William Walter
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William Walter

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Chief Master Sergeant William Walter began his career in the military in 1976 as a weapons specialist. After completing a two-year tour in Germany, he volunteered for special duty as Aerial Gunner on the AC- 130H gunship on Hurlburt Field, Florida. His first mission as Aerial Gunner was a non-combatant evacuation operation of Nicaragua in the summer of 1979. Later in 1979, he participated in Operation Rice Bowl and in April of 1980 deployed to Wadi Kena, Egypt for Operation Eagle Claw, the Iran Hostage Rescue attempt. In the summer of 1983, he began flying intelligence collection and surveillance missions over El Salvador and deploying 20 more times for this mission during the next seven years. In October 1983, he participated in Operation Urgent Fury, Grenada, providing fire support for SOF and conventional ground forces. In 1987-88, he performed both air and ground surveillance duties of strategic US assets during Operation Prayer Book and Blue Spoon. In December 1989, he led his gun crew during the airfield seizure of the Panama Defense Forces base at Rio Hato, providing Close Air Support for US Army Rangers, and flew follow-on missions in support of other SOF elements. During the fall of 1990, he was on the first AC-130 crew to deploy to Saudi Arabia and participated in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In the summer of 1993, he flew armed reconnaissance missions over Bosnia-Herzegovina, and re-deployed to Kenya in October 1993 to support Task Force Ranger and operation Continue Hope. In March of 1994, after the loss of AC-130H gunship “Jockey 14”, he served during the accident investigation on the Judicial Board and the follow-on inquiry, ultimately uncovering the actual cause of the accident. In 1994, He was assigned to the Headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command operations directorate as command tactician. In that capacity, he devised, documented, acquired funding and orchestrated development a new 105mm Anti-personnel round which increased lethality 400% and fielded it for AC-130 crews operating in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2001, he was selected by the AFSOC commander to represent the command at the Pentagon during Project Warlord, an urgent project to fulfil close air support shortfalls during combat operations in Afghanistan. He was a key advisor to RAND Corporation during the Project Air Force Next Generation Gunship Study and Air Force Research Laboratories Project Warlord enterprise study. In 2005, he retired from active duty and returned to HQ AFSOC as a civilian working advanced technology demonstrations, including integration of the first precision guided munition (GBU-43/B Viper Strike) on the AC-130U. He also participated in High Power Microwave and Laser Dazzler. In 2008, he was selected as initial cadre of Project AC-XX and Stinger II, the AC-27 gunship, then in 2009, continued onto Project Dragon Spear the development and fielding of the MC-130W/AC-130W gunship. In 2011, he defined requirements and participated in the development of a 40mm Armor Piercing Incendiary round and in 2012 salvaged 17 30mm MK-44 guns from a failed AC-130U integration, and worked with Air Force Research Laboratories and Naval Surface Warfare Command/Dahlgren to transform them into what are now used on the AC-130W and are the most accurate gun systems in the command. Chief Master Sergeant Walter’s unwavering loyalty, devotion to duty, and focused attention are directly responsible for shaping SOF into what it is today.
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