Gulf and Smokie welcome Lt. Col. Ken Benway(Ret.)

The Halls of Valhalla

Lieutenant Colonel Ken Benway is a co-founder of Special Operations Speaks. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a parachute infantryman in 1966. He underwent Army Special Forces training and deployed to Vietnam, serving from 1967-68, as a Special Forces medic assigned to a Chinese Nung Company of the I Corps Mobile Strike Force, 5th Special Forces Group. In 1970, he completed Infantry Officer Candidate School, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry. He then served in leadership assignments in both Germany and Italy with the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion Combat Team. Over the course of 27 years in uniform, he served with the 3d, 5th and 10 Special Forces Groups, with the Special Operations Command (Europe), as an Army foreign exchange program officer with the Susa Alpine Infantry Battalion (Italian Army) in northwest Italy, and with the US Army JFK Special Warfare Center and School. On retiring in 1993, he served as senior special operations analyst, program manager and corporate director in a variety of contracted support arrangements with the U.S. Army Special Operations community. Lieutenant Colonel Benway is married, with four children and ten grandchildren.