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Walk In My Combat Boots by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann

Gulf War, Military Book Reviews, Vietnam War

James Patterson, the author of "Walk In My Combat Boots", is the worldwide, best-selling creator of the "Alex Cross" and "Michael Bennett" series of books. Matt Eversmann is a U.S. Army veteran who received the Bronze Star Medal with Valor for leading a team of Rangers in Somalia in 1993. His exploits were depicted in the 2001 film "Black Hawk Down". The two teamed up to create a touching, thoughtful book about the U.S. military, the people who join it, and veterans of three separate eras of conflict, "Walk In My Combat Boots," on bookshelves on Feb. 8. "Walk In My Combat Boots" is a series of short stories, as told by veterans themselves. The stories cover the entire lifecycle of the veteran experience, starting before becoming a recruit, to war stories, to answering questions about military service from one's children. Patterson said he was inspired to write the book after watching veterans' interviews and realizing he'd never heard stories from his own veteran family...

Service Reflections of SGT Timothy Meltabarger, U.S. Marine Corps (1981-1990)

Gulf War, Marine Reflections

When I graduated from High School in 1980, I was about four months away from turning 18. I worked in the Oil Field with my brother through the Summer and decided that I needed to get an education, so I enrolled in a Technical College in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. I entered college as the hostages in Iran were being released. I was in a drafting program and sat at a table in a classroom with about 40 people. About 25 percent were veterans, and none were Marines. We had a radio that played in the classroom, and on March 30, 1981, I listened to the news of Reagan being shot. When the semester was over, I decided to quit college and go back home and do something greater. Exactly what, I had not decided.

Famous Navy Unit: Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11

Famous Military Units, Gulf War, World War II

The Naval Mobile Construction Battalions are perhaps one of the most misunderstood military units across the armed forces. More commonly known as Seabees, these units are a reasonably new phenomenon with only eighty years of shared history. And surprisingly, this force has been redesignated multiple times to embrace the spirit of their mission and contend with political maneuvering among US Naval and Marine infrastructure. Moreover, as a support organization, the Seabees are typically not front-page news despite a multi-faceted mission commitment, including clandestine assignments and ongoing combat readiness, the very underpinning of their existence. Before WWII, civilian contractors were used for construction purposes in the Pacific, but under international law, civilians were prohibited from defending themselves in the event of hostile action. To resolve this, Rear Admiral Ben Moreell pursued authorization in December 1941 to create a specialized support unit for US Navy and...

Service Reflections of SRA Richard Clark, U.S. Air Force (1989-1999)

Air Force Reflections, Gulf War

My father was a United States Marine, so I grew up on stories of commitment and duty. I knew some of the hardships he had faced in Viet Nam, and at the time, we had no idea that Agent Orange was killing him. He was medically discharged at ten years due to incorrectly diagnosed “pinched nerves” that were, in fact, two ruptured discs in his lower back, even with all of the medical mix-ups my father deeply loved and missed the Corps.

Several of my uncles (2 – 4 years active with the rest of their time in the Army Reserves) had joined the Army, and they discouraged me from doing the same. Compared to my father’s stories of time spend in-country chasing tunnel rats (a cave-in trapped him in a pocket of the tunnel, but they had dug him out before his air ran out, after that he became horribly claustrophobic) made their stories of time in the field never seem as bad as they tried to convey. Nobody in my family ever cared for the open water, so the Navy was out…honestly, it was not considered. OK, briefly when Top Gun came out, but never seriously. Besides, I never like riding motorcycles, and they appeared to be a requirement.

Service Reflections of SFC David McConnell, U.S. Army (1980-2000)

Army Reflections, Gulf War

I believe I knew I would be a Soldier when I grew up at about age 5. My childhood next-door neighbor shared a story about when I was that age. She said that I was marching up and down the driveway between our two houses with a broom over my shoulder. When she asked me what I was doing, I just snapped around and said, “I’m Guarding,” and went right back to marching up and down the driveway.

Service Reflections of SSgt Walter Rivera, U.S. Marine Corps (1981-1997)

Gulf War, Marine Reflections

I come from a military family on both sides-mom & dad. Uncles that served in the Navy [Korea], Army [Vietnam]; 3 cousins in the Navy [Cold War], Army Nat’l Guard [Cold War], Army [GWOT]. My God-Mothers son is a Marine Veteran [Vietnam era], and my dad went to Army boot camp but got seriously injured; he couldn’t finish. In high school, I joined the Marine J.R.O.T.C. Program. For me, it was a natural thing to do. I actually joined USMC at age 9. I believed it was my destiny-to serve in the military of the greatest country on the face of the earth!

By the time I reached the 5th grade and into the 6th grade, I had read World Book Encyclopedia from AZ (with the help of Mr. James Hickey, my 5th-grade teacher), who taught us to do something we’d never done before, and I did!

General John Kelly’s Speech About Two Heroic Marines

Gulf War, Profiles in Courage

Two years ago, when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 "The Walking Dead," and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion in the closing days of their deployment going home very soon, the other just starting its seven-month combat tour. Haerter, Jordan, LCpl Yale, Jonathan Tyler, Cpl Yale and Haerter Were From Two Completely Different Worlds Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines. The same broken down ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police, also my men and our allies in the fight against the terrorists in Ramadi, a city until recently the most dangerous city on earth and owned by Al Qaeda. Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a...

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Gulf War