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Blind Descent: Surviving Alone and Blind on Mount Everest by Brian Dickinson

Blind Descent: Surviving Alone and Blind on Mount Everest by Brian Dickinson

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Brian Dickinson is a former U.S. Navy Aviation Rescue Swimmer who specialized in combat search and rescue. His military experience is not the most difficult situation he's ever faced. For six years, he served as a rescue swimmer, but in his post-military career, he has climbed some of the most challenging mountains in the world, including Denali, Kilimanjaro, and even the Sentinel Range in Antarctica. In 2011, Dickinson climbed Mount Everest by himself, which was a difficult challenge in itself, but on his way down, he became snowblind and had to make his way down the world's highest and most dangerous peak solo and without eyesight. In a sojourn that should have taken three hours, he climbed hand-over-hand for seven hours. In that time he fell and lost his oxygen too. With what he calls a "determined faith and focus," he arrived safely back to the campsite and survived.  "Blind Descent: Surviving Alone and Blind on Mount Everest" is the story of his powerful and bold decision...

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Service Reflections of ET2 David Binder, U.S. Navy (1963-1967)

Service Reflections of ET2 David Binder, U.S. Navy (1963-1967)

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Many of us in a high school fraternity decided that the best way to complete our military obligation was to enlist in the Naval Reserve. As I was older than the others, I had already graduated when the Naval Reserve Recruiter came to Fairfax High School in Los Angeles to make his presentation. They were all Gung Ho, and they tried to convince me to join them. I told them that I would check it out on my own and give them an answer within the next week. As they were not graduating until the end of the semester, the only rush was that summer vacation would be a great time to do our Boot Camp. Being Reservists would allow us to continue our education while attending Reserve Meetings.

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Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock, U.S. Marine Corps (1959-1979)

Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock, U.S. Marine Corps (1959-1979)

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There are few Marine Corps legends like that of Carlos Hathcock. If there's a pantheon of Marine Corps gods somewhere, Hathcock is definitely among them. He served the Corps and his country for 20 years, including two tours as a sniper in Vietnam, where he racked up what was then the world record for confirmed kills at 93 - although he believed the actual number was somewhere around 300. "Carlos just really believed in what he was doing out there. He was saving Marines; that's how he really saw it. He was just doing his job, his duty. Now, Carlos is kind of a folk hero to a tremendous number of people," his boss in Vietnam, retired Maj. Jim Land told Leatherneck Magazine in a 2010 profile. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1942, Hathcock taught himself to shoot as a young boy, just like his boyhood idols Alvin York and Audie Murphy. It was the foundation of what would become his lifelong dream: to join the United States Marine Corps. Little did he know, as he took aim and fired that...

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Famous Coast Guard Unit: USCGC Point Orient (WPB-82319)

Famous Coast Guard Unit: USCGC Point Orient (WPB-82319)

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The Coast Guard vessel, Point Orient, was stationed at Fort Pierce, FL, from 1961 to 1965 and was first used for law enforcement and SAR (Search and Rescue). On 15 January 1965, she towed the disabled M/V Sally 120 miles southeast of Corpus Christi, TX, to safety. She was assigned to CG Squadron One, Division 12, Vietnam, from July 1965 to May 1970. On 15 July 1967, Point Orient captured an enemy trawler. The Point-class cutters were 82-foot patrol boats designed to replace the United States Coast Guard's aging 83-foot wooden hull patrols being used at the time.  The Early History of USCGC Point Orient The design utilized a mild steel hull and an aluminum superstructure. Following the Coast Guard custom in place in 1960 of not naming vessels under 100 feet in length, the first 44 Point-class patrol boats were only identified by their hull number using the scheme of WPB-823xx, where 82 was the design length of the hull. Beginning in January 1964, the Coast Guard started naming...

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Service Reflections of LIC Jack De Merit, U.S. Navy (1961-1990)

Service Reflections of LIC Jack De Merit, U.S. Navy (1961-1990)

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Many of us in a high school fraternity decided that the best way to complete our military obligation was to enlist in the Naval Reserve. As I was older than the others, I had already graduated when the Naval Reserve Recruiter came to Fairfax High School in Los Angeles to make his presentation. They were all Gung Ho, and they tried to convince me to join them. I told them that I would check it out on my own and give them an answer within the next week. As they were not graduating until the end of the semester, the only rush was that summer vacation would be a great time to do our Boot Camp. Being Reservists would allow us to continue our education while attending Reserve Meetings.

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Service Reflections of ATCS Frank Nelson, U.S. Navy (1972-1994)

Service Reflections of ATCS Frank Nelson, U.S. Navy (1972-1994)

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My dad influenced me tremendously. I had no prospects of getting a job living overseas. My dad did all he could to get me into the Academy. He wrote letters and made phone calls to BUPERS and NAVSTA Rota (in those times, there were no recruiters nearby). I was tentatively accepted to the Prep School in Bainbridge, MD, but I was medically disqualified when they received my physical results due to my vision. I had vision correctable to 20/20, but there was too much refractive error between the left eye and the right one. My parents couldn’t afford to send me to college back in the States, so off to the Navy I went.
But before I joined up, my dad made sure I got into a field where I would have a good chance of advancement, so I took a whole array of tests and was found qualified for the ADVANCED ELECTRONIC FIELD, qualifying for either AT, DS, or FT. I signed up for six years, and I would get PO3 upon successfully completing “A” school.

