Introducing Jonny Walker
21JAN97, with the aid of my parents’ consent and signatures, that day marks my first enlistment into the military. Having served in the Indiana Army National Guard for two years, I wanted more, I needed a life that was a little more hardcore - so, on 05April99, I enlisted into the active-duty Marine Corps where I served until the end of 2003. After being out of the military for right under five years, I felt like I had not done enough, I wanted to be in the fight – in the fray, with my brothers and sisters in arms.
One of the cadences that we sing speaks to the indomitable spirit of a U.S. Marine: “If I die in a combat zone, box me up and ship me home. Pin my medals upon my chest and tell my mama I did my best, bury me in the lean and rest. Mama, mama don’t you cry, the Marine Corps motto is “Do or die.” After speaking with my wife who is also a veteran and patriot, early in January 2008, I enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve, into an Airborne unit that was at that time still a part of SOCOM – the 416th Civil Affairs BN(A).
Upon entrance into the unit, spending my first day conducting administrative duties, later that day there was this senior non-commissioned officer (SNCO) leaning against a yellow bus in the back of our unit. He had one leg propped up against the bus and was speaking to another paratrooper when all of a sudden he broke contact with the person he was conversating with and came up to me with his hand and arm stretched out – we shook hands and introduced ourselves to one another. He said, “Hi – I’m Jonny!” I said, “Hi - I’m Issac” (by the way, this is an unusual introduction for NCOs, (the standard is that you introduce yourself with your rank and last name). It was at that spot that our brotherhood began. SFC Jonny Walker was tall, dark, and handsome, as they say. He was of Native American decent and proud of it. His unconventional manner would tell on itself in the years to come.
They were just the standing up Chosen Company of the 416th Civil Affairs BN (A), (TACT). Jonny, I and a handful of other ones were hand-selected to stand up C Co. Prior to the 416th, Jonny had been on active duty, I believe for two tours if my memory serves me correctly. You know that you are loved by someone, when you walk into their office and there is a picture of yourself that has been cut out and sitting on a picture of a cutout unicorn and the two of you are flying…lol! That was Jonny being hilariously funny and just really building rapport with us at the same time as his subordinates. Jonny served in the Infantry, on one of his tours in Iraq, in the 5/20 of the 2nd ID. It was here that in Tal afar, Iraq (a city with a population of 250,000) there had been intense weapons smuggling and caches being utilized.
The 5/20 was sent there to put a stop to that, capture or kill those involved, and bring peace and stability to this region of Iraq.
The operation demanded that the little bird, also known as the Kiowa helicopter, be used to hunt and provide backup for troops-in-contact-otherwise known as “TICs,” on the ground. On 04SEPT04, the operation began early in the morning. While the battle was now underway, my friend Jonny was a part of the QRF (Quick Reactionary Force). They would respond (similar to the 911 system at home) to TICs that are essentially pinned down, outnumbered, outgunned; or for helicopter crashes and/or Stryker Vehicle emergencies.
On 04SEPT04, two Kiowa (Little Bird) helicopters were shot down by enemy insurgents. QRF was called in to respond to the situation. The QRF’s mission, along now with any other soldiers on the ground there, was to rescue the downed helicopter pilots and destroy sensitive items on the aircraft. What came next, is for the journals of history to tell.
Upon arriving at crash sites to extract the pilots and destroy sensitive items, Jonny’s QRF team came under heavy enemy fire in an ambush. This barrage of small arms fire including RPG and .50 caliber Dishka intensified, especially upon the dismount of the Stryker vehicles that they had been traveling in. The QRF and already on-the-ground Soldiers were severely outnumbered and outgunned. Hundreds of enemy fighters were pouring in a concentrated effort to kill American Soldiers. Jonny and his men, along with other teams of the U.S. Army Infantry were so overwhelmed, that the Battalion Commander, a LTCOL had to call in a “Danger Close,” airstrike to shift power back to the Americans and to save as many Soldiers lives as possible. The strike called for a 1,000 lbs. bomb that was dropped 300 meters from Jonny’s location. The close proximity of the blast is undoubtedly what gave Jonny severe TBI; but also, was one of many battles that gave him severe PTSD as well.
No life is meant to absorb and sustain this amount of trauma. Unless he talked about it and unless one was trained to see indicators, Jonny would never have seemed to be suicidal – yet, he was, and badly.
What came next, a decade and a half later, seemed unreal; a phone call from an old battle buddy letting me know about the situation one cold January morning. A military funeral; his wife; his kids; many mutual friends and battle buddies in uniform; the 21-gunshot salute, the tears, and the flag. All I know is that my friend never wanted to bring the war home with him, but that is what happened. His brain could not handle the energy, impact, and trauma.
Jonny Walker is an American Hero, and the life he lived on a daily basis at home, made him a hero to almost everyone he met.
Written by Isaac Rutherford, SSG, RET
