Luckily, Swanson didn’t have to shoot that day, but the fact that he had had to point a loaded gun at a child and be prepared to shoot tormented him.

“Pointing a gun at a child, threatening to shoot him,” Swanson told the Christian Science Monitor. “I was 25 years old at the time, and it has weighed pretty heavy on me ever since then.”

After Swanson’s tour was complete, he moved to Key Largo and got a job training dolphins. However, despite landing what might be considered a dream job, Gunnar wasn’t happy. He continued to think about the Iraqi children.

So he moved to Minnesota and got a program manager job with War Kids Relief, a non-profit organization set up to help children in war-torn countries, such as Iraq, get help and much needed education.

As part of a fund raising venture for the organization, Swanson vowed to walk from Dallas to Minnesota, a journey of 1,000 miles. It was known as A Soldier’s March for Peace. He began walking of July 4th and finished September 10th. All along the way, Swanson stopped at schools to talk of his mission and the problems facing the children in Afghanistan and Iraq. He even helped them write letters to their overseas peers.

By the end of his long walk, Swanson’s feet were covered in painful blisters, but he knows it was worth it.

“I do this to protect kids in Iraq, Afghanistan, and here at home,” Swanson wrote. “I do this for my friends who didn’t make it home with me from Iraq. I do it for my nephews and my future children. I do it for every kid I see playing on a playground, riding bike down the street, or playing ball in the park.”

Quotes from Gimundo