Official blog
TWS Website
TWS Website
U

MENU

The Christy Collection

Military Stories and Articles

Service Reflections of SMSgt Dale L. Durnell, U.S. Air Force (1964-1991)

Service Reflections of SMSgt Dale L. Durnell, U.S. Air Force (1964-1991)

,

I graduated from high school when I was 17, and when I started Junior College, I was still 17. Just before my 18th birthday, dad asked what I was going to do in the spring, and I told him I sure wasn’t going back to college and that I was going to apply for a job with one of the many aerospace companies in the area (Rocketdyne, Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge, Lockheed, et al). Dad then said that no one was going to hire an 18-year-old, with the draft hanging over his head (there was no lottery in late 1963, and I’d never even heard of Vietnam), and I had no college deferment. He said I ought to just enlist, get my military service out of the way, and learn a skill.

read more
CMSgt Jerry Shelton, Jr., U.S. Air Force (1983-2013)

CMSgt Jerry Shelton, Jr., U.S. Air Force (1983-2013)

,

What personal and professional achievements from your Military service are you most proud of and why?:

Boots on the Ground. Promotion to the Air Force’s highest enlisted rank, Chief Master Sergeant (one percent of the Air Force enlisted structure), certainly tops my list of professional achievements. But it was not the promotion itself that stands out as my most memorable military moment…well, not exactly. Let me explain. In May 2009, my Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) flight and I reported for duty at Combined Joint Task Force Paladin, headquartered at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, where our EOD flight was under operational control. Supporting the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division throughout Wardak and Logar Province, our 16 EOD teams resolved 476 improvised explosive device incidents and 103 weapons cache operations, effectively removing over 21,280 pounds of explosives from the battlefield.

read more