need to turn around and focus on the words coming out of [Donald Trump's] mouth," said Lavigne.
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Walz also has faced attacks over the rank he reached when he retired.
He has at times referred to himself as a retired command sergeant major, but while he did achieve the rank, he retired at a lesser rank because he didn't finish coursework.
Taylor takes issue with this as well. "I got out of the Navy as an E5. I passed the E6 exam, but I'm not an E6 because I got out as an E5. He knows better," he said.
Lavigne says it's all too nit-picky. "The fact of the matter is this guy was conditionally promoted to the rank of command sergeant major," he said.
Lavigne says the focus should be on bigger issues, and said, "I think instead of getting into the minutia of who served when and where, I think the focus should be on: what are these two going to do for our veterans? What are they going to do for our military?"
Taylor believes it is important to get the facts out on the candidates' records.
"Everyone's service is very valuable," Taylor said. "Everybody should be extremely proud of their service. There's zero reason to embellish and that's what he did."
