Lt. Gen. Donnie Walker Promotion Ceremony at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.

Gen. Gus Perna, 19th commander of the Army Materiel Command, promotes Lt. Gen. Flem B. “Donnie” Walker during a July 2 promotion ceremony at Army Materiel Command headquarters, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. Walker, a native of Clay County, Alabama, is AMC’s incoming deputy commander and senior commander of Redstone Arsenal.

(U.S. Army video by Sam Hill)

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Transcript

All right, so are we all ready to go?

We’ll be ready on my end.

Okay, just wanted to make sure you can see.

[Woman] No, I’m fine.

All righty, so not real quick, but appropriately on time. We’re going to promote Donnie Walker to three stars. All right, Lieutenant General Walker. Just not everybody’s able to be here today because of COVID and there is some special people, right? Of course, Hope is here, 32 years, true battle buddy command team, met early on out of high school, in high school, right?

[Hope] In high school.

Donnie’s sister was the teacher.

That’s right she was, yes sir.

Right and then of course, there’s Hannah who’s married to Cory and grandson Jackson and then there’s Holly, Hannah’s sister and then there’s Trey, brother who is a lieutenant, right?

Yes sir, yes sir.

All over the country, Kansas, Alabama, and I forget where your son is.

He was a steward, he just PCSed to DC.

Yeah, so good, first lieutenant going to DC?

Yeah he’s a master’s degree program at Howard University.

God dang. (laughs)

He lucked out, he did good.

He must be on the A list, I had to back into my master’s degree. (laughing) Anyways, so the kids are there, of course Donnie’s parents Donnie lost his mom just recently. Anniston, veteran for us, right? And then of course, Donnie’s dad is a retired E7, two tours in Vietnam, really special. I want to say thanks to you sir for that, for all that and then Donnie’s sisters will be watching later on. So just a great family, Army family and I know they’re here supporting both of you today. Of course, we want to say thanks for all that you’ve done. But as I was driving up here, I was reflecting on three key points between Pernas and the Walkers. One, I was in charge of the retrograde in Iraq and it was tough going, and then all of a sudden this brigade commander came in out of nowhere and things went from tough to very easy because of your leadership and I still remember the transition, right “Sir, we can do that.” And I pick up the phone and call you every night, we’d sync and dang it, if we didn’t do that first time we met. Second time, I had to call him on the phone, was all of a sudden, we were talking about retrograde out of Afghanistan and we had a lot of maneuver commanders helping the logisticians. We need a task force, or we need more generals and we need more people, we want ESC and we want this and we want that and I picked up the phone and I called Donnie and I said Donnie, he says “Sir, I knew you were calling.” (laughing) “I got it, don’t worry.” And Donnie Walker, because of his reputation went and calmed everybody, right? And then the third time, really which resonates with me a great deal is Donnie called me and he says “Hey sir, I think Cope and I are gonna retire. “It’s been great, thanks for everything.” and I said, hey Donnie, not yet. Why don’t you take a time out, you’ve been overseas. Come here, be our G3, I’ll give you plenty of time to transition, but I need you in AMC, we really need you. And then I said, but Donnie, here’s the hard truth, We’ve just run out of space, I’m not gonna get you promoted and Donnie said to me “Sir, I got it, Cope and I are in.” Didn’t blink, didn’t hesitate, didn’t blink. That meant so much to me, personally. So then we had an opportunity, Ed Daly and I some situations changed and we quickly audibled and we adjusted and when the chief asked me who should be the next Deputy Commanding General of AMC, I said Donnie Walker, done. Mainly because of those three things and I just wanted to say thanks for that. It’ll be great, this command team will be awesome. It’ll be about AMC going on to what’s next and it’ll be powerful, and so just on behalf of Susan and I, congratulations to both of you and we wish you the very best. All right, so how about we publish the orders?

Thank you sir.

Mrs. Walker could you please

Oh, come on up.

