Kenny Mintz

Kenny Mintz is originally from the North County of San Diego, California, where he graduated from Fallbrook Union High School in 1987. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY and graduated in 1991, and received a commission as an infantry officer in the United States Army. 

For the next 30 years Kenny served as an Army officer in various assignments around the world. He deployed 6 times in his career – two operational deployments to Bosnia-Herzegovina, and combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Following his first assignment in the 82nd Airborne Division, Kenny was posted to a unit in Germany. While stationed in Europe, he deployed twice to Bosnia-Herzegovina. On his second deployment he commanded a 130-soldier company responsible for patrolling and enforcing peace in the eastern part of the country along the Serbian border. Kenny served next at Fort Polk, LA and Fort Leavenworth, KS. Following promotion to Major, Kenny served in the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, NY, deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq. After a 15-month long combat deployment to Iraq serving as the Chief of Operations for a 6000-soldier Infantry Brigade Combat Team responsible for the area of operations south of Baghdad known as the “Triangle of Death”, Kenny was posted to Australia to serve as the US Infantry Exchange Officer to the Australian Army. Kenny and his family spent two years in the Hunter Valley region northwest of the city of Sydney. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel while in Australia, and returned to the 10th Mountain Division in early 2010 to take command of an infantry battalion about to deploy to Afghanistan. Kenny commanded an 850-soldier infantry battalion in Afghanistan from 2011 – 2012, where he led his unit to pacify the birthplace of the Taliban in Zhari District, Kandahar Province. Upon his return from combat in 2012, he attended the United States Army War College, where he received his Masters of Strategic Studies in 2013. Upon graduation and promotion to Colonel in 2013, he once again returned to the 10th Mountain Division to serve as the Chief of Operations for the 16000-soldier Division. He deployed to Afghanistan again in early 2014 with the Division Headquarters responsible for planning and coordinating operations in the eastern part of the country. Following redeployment from his final combat operation, Kenny took command of a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Brigade at Fort Dix, New Jersey where he was responsible for all ROTC programs in the Northeast region of the United States. Kenny’s final assignment in the Army was as the Director for the Center for Strategic Leadership at the U.S. Army War 

College in Carlisle Barracks, PA. Kenny retired from the United States Army as a Colonel in June of 2021. 

Following retirement from the Army, Kenny began planning and preparing for his next mission to walk across America. On 1 April 2022, he began his 3300-mile journey at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. After walking through 13 states and going through 8 pairs of shoes, he completed his walk at Swami’s Beach in Encinitas, CA on October 22nd. 

The walk was inspired by his mom, who died of Pancreatic Cancer in 2020. She drove from Washington DC to San Diego in 1974 to start a new life with nothing but a four-year-old Kenny, a suitcase, and a dream. She eventually co-founded a successful defense contracting company in San Diego. Kenny took care of his mom during her 5-and-a-half-year battle against this deadly cancer. He raised over $100K in support of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and two veterans-focused charities – the Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund, and Operational Resiliency. 

Kenny currently resides in Carlisle, PA where he owns a small freight brokering business.