#VeteranOfTheDay Air Force Veteran John Walker II

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Air Force Veteran John Walker, who served as a radio technician and spectrum manager, deploying to Iraq.

John Walker II, from Melbourne, Florida, served in the Air Force from 2006 until 2019. Both of his parents served in the military and he has over ten other family members who served. Walker entered the Air Force as a radio technician and eventually retrained for spectrum management.

Walker’s first deployment was in 2009 for Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing in Balad, Iraq, as a radio frequency transmission system technician. Upon arriving at Joint Base Balad, Walker learned the wing traced its heritage to the Tuskegee Airmen, who were the first black Air Force pilots and served during World War II. The Air Force inactivated the 332nd Fighter Group in 1949 and reactivated the 332nd in 1998 and moved to Balad Air Base in February 2004. Walker said he was honored to follow in the footsteps of his great-uncle James Wright, a Tuskegee Airman who served as an instructor pilot.

After his tour in Iraq, Walker obtained two degrees from the Community College of the Air Force and retrained for spectrum management. Within the field of spectrum management, he served with 7th Air Force at Osan Air Base, South Korea, in 2014 and 2018. During this time, Walker oversaw all U.S. Air Force frequency activities on the South Korean peninsula.

For his service in South Korea, Walker earned the Korean Defense Service Medal. He also received a Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal for his involvement in national strategic nuclear deterrence operations. Finally, Walker earned an Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters and an Air Force Achievement Medal with two oak leaf clusters.

Twelve days after leaving the Air Force in 2019, Walker found a job in Fort Bliss, Texas, as a spectrum manager. He currently resides in El Paso, Texas, with his wife, two children and pet mini-pig.

Thank you for your service!

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Contributors

Writer: John Byrne

Editor:

Fact checker: Hannah Bundschuh/Shiv Lamba

Graphic artist: Roni Ruadap