[Announcer] Ladies and gentleman, please remain standing for the publishing of the orders and the promotion. Attention to orders, the President of the United States has reposed special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelity, and abilities of Flem B. Walker Jr. In view of these qualities and his demonstrated potential for increased responsibility, he is therefore appointed in the Army of the United States from Major General to Lieutenant General. Appointment is effective 2 July 2020 with date of rank 2 July 2020. The authority for this appointment is Section 601 of Title 10, United States Code, signed Stephen M Bussell Lieutenant Colonel, Chief Officer, Promotions Branch.

Go ahead.

[Announcer] Mrs. Walker…

We’ve practiced this, sir. Awesome. (audience applauds)

[Announcer] Mrs. Walker will now present Lieutenant General Walker with the Certificate of Promotion. (camera snaps)

Sir, do you want to get in on one?

Sure.

Can I stand in the middle is that okay?

Yep. (camera snaps)

Good.

Thank you both.

[Announcer] Thank you Mrs. Walker, please.

Okay Donnie, let’s get some space there. Raise your right hand. I, state your full name.

I, Flem Boen Donnie Walker Jr.

Having been appointed an officer.

In the Army of the United States.

At the grade of Lieutenant General.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will support and defend.

The Constitution of the United States.

Against all enemies.

Foreign and domestic.

And I’ll bear true faith.

And allegiance to the same.

And I take this obligation freely.

Without mental reservation.

Or purpose of evasion.

And I will.

Well.

faithfully discharge.

The duties of the office

For which I’m about to enter.

So help me God.

So help me God. (applause)

[Announcer] Thank you General Perna. Lieutenant General Walker is now being presented a three star flag, uncased by Sergeant Major Shyrie.

Wanna come right here and get one or is that good?

That’s good.

You’re good? (camera snaps) (applause)

[Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, the Army’s newest Lieutenant General. Lieutenant General Flem B. “Donnie” Walker Jr. (cheering) (applause)

