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‘One service to another’

Walker joined the Army after 9/11, is Fort Dodge police officer now

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Leighton Walker, a U.S. Army veteran of Fort Dodge, straightens out his military uniform at The Messenger recently.

The first gym Leighton Walker worked out in while serving his country in Afghanistan was inside a tent with a sand surface.

The weights he lifted were plastic buckets filled with cement.

“We put those on the end of bars and those would be our weights,” Walker recalled. “We didn’t have real weights at the time. We didn’t know what the weight actually was. We just knew it was heavier or lighter.”

It wasn’t the only heavy lifting he did while deployed overeas during the mid-2000s.

Walker, of Fort Dodge, served as a medic in the U.S. Army.

-Submitted photo
Leighton Walker, left, a U.S. Army veteran of Fort Dodge, is pictured here after a mission where his unit came under fire in Afghanistan. Walker said he was next to this man, a member of the Afghan National Army, during the battle, so he wanted to get a picture after the conflict was over.

“I always had the most gear to haul,” Walker said. “I had to carry what everyone carried, plus the medical supplies.”

He joined the military in 2002, just months after 9/11.

“That had an influence on me,” Walker said.

He was also ready to explore the world.

“I had several cousins in the military,” Walker said. “I spoke to them and they were like, ‘yeah, do it, so I did it'”

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Leighton Walker’s green Class A uniform is shown here.

Walker was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He lived there until he was 9.

“Back then, times were hard,” Walker said. “I remember that. There was a political struggle or war going on at the time. I used to wake up to the aftermath of that.”

There were happy times, too.

On Sundays, Walker’s father would take him to the beach, which was near his home.

When they came back, a hot meal was ready for them.

“Mom would have supper ready,” he said. “Sundays are still my favorite day of the week.”

In 1992, he and his father immigrated to New York City.

“New York was different,” Walker said. “It was nothing I was used to.”

His father worked at the World Trade Center for a time, but requested a transfer about four months before 9/11. Today Walker’s father performs maintenance for Otis Elevator Company in New York.

Walker primarily grew up in New York, but also lived in Connecticut.

“I stayed in New York until I was 18, basically,” Walker said.

After high school, Walker attended college for a about a year to study computer programming before he decided on enlisting in the military.

Initially, Walker planned to join the U.S. Marine Corps, but had a last-second change of heart.

“I went across the hall and joined the Army,” he said.

Two weeks after that he was in Fort Benning, Georgia, for basic training.

He later attended medical training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

Walker was there for about four months before being sent to New York.

He was deployed to Iraq in early 2005.

“It was hot,” Walker said of his time in Iraq. “It was dusty.”

The missions were long, he said.

“I remember us being bone tired, and it would be mission after mission after mission,” Walker said.

His unit’s primary objective was to protect the main supply route.

“We were tasked to clear IEDs and make sure the route was safe,” he said.

Walker was stationed in Iraq at a time when Iraqi insurgents began broadcasting beheadings of civilians.

“That was around the time they were kidnapping international workers,” Walker said. “They were kidnapping these workers and beheading them. We found a few of them.”

“We operated in one of the hottest parts of Iraq, so we came upon a lot of stuff,” he added.

After 18 months in Iraq, Walker returned to Fort Drum in New York. Later he was relocated to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

In 2008 he was deployed to Afghanistan.

“It was a much harder tour period,” Walker said. “It was a lot of hiking, a lot of mountain valleys. We’d have to hunker down there for the night.”

Dealing with loss of troops was the most difficult.

“Lost a lot of friends,” Walker said. “Thirty-eight of them.”

Walker was honorably discharged in 2009.

That’s when he began looking for new opportunities.

“I applied to all these schools for when I got out,” Walker said. “You start figuring what you want to do with yourself.”

He decided to further his education at Iowa Central Community College. Ultimately, Walker tested to become a police officer.

For about the past nine years, he has served the Fort Dodge Police Department as a police officer.

He said although his work in the military was much different than being involved in law enforcement, his interactions with diverse populations has benefited him.

“The only thing similar is you have to deal with people,” he said. “In the military you are dealing with many different types of people. That experience has helped me learn to deal with different people. Not everyone is the same. Not every personality you come across during the day is the same. Some is good. Some is bad.”

Despite the many challenges, Walker said he is happy to continue serving.

“I am proud to have served,” he said. “I am still serving right now. Serving the country to serving the community. From one service to another.”

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