![\"Harold](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Harold-Walkner-article-300x215.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nScotty sends<\/a> us his work on Harold Walkner<\/a> who told the local Owatonna People’s Press<\/a> just last month on the run up to Memorial Day about his time in training and in combat as a special forces soldier in Vietnam;<\/p>\n Walkner was drafted into the Army in 1967. After going through basic training, he elected to join the regular Army to be eligible to join up with the Army\u2019s Green Berets, a special forces unit.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to enlist for another four years, which I did. I told them, from the inductions on, \u2018Teach me everything you can because I know where I\u2019m going.\u2019 I knew I was going to Vietnam\u201d Walkner said.<\/p>\n For 10 months, Walkner trained to become a Green Beret, developing specialties in three areas \u2014 language, hand-to-hand combat and demolition.<\/p>\n Walkner spent all of 1967 and some of 1968 in training to become a Green Beret. The training was intense. Of the 117 soldiers who set out to become Green Berets, only 13, including Walkner, made it through all the training and \u201cHell Week\u201d to make it to graduation.<\/p>\n Walkner added that Hell Week was appropriately named, with trainees being pushed to the brink mentally, physically and emotionally. But, as Walkner says, he learned the traits desired by special forces soldiers were always inside him.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a Green Beret long before I went into the service. I just never knew it,\u201d Walkner said. \u201cMy mother and father taught me the right kind of morals. They taught me how to be an officer and a gentleman long before I ever got to the service.\u201d<\/p>\n Once Hell Week was over, Walkner was trained on how to co-pilot various aircraft before he was sent to Vietnam.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well he almost got it right for a minute. He was an airplane mechanic according to his records;<\/p>\n He did one year in Vietnam (after he went AWOL enroute the first time) not four years, there are no Purple Hearts, no Special Forces training, and it doesn’t look like he was drafted. In fact there were no medals for merit or valor, only the medals that everyone got for going to Vietnam.<\/p>\n After his combat days, Walkner spent time as a teacher at West Point and eventually retired as a captain before returning to civilian life. Now, the Iowa native is making a point to tell his story to other veterans, setting an example that he wants them to follow.<\/p>\n Walkner speaks to veterans groups like the Open Roundtable because he wants fellow veterans to know sharing their stories is an important part of the healing process.<\/p>\n \u201cThey need to understand that it\u2019s OK to talk. As you talk, things start to get better,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I guess the longer you let them talk, the more bullshit they’ll spit out. I hope there were real veterans at that little lecture he gave that saw through his bullshit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Harold](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Harold-Walkner-2-1-223x300.png\")
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