Walz, Vance could bring military muscle to the ballot

• Both were deployed after 9/11 and represent the first veterans on a major party ticket since John McCain.
• Trump's and Harris' picks guarantee that a former service member will be the next vice president.

Zoom in: Walz, who retired from the Army National Guard after 24 years in 2005, ended his military career as a command sergeant major.

• He became the highest ranking enlisted soldier to serve in Congress when he joined the House in 2007, where he also served as one of few Democrats from a rural district.
• "During his 24 years of National Guard service, he specialized in heavy artillery and retired as the highest-ranking enlisted National Guard soldier in southern Minnesota," his official campaign bio reads. "Governor Walz went to college on the GI Bill."

Flashback: He signed up for the Army National Guard two days after his 17th birthday, encouraged by his late father, a Korean-War-era veteran. Walz served overseas with Operation Enduring Freedom as part of a European security force after he reenlisted following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

• He started as an infantryman before his senior year of high school, according to an interview with the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project. Walz held multiple leadership positions and responded to natural disasters throughout his career with the National Guard.
• While on the Hill, Walz served as ranking member on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and was a member on the Armed Services Committee. He sponsored bipartisan legislation on veteran suicide prevention and, at times, sided with colleagues across the aisle on issues of military funding.
• He has acknowledged that he did not see real combat, saying in 2018, "There are certainly folks that did far more than I did. I know that."

The other side: Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school and was deployed to Iraq in 2005, making him the first post-9/11 veteran to earn a spot on a major party ticket.

• Vance spent four years in the Marines and deployed to Iraq for six months as a combat correspondent, working with members of the media, writing and taking photos, among other duties.
• He later wrote, "I was lucky to escape any real fighting."

• Vance's time overseas sparked an inclination against military intervention abroad — an isolationist tendency that differs from Republicans of the past but aligns with his running mate's America First movement.

Catch up quick: Vance was one of the first Republicans in the Senate to openly say he was not concerned about providing military aid to Ukraine, Axios' Justin Green reported.

• The Ohio Republican voted against a $95 billion foreign aid package that included aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, saying on the Senate floor, "Vladimir Putin is not Adolf Hitler."
• He continued: "It doesn't mean he's a good guy, but he has significantly less capability than the German leader did in the late 1930s."

Allison Jaslow, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, applauded both tickets after Harris announced her pick.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The Post-9/11 generation of veterans is ascendant in America today," Jaslow said in a statement.

The big picture: Walz's experience could bolster Democrat's offensive targeting the former president for his past comments about members of the military — whereas Vance's voice could serve as a defense.

• Before Biden bowed out of the race, Democrats slammed Trump in an ad earlier this year for reportedly characterizing veterans as "losers" and "suckers."

Go deeper: Inside the "quiet diplomacy" in Congress for Tim Walz as VP