Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:15 | In April of 2008, Adam Walton deployed to Iraq with the Navy's reborn Riverine Squadrons. They expected a lot of fighting, but interacting with the populace turned out to be the main job.
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There was a lot of military service in his family, but Adam Walton resisted the calling. Somehow he enlisted in the Navy when he was badgered by a recruiter to join the Marines. He loved his first assignment aboard a sub tender based in Guam. It was a perfect spot for a young man.
When the Navy restarted the Riverine squadrons for use in Iraq, Adam Walton volunteered. First he had to become a Marine for all intents and purposes and he did that at Camp Lejeune. The boats and crews were small but the armament was potent.
When Iraqis went to the polls on election day, Adam Walton was patrolling waterways in a Riverine Squadron boat, helping to ensure their new right of a free vote. The hours could be long out there and you had to be creative to get through it.
His first tour of Iraq was during summer and it was blazing hot. Second time around for Adam Walton, it was winter and it was freezing, but that was OK. He was a Michigander. His Navy Riverine unit was a tight knit bunch and they remain so to this day.