Wanna come on up here? Can you come up with me? So I’d just like Hope to stand up here with me. She knows I’m not gonna put her on the spot and ask her to do remarks, or she would get after me when we got on with it. So A, first and foremost, sir. Up front, General Perna, I really appreciate you taking a knee with all you have going on. There’s a lot going on today, right? (laughing) And for you to take a knee and do this. I want to tell everyone that’s here, it’s real special. Special to me personally, for a lot of the things that he just talked about and it’s special to Hope and I because, well, it just speaks volumes for the type of leader that you are, for you to do this. You could have easily punted it, with everything that’s going on, but you didn’t do that and thank you very much. Secondly, a lot of folks don’t know this. General Perna may have forgotten, but when I got promoted to one star, he was my number one choice to do it. Called him on the phone, absolutely, we’ll take care of it. He was the DAG for it at the time as I recall. A little thing called sequestration hit and they put a total travel ban, no one could travel you guys probably remember this anywhere. I couldn’t get to him, he couldn’t get to me. I had to go rent a general to do my promotion at Fort Knox, so you fast forward a couple years. Getting promoted to two star, first person I call, General Gus Perna, I believe it was still the DAG for it on the end run there. “Yeah absolutely, Donnie, I’ll do it, I’ll come down “to Bragg, we’ll set it up, or you can come here.” Thing called a service four trip happened, moved which put him in theater for almost two weeks or a week and a half, couldn’t do it. So fast forward to here, COVID-19, Operation Warp Speed. Used to tell Hope every night, hey let’s just keep our fingers crossed, ’cause this may or may not, we may not be able to get General Perna, but I appreciate it. And the last thing I would say about General Perna is, he knows this, he may not know it, everyone else does. If I was in trouble, had a hard problem, wicked hard problem, or I needed sage advice, there’s a very short list of mentors, general officers, people that I would call, and sir, you’re on top of the list I’ve cashed in on that a couple times and he’s always come through and it’s never hey, we’re gonna put those on the calendar a week and a half from now, if he knew I called, he immediately responded and I appreciate that. A lot of times in theater in some tough, tough times just like he described, so sir, thanks for your leadership. We’re gonna miss you at AMC, you will not be forgotten and we’re gonna carry on what you’ve done here the last several years. COVID-19, family couldn’t be here. We are an all Army family and those of us close to us know that. My children, General Perna ran through where they’re at. My daughter, grandson, and her husband in Manhattan Kansas. When I was a brigade commander out there, she went to K State and ended up staying in Kansas because she met Cory and of course, they have a wonderful family. My daughter, Holly, who works down in Birmingham got a great job and then my son Trey that we talked about he’s a first lieutenant. Wonderful kids, and I’m not just saying this because they’re ours, but they have been great kids. We have drug them all over the world and back. I always tell them they’re better for it, but they sacrificed a lot, so I wish they could be here. We’re videoing it, they’ll get to see it. They’re a big part of today for Hope and I and I want them to know that. And then my parents, and my sisters, and my whole family down in Clay County Alabama looking in the camera. Special shout out to them with COVID-19 didn’t want to take the chance, but my parents and General Perna told you about them, a strong Army tradition of always supporting me. Army values for me, no big issue because my parents taught those to me at a very, very young age and we try to instill that in our kids. My dad is my hero and my role model, he knows it. He taught me about the value of hard work, commitment, and being dedicated to what you do and always having candor and being honest and Dad, I appreciate you. Hope put the three stars on me, I have my beret over here and I’m gonna leave the two stars on it, I’m gonna try to avoid having to wear a beret for the next couple days so that I can go home and have my dad pin that on, it’s gonna be very special to have him do it. My dad just turned 83 years old last week and I got to go home to tell him Happy Birthday on Saturday, wanted to share this story real quick. I know we’re on a timeline, but my Uncle Ray and I were doing some honeydews for Hope around the house. I think she had me putting up a new mailbox and doing those things that wives always want you to do and you can never catch up on and my dad comes driving up and of course, he’s supervising the operation like he always does and we get done. He gets in the car to leave and he’s like, rolls the window down and I walk up to tell him bye, wish him a happy birthday again. He’s like “Hey son, so when’s General Perna gonna pin “that third star on you again?” and I tried to explain one more time what’s going on that we’re waiting for the vote and all that and he’s like “Yeah okay” and he puts it in reverse and he looks at my uncle and says “Hey, I think he was pulling our leg “I don’t think he’s getting promoted at all.” (audience laughing) And so Dad, that just happened you can see that, so I wanted to share that story. And then, and I’ll close up here, and then there’s Hope. And I got a little something for Hope. 32 plus years, almost 33 and I’ll tell you that Hope is the epitome of the Army spouse. She’s been with me every step of the way all the way back to when I was going through ROTC in college always a staunch supporter, she sacrificed so much for my success and affording me to do what we need to do in the Army to be successful. I’m never worried about home, she pulled more than her fair weight for our kids and this promotion today is certainly more about her probably than it is me. So you’re my rock and I love you. (applause) The last thing I will say is there are countless people that I could stand up here and begin to thank them. I’m talking soldiers, NCOs, warrants, DA civilians, contractors, that have helped me along the way. All I can tell you, and many right here in this room represented here and the ones that’ll watch the video. Certainly the AMC G3, and the AMC enterprise not only when I wasn’t in AMC, but when I was receiving support from AMC, they’ve helped me along the way. So I accept this today because I’m humble because I get an opportunity to continue to lead and serve in the Army, and I want to represent all of those people who helped me along the way. And then last thing I would say as I take this new position, I’ve got big shoes to fill. General Daly knows how I feel about him, but things aren’t gonna change. What I’ll tell you is we’re gonna continue to move the ball, we’re gonna maintain the irreversible momentum, which is what we like to call it that General Perna and Command Sergeant Mansker and the leadership here have all created and we’re gonna get after it. Nothing’s gonna change and we’re gonna continue to do what AMC does, being the face to the field in support of the warfighter, because that’s what it’s all about. Thank you all for coming, God bless you all. Did I forget anything?

I don’t think so.

I probably did, but did you want to say anything?

No just thanks to all of you. We appreciate it very much.

And thank you all for coming and God bless you all. Winning matters, Army Strong. (applause)

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