Military Campaign Stories

Service Reflections of SP5 Charles Morrison, U.S. Army (1964-1968)

I had worked as a fingerprint technician with the FBI in Washington, DC, from June 1962 through August 1964. I then called an ARMY RECRUITER and volunteered to join the Army. When speaking with the recruiter, I also selected the US ARMY SECURITY AGENCY. He warned me that I had to score at least 112 on my battery tests to be in the ASA MOS. Luckily, I scored 114.5. By the way, I was in the ARMY SECURITY AGENCY Honor Guard while going through my MOS schooling for THE ENTIRE year of 1965. I started out as just an honor guard member, then became a squad leader, a platoon Sergeant, and ultimately, the Field First, overseeing the entire Honor Guard, Companies A & B. The Honor Guard was Company “G” at Fort Devens. The attached picture was taken when I was Field First on NCO Day, when all companies marched to Soldier’s Field to listen to various speakers.

Service Reflections of ADJ3 Ross Helco, U.S. Navy (1967-1970)

Navy Reflections, Vietnam War

Well, it’s the summer of 1966, and I just graduated from high school — then I got accepted to college in September and couldn’t wrap my head back in the books again, so I quit halfway through that semester. During that time, I kept getting notices in the mail to report to draft headquarters and going to college deferred 10 notices in 2 months — So, the day I quit, I went back home to visit my parents and, while I was doing that, I ran into a high school friend of mine and asked him what you doing – he says to me, I’m heading down to the Navy recruiting office and I say wait I’m going with ya – so that’s what we did – join the Navy because I didn’t want to carry a gun and get shot at.

Service Reflections of Sgt Patricia Robinson, U.S. Air Force (1971-1975)

Air Force Reflections, Vietnam War

I graduated from high school in 1968 and worked full-time as a bookkeeper for a boot factory in New Hampshire. I didn’t make much money there and had little or no interest in the job or the factory. I was dating a man who was clearly not my intellectual equal, but he was the best I could find in small-town New Hampshire. As always, I read many books and dreamed of a different life. How would I find that life? I had no money and played around so much in high school that my GPA was considerably below the level needed for college.

Service Reflections of Sgt Edmund Poole-Andersson, U.S. Marine Corps (1954-1961)

Cold War, Marine Reflections

I grew up an adopted child in a dysfunctional family and was compelled to leave home at age 16. I managed to finish high school while paying for room and board earned from working two part-time jobs. In 1953, at age 17, I joined the Army National Guard (Combat Engineers, Charlestown, MA) to earn extra money and its drill team for the same reason, getting my first taste of military service. I was Captain of my high school hockey team, earned league All-Star honors, but had a passing but unimpressive academic record. Playing at the college level required remediation in prep school, which was unaffordable. So, I decided to test myself in the Marine Corps, a better option than the projected path that lay ahead. That decision changed my life!

Service Reflections of SGT Harry C. Craft, U.S. Army (1977-1981)

Army Reflections, Cold War

I had 5 uncles who fought in WWII, and between them, there were 6 Purple Hearts, 1 Silver Star, and 3 Bronze Stars. I used to hear them tell me stories about commanding tanks as a tank commander during the war, and I became very interested in the Army after that. I also had an 18-year-old cousin who joined the Marines in 1969; I saw him in his uniform and knew I had to join the military. He was only 18 when he was killed in Vietnam. He was only there for four months. So, my family has shed their share of blood for this country, and I knew I was obligated, whether I wanted to or not. I could not let my family down. So, 10 days after I got my high school diploma, I reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for Basic Combat Training! After training, I was sent to Fort Hood, Texas. I served with the 13th Coscom and the 1st Cavalry Division while there. I also served at Heilbronn, West Germany, and Miesau, West Germany, as well as Fort Pickett, Virginia. I loved the Army and wished I had stayed, but I chose to later join the U.S. Coast Guard, where I retired as a CWO2. But I loved my military career and got to see things I would have never seen and did things I would never have gotten to do.

Service Reflections of AD2 Kenneth Wagner, U.S. Navy (1959-1962)

Cold War, Navy Reflections

As a junior in high school, my two best friends, Bob Johnston and Bob Ely (a sophomore), and I were entranced by two Navy shows on TV. , “Men of Annapolis” and “Victory at Sea.” We lived in a small town, Lucerne Valley, on the Mojave Desert, and job opportunities after graduating were minimal. These shows seemed to pique our interest in the Navy as a job that would give us a trade, feed us, house us, and pay us. College was not an option at that time. Besides the distance we would have had to travel, finances played a part in our decisions. The more we looked into the Navy, the more we were convinced that that was what we wanted after graduation. We were so excited about this particular service that Bob Johnston and I decided to form a Navy club. A retired commander who lived in the valley agreed to sponsor us. He suggested calling it the Future Navy Men’s Association. Commander Wickware arranged a weekend for us at NTC San Diego, where we were treated royally. We contacted a recruiter in San Bernardino, Ed Futch, letting him know of our intentions to join.

