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thedrifter
06-08-08, 06:28 AM
Corps' senior gunner retires
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June 8, 2008 - 12:50AM
JENNIFER HLAD
DAILY NEWS STAFF

It wasn't the most popular choice, in 1974, to join the Marine Corps. But Terry Walker's two brothers were Devil Dogs, and he said serving one's country was "something I thought men should do."

Chief Warrant Officer Terry L. Walker served 34 years in his beloved Corps - including at least seven full years deployed - becoming the Marine Corps' senior gunner. This week, he hung up his cover in a ceremony full of friends, family and fellow Marines.

Walker served his country well and would have been able to retire years ago, but he chose to stay when his country needed him most, said Major Gen. Walter Gaskin, commanding general of 2nd Marine Division.

"Thank you for your service. Thank you for your dedication," he told Walker during Friday's ceremony.

Walker was selected for the Marine gunner program in 1990, according to the biography in the ceremony's program. A gunner is an infantry weapons officer, the duty expert on all infantry weapon systems in the Corps, according to the program.

Gunners are also the most deployed group of men in the Department of Defense, Walker said.

"I have served among heroes in the Marine gunner community," he said. "I don't know how a guy like me got so lucky."

In 2005, Walker deployed to Habbaniyah, Iraq, where he trained Iraqi soldiers and police as small-arms instructors at the Multi-National Forces West Training Center. In 2006, he went back to again head up the center in Habbaniyah. During that year, the Marines expanded the center to train recruits, set up a highway patrol officer training course and worked to continue to provide professional development for officers and non-commissioned officers.

"There's no question we've had tremendous success," he said.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Zemar Roberts met Walker in 2005 in Habbaniyah and volunteered to deploy again with him in 2006. He said Walker "set the mold" in his life.

"He's just the ultimate mentor," Roberts said. "He sets people up for success."

Walker said he has been blessed with a mentor of his own, one who "came from the same womb": his twin brother, Master Gunnery Sgt. Barry Walker. Barry Walker is the senior enlisted advisor at the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab.

Barry Walker said their upbringing taught them important lessons that translated to success in the Marine Corps.

"What doesn't kill you will make you strong," Barry Walker said. "We had to work for everything we got."

The twins were competitive growing up, and that competition didn't stop once they joined the Corps.

"Terry was the only Marine I ever served with who I ever thought I had to compete with," Barry Walker said.

Addressing the crowd who had come to congratulate him Friday, Terry Walker said he was blessed to have so much support in the form of family and friends - including his church family, his twin and his wife, who he called "the best Marine wife in the entire world."

But no Marine can reach his position without the support of other Marines - those he works for and those who work for him, Walker said.

"I would give anything in the world, Marines, to take your place, to do it again," he said. "Every day, I will think about the camaraderie, and the time that I spent with you."

Walker said he is continually amazed that "as in any generation, there are men who step forward ... to shoulder the burden."

The Marine Corps "was great when I joined, it is great today, and it will be great tomorrow," he said.

And though the war in Iraq will be a long fight, Walker said he can see a tipping point.

The U.S. has "won the fight for Al Anbar province," he said, and must apply the lessons of Anbar to the rest of the country.

"This is a fight we must win. This is a fight we can win. This is a fight we will win."



Contact interactive content editor Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8467. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment on this report.

Ellie