Official blog
TWS Website
TWS Website
U

MENU

The Christy Collection

Military Stories and Articles

SGT Robert D. Pryor, U.S. Army (1967-1969)

SGT Robert D. Pryor, U.S. Army (1967-1969)

What Advice Would You Give A New Recruit Just Starting Out Their Military Career?:

Those entering the military should pay attention to every word in training. Learn from those with superior training, experience, and higher ranks. If stationed abroad, learn the language and customs. You never know what seemingly trivial lesson may be the one that saves your life or that of a buddy. Learn to be the “gray man.” I learned that lesson the hard way when I couldn’t stay in step in Basic Training. Consequently, I spent a lot of time with grease traps. While cleaning one, someone entered the Mess Hall, asking who signed up to be a paratrooper. That wasn’t me. I was a wimp and the last one chosen when picking teams as a kid. They added that everyone going Airborne needed to take the Airborne Physical Training test. I took that test to get out of the grease trap and barely passed.

read more
SSG Victoria Ryan, U.S. Army (1973-1988)

SSG Victoria Ryan, U.S. Army (1973-1988)

What Advice Would You Give A New Recruit Just Starting Out Their Military Career?:

There Is A Right Way . . . There Is A Wrong Way . . . And There Is The Army Way! These were words spoken loudly and forcefully from the time I, as a recruit, exited the bus at Fort McClellan, Alabama, my basic training station, on numerous occasions until my graduation to Advanced Individual Training (AIT) several months later. Other applicable words included This Is Not The Army . . . This is Basic Training. And, all I could think was, “thank goodness.”

read more
SK2 Carolyn Pivarnik, U.S. Navy (2000-2005)

SK2 Carolyn Pivarnik, U.S. Navy (2000-2005)

What Advice Would You Give A New Recruit Just Starting Out Their Military Career?:

Two pieces of advice: 1) Keep all your request chits, and 2) Explore! For the first, I was able to renegotiate an evaluation because of this. I was marked down for not trying to pursue higher education, even though I had repeatedly sent chits up the chain of command to do so. They would either be denied or my work schedule would be changed, making it impossible for me to follow through with classes. When my evaluation came back to me to sign, I refused to until they changed that category to a better score, and I was able to prove my case because I had heeded the early advice given to me and saved all my request chits. When my chiefs saw their own signatures, they changed the score to a Promote.

read more
Largest Amphibious Invasions In Modern History

Largest Amphibious Invasions In Modern History

,

The Battle of Inchon was an amphibious invasion and battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations. The operation involved some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels and led to the recapture of the South Korean capital of Seoul two weeks later. The code name for the operation was Operation Chromite. Amphibious Invasions Turn the Tide at Inchon The battle began on September 15, 1950, and ended on September 19th. Through a...

read more
The Mailman Went UA (A Vietnam Memoir) by David W. Mulldune

The Mailman Went UA (A Vietnam Memoir) by David W. Mulldune

,

The year 2025 will see a lot of retrospective looks at the Vietnam War, as the United States’ involvement began in 1965 (or 1955, depending on who you ask) and officially ended with the 1975 Fall of Saigon. The best retrospectives anyone could possibly read are the no-holds-barred accounts of the war from those who were there, on the ground, doing the job. And few Vietnam memoirs are as poignant and honest as David Mulldune’s “The Mailman Went UA.”

read more
Korean War – Sacrifice And Survival at Chosin Reservoir

Korean War – Sacrifice And Survival at Chosin Reservoir

,

For 19-year-old Pat Finn, a Minnesota Marine with Item Co, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, the night seemed colder and darker than any of the others he'd experienced since landing in Korea. His Battalion had just arrived at a desolate, frozen lake he would remember for the rest of his life: the Chosin Reservoir. Chosin Reservoir Hit by a Devastating Surprise Attack As the sun went down on November 27, 1950, and temperatures sank to 20 degrees below zero, Marines at Yudam-ni, a small village on the...

read more
WW2 – Midway and Guadalcanal

WW2 – Midway and Guadalcanal

,

There is some debate on the turning point of the war in the Pacific Theatre. Some historians believe the Allied victory at the Battle of Midway was the defining moment, followed by aggressive island-hopping all the way to the Japanese homeland. Others view Midway as the tipping point in the war where the initiative hung in the balance only to swing toward the Allies following its major victory in the Guadalcanal campaign. According to many other historians, however, the turning point of...

read more
Summary of The Vietnam War (1959-1975)

Summary of The Vietnam War (1959-1975)

,

Vietnam was a country torn by war long before Americans became involved in the fighting. French domination was interrupted by the Japanese occupation in World War II, during which Communist leader Ho Chi Minh formed his Viet Minh organization and began guerrilla operations against both occupying powers. The Viet Minh came to power when Japan fell, and the French Indochina War began in 1946 as France attempted to regain control over its colony. The war ended in May 1954 when the Viet Minh...

read more
The Last Airborne Deployment of WWII

The Last Airborne Deployment of WWII

,

In the early morning hours of March 24, 1945, a massive WWII airborne operation known as Operation Varsity launched with an attempt to deploy 17,000 American and British Airborne troops across the Rhine River. It was the largest single-day airborne operation in history. Operation Varsity Launches Bold Airborne Assault C-47 Transport Planes Release Hundreds of Paratroopers during Operation Varsity. In the final months of WWII, Western Allied Forces advanced east into Germany. This meant...

read more
Service Reflections of Sgt Frank Vanacore , U.S. Marine Corps (1958-1964)

Service Reflections of Sgt Frank Vanacore , U.S. Marine Corps (1958-1964)

,

I had a cousin who is a Marine. He was on Embassy duty somewhere in Germany or Austria, I believe. I was a senior in high school at the time and didn’t know the time that he was a Mustang. I still don’t know all the details. When I decided college wasn’t for me, I decided to join the service. I picked the Marine Corps because of my cousin. I asked him for some advice on boot camp. I still remember his words, “Keep your ears open and your mouth shut.” Great advice, and it worked. I do know that he retired as a Major and still lives in Orange County, California.

read more
Valentine’s Day by Charles A. Van Bibber

Valentine’s Day by Charles A. Van Bibber

,

In the late nineteen sixties, the author made a life-altering journey that led him out of Texas and into the U.S. Marine Corps and eventually into the jungles of Vietnam as a machine gunner during the tumultuous year 1968.   'Valentine's Day' (so named because Van Bidder's unit, 2nd Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment, departed Camp Pendleton for Vietnam on February 14, 1968) is a very excellent read.  What makes it so is the straightforward accounting by the author on the horror,...

read more
LCpl Orville Richard Burrell (aka Shaggy), U.S. Marine Corps (1988-1992)

LCpl Orville Richard Burrell (aka Shaggy), U.S. Marine Corps (1988-1992)

Orville Richard Burrell, also known as Shaggy, who served on the US Marine Corps between 1988 and 1992, came to live in Brooklyn as a teenager after leaving his home of Jamaica. While he showed early musical promise, he was in need of steady income, and the Marines were happy to take him. Born on October 22 1968 in Kingston, Jamaica, Orville took singing lessons as a teen and discovered a natural talent. He earned the nickname ‘Shaggy’ because of his untamed hair, after the Scooby-Doo...

read more