Rainy Street Stories by John William Davis

Cold War, Military Book Reviews

"Rainy Street Stories" isn't a single tale so much as a map of scars. Author John William Davis is a retired U.S. Army counterintelligence officer, a seasoned veteran of the shadow trades. In this book, he takes readers around the world as he threads together short vignettes, essays, and memory-shards about espionage, terrorism, and the people who live between those crosshairs. Rainy Street Stories Beyond the Headlines Unfold If you're expecting a Tom Clancy showstopper with satellite uplinks and a missile budget, stand down. Davis brings something much different: thoughtful reflections that the author clearly wrote at different times in his life. Each chapter displays the depth of Davis' consideration for his subjects. "Rainy Street Stories" isn't a book for learning the ins and outs of the intelligence world, nor is it a manual for spycraft. But readers won't be disappointed to find real thoughts and emotions from someone who works in the counterintelligence world, and...

Cold War – Operation Urgent Fury

Battlefield Chronicles, Cold War

In late October 1983, the Caribbean went hot; much hotter than usual. Grenada, a postcard island with beaches, nutmeg fields, and a strategic runway under construction, had just spiraled into chaos. A Marxist government split, Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was executed by hardliners, and a Revolutionary Military Council seized power. Operation Urgent Fury Unfolded Amid Chaos in Grenada Nearby governments understandably panicked. Washington, worried about the hundreds of American medical students on the island and the runway's potential value to Soviet-aligned Cuba. On October 25, President Ronald Reagan sent in the troops. The operation had a bold name—Urgent Fury—and a simple brief: rescue the students, stabilize the island, and restore legitimate authority. Simple on paper. In practice, it would expose the fractures inside America's joint war machine and force a generational fix. The opening act fell to Special Operations units and the Marines. Navy SEALs attempted...

The Taliban Prison Revolt of Qala-i-Jangi

Global War on Terror, Other Military Articles

In the first chaotic weeks after 9/11, two Americans walked into a 19th-century Afghan fortress with nothing but a translator, a notebook, and the kind of quiet confidence you get from hard jobs and worse timing. Qala-i-Jangi Becomes the Center of a Deadly Encounter The place was Qala-i-Jangi, a sprawling mud-brick stronghold outside Mazar-i-Sharif where hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters had just "surrendered" to the Northern Alliance. And those Americans were CIA officers Johnny "Mike" Spann and David Tyson. What started as a routine sort-and-question session turned into a six-day brawl that set the tone for the next 20 years of war to come. The plan on November 25, 2001, was simple on paper: figure out who mattered among the newly captured fighters. Spann—a former Marine turned CIA paramilitary—worked the courtyard, asking the right questions in the wrong neighborhood. Tyson, a case officer with a linguist's ear and an Uzbek Rolodex, moved through the mass of...

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 Form an Unlikely Brotherhood in Ramadi 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,...

The Gettysburg Address

Civil War, Military Myths and Legends

From July 1 to July 3, 1863, the invading forces of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army clashed with the Army of the Potomac under its newly appointed leader, General George G. Meade at Gettysburg, some 35 miles southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Casualties were high on both sides: Out of roughly 170,000 Union and Confederate soldiers, there were 23,000 Union and 28,000 Confederate casualties; more than one-quarter of the Union army's effective forces and more than a third of Lee's army were killed, wounded or missing. The Gettysburg Address Began as Lincoln’s Invitation After three days of battle, Lee retreated towards Virginia on the night of July 4. It was not only a crushing defeat for the Confederacy, but the battle also proved to be the turning point of the war: Gen. Robert E. Lee's defeat and retreat from Gettysburg marked the last Confederate invasion of Northern territory, and the beginning of the Southern army's ultimate decline. As had become customary following...

Vietnam War – America’s Secret War

Battlefield Chronicles, Vietnam War

The guerrilla war was not going well for the Viet Cong in the late fifties. Badly needed supplies moving down jungle trails from North Vietnam were constantly being spotted by South Vietnamese warplanes and often destroyed. To give themselves a fighting chance, existing tribal trails through Laos and Cambodia were opened up in 1959. The North Vietnamese went to great lengths to keep this new set of interconnecting trails secret. America’s Secret War Begins in the Jungles of Laos The first North Vietnamese sent down the existing tribal trails carried no identification and used captured French weapons. But the Communists could not keep their supply route secret for very long. Within months, CIA agents and their Laotian mercenaries were watching the movement from deep within the hidden jungle. But keeping an eye on what the North Vietnamese were doing in Laos was not enough for Washington. They wanted to put boots on the ground in a reconnaissance role to observe, first hand, the...

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