military officer state official management development consultant
Walter Raymond Vlasak was born on August 31, 1938, in Hartsgrove, Ohio, to Raymond Frank Vlasak and Ethel Chilan Vlasak. Hartsgrove is a rural community in Ashtabula County in northeastern Ohio, a region historically shaped by agriculture, small communities, and the transportation networks connecting the Great Lakes area.
He married Julia Andrews on February 25, 1966. Their children are Marc Andrew Vlasak and Tanya Ethel Vlasak.
Vlasak received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Kent State University in 1963 and a Master of Arts from the University of Akron in 1975. Kent State, founded in 1910 as a normal school, had developed by the 1960s into a comprehensive public university serving northeastern Ohio. The University of Akron, established in 1870 and later incorporated into Ohio's public university system, maintained strong connections with the region's industrial and professional economy.
His education accompanied a career that moved between military leadership, organizational development, and public-sector employee training. He later served as an assistant professor of military science at Kent State, connecting his professional military experience with formal instruction.
Vlasak entered the United States Army in 1963 after completing his business administration degree. He served as a lieutenant and second in command, then as a platoon leader, antitank platoon leader, and battalion adjutant with the 82nd Airborne Division from 1963 to 1965. The 82nd, established during World War I and redesignated an airborne division in 1942, became one of the Army's principal airborne formations.
He performed combat duty in Vietnam in 1965–1966 and again in 1968–1969. From 1966 to 1968, at the United States Army School Europe in Oberammergau, West Germany, he served as executive officer, company commander, and headquarters commandant for cadre and troops. The school formed part of the Army's postwar European training structure for personnel serving with United States forces in Europe.
From 1970 to 1974, Vlasak was an assistant professor of military science at Kent State University. He subsequently served as executive officer of an infantry battalion in the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington, from 1976 to 1977, and as an organizational-effectiveness consultant to the division's commanding general from 1977 to 1979. Fort Lewis was a major Army installation in the Pacific Northwest and became home to the 9th Infantry Division during the development of the volunteer Army in the 1970s.
He served as an organizational-effectiveness consultant to the commanding general of the 8th United States Army in Korea from 1979 to 1980, followed by service as a brigade executive officer with the 9th Infantry Division from 1980 to 1982. He advanced to lieutenant colonel in 1980 and retired from the Army in 1984. His military decorations included the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with V device and two oak-leaf clusters, Air Medal, Purple Heart, and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star.
After retiring from active military service, Vlasak became president of Comsult, Inc., in Tacoma, Washington, in 1984. Beginning in 1985, he also managed the employee-development training department of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services in Tacoma. These later roles extended his work in organizational effectiveness and professional development into private consulting and state government.
Vlasak served in airborne, infantry, training, and organizational-effectiveness assignments during a United States Army career that included combat duty in Vietnam and senior advisory work with the 9th Infantry Division and 8th United States Army.
After military retirement, he applied his organizational-development experience to private consulting and the management of employee-development training in Washington State government.
Vlasak belonged to the American Society for Training and Development, a professional organization devoted to workplace learning, training, and organizational development. He was also associated with the Association of the United States Army, a nonprofit organization supporting the interests, professional development, and public understanding of the United States Army.
His participation in the Association of the United States Army included service on its Tacoma board of directors from 1984.
Vlasak married Julia Andrews on February 25, 1966. They had two children, Marc Andrew Vlasak and Tanya Ethel Vlasak.
His parents were Raymond Frank Vlasak and Ethel Chilan Vlasak.