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Service Reflections of Capt Wilfred J. Clifford, U.S. Marine Corps (1953 – 1973)

Service Reflections of Capt Wilfred J. Clifford, U.S. Marine Corps (1953 – 1973)

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My brother was a Marine; he served in WWII and was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. Three of my uncles also served during WWII, and all saw serious action. When I was about 13 or 14, I read a book about the Iwo Jima campaign, and while it brought tears to my eyes, I probably wasn’t crying, but anyway, I knew that I wanted to be around men like that.
Because of my family situation, with a single mother with three kids, I knew that I would serve at least 20 years to retirement even before I enlisted. I was a depression-era kid, and my future looked bleak. Somehow, I always desired to attend college, and if I didn’t serve the 20, I would have the Korean War GI Bill to help me. (Which it didn’t, as I have enumerated under the college questionnaire).

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James E. Williams, U.S. Navy (1947–1967)

James E. Williams, U.S. Navy (1947–1967)

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After serving nearly 20 years in the Navy, many enlisted sailors might opt for an easy assignment for their so-called twilight tour. But that was not why James E. Williams joined the Navy. He joined in 1947 because he thought getting paid to serve your country was possibly the greatest thing he could ever do. Over the course of the next 20 years, Williams would eventually become the most decorated enlisted sailor to ever serve in the U.S. Navy.  Born in 1930, Williams was a South Carolina native who convinced a county clerk to fudge the date on his birth certificate so he could enlist in the Navy at 17. Early Career and Naval Beginnings of James E. Williams After graduating from basic training in San Diego, he became a Boatswain's Mate. He didn't get the adventurous assignment he wanted from his first Navy enlistment, but he did learn a valuable lesson that would carry him through the rest of his career.  "I'd got orders to an [landing ship, tank] that just sat around a buoy in...

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Undaunted Valor by Matt Jackson

Undaunted Valor by Matt Jackson

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Author Matt Jackson grew up in a U.S. Navy family, spending his formative years at every naval submarine base on the American East Coast. Considering his family's proud Navy tradition, it might seem odd that Jackson would grow up and not only join the Army but stay for 25 years, serving in Vietnam and retiring as a commissioned officer. Today, Col. (ret.) Matt Jackson is a prolific author and creator of the "Undaunted Valor" series, one of the highest-rated book series set amid the Vietnam War.  Undaunted Valor: A Helicopter Pilot’s Journey in Combat In his first book, "Undaunted Valor, An Assault Helicopter Unit In Vietnam," Jackson introduces us to Cory, a helicopter pilot recounting the tale of his transition from high school to flight school. He then tells us the story of his time in the skies over Vietnam. When American ground troops make contact with the enemy, combat helicopter pilots must move in and bail them out, becoming a casualty themselves. Cory is a newly minted...

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Service Reflections of Sgt Steve Putnam, U.S. Marine Corps (1970 – 1975)

Service Reflections of Sgt Steve Putnam, U.S. Marine Corps (1970 – 1975)

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My Father was a Marine Veteran of both WWII and Korea as a Corsair pilot in VMA-212. After Korea, he stayed in the Reserves, retiring as a Lt. Colonel. My Uncle was a Marine veteran of WWII, having fought on Iwo Jima and received a battlefield commission due to attrition in his unit. My cousin’s husband served as an officer in the Marines for 4 years in the early 1960’s. I had read Battle Cry by Leon Uris and a lot of other WWII history related to the Marines in WWII and Korea. In 1969, I was a sophomore in college and was part of the first lottery draft with the number 132, if my memory serves me correctly. I was thinking of changing my major in college but not having a clear idea of what that looked like. I had a strong desire of wanting to serve my country, but not by being drafted. Several other students at our local community college I attended were in the local Marine Reserve unit, and I began talking to them about their experiences. My Father was still attached to this unit and getting ready to retire.
I didn’t discuss this with my Dad but told him one day in December 1969 that I was going to join the Reserves. He didn’t try to talk me out of it but didn’t encourage me, either. He was with me for my swearing-in at the local Reserve Unit I & I Company Commander. Three weeks later, on January 15th, I was on a plane to MCRD San Diego from West Palm Beach, Florida. I had a guarantee for Radio School with an MOS of 2533, which was what the Reserve Unit needed. In my mind, I was Danny Forester of Battle Cry, although I was far from a star High School athlete. Neither my Dad nor my Uncle had talked about their war experiences, although my Dad would occasionally tell some funny stories.

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Our Vietnam Wars by William F. Brown

Our Vietnam Wars by William F. Brown

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Real stories told by real people, in their own words, 100 veterans, men, and women caught up in an all too real war. From the Delta to the DMZ, come walk in their boots. If you were there, you understand. If you weren't, grab a copy.  The Vietnam War dominated my generation and affected so many lives in so many different ways. Some of us were drafted. Some enlisted. Some became war heroes, intentional or not, but most of us were just trying to survive. As we all knew, Vietnam was all about luck, good or bad. And there were hundreds of different wars depending on where you were, the year you were there, your service, branch, unit, rank, job, and race. Whether we were truck drivers, helicopter pilots, infantryman, clerk typists, medics, engineers, MPs, sailors out on Yankee station, artillerymen, or cooks, from 1956 to 1976 from the Delta to the DMZ, these stories tell who we were, the jobs we did, our memories of that time and place, how it changed us, and what we did after we...

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