VA Military Memories Competition

1SG Randy Taylor, Jr., U.S. Army (2002-2023)

1SG Randy Taylor, Jr., U.S. Army (2002-2023)

What do you miss most about your time in the service and what made this especially significant to you?:

Purpose Is Everything. What I miss most about my time in the service has a lot to do with my purpose in life. A purpose that drove my successes and failures over the past 20 years or so. Each day came and went with a purpose while I served in the Army and this was significant to my own self-development. I joined the Army right after the September 11th attacks and I recall landing in Germany for my first duty station after basic training with nothing more than a backpack of a few personal items, the clothes on my back and a folder with what I was told was “very important-do-not-lose” HQDA assignment orders. My purpose was made clear to me at that point and from the infancy of what would be my career as an Infantryman.

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Sgt Jack Riley, U.S. Marine Corps (1966-1972)

Sgt Jack Riley, U.S. Marine Corps (1966-1972)

What do you miss most about your time in the service and what made this especially significant to you?:

Marines are brothers for life. We each grew up in neighborhoods or farming communities where life centered around family, church, and school. We developed friendships we thought would last forever, but everyone scattered all over the country after high school graduation. Some of us could not afford college away from home, so we went to work and attended local university centers. I completed my first two years of college and married my high school sweetheart.

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Cpl Lyubov Shtrigel, U.S. Marine Corps (2009-2013)

Cpl Lyubov Shtrigel, U.S. Marine Corps (2009-2013)

What do you miss most about your time in the service and what made this especially significant to you?:

No one from my family approved nor even believed in me when I signed up for the Marine Corps in late spring of 2008 right around the time the recession hit. As a matter of fact, when it came time to attend the monthly poolie sessions in order to prepare me for bootcamp, my dad adamantly refused to take me there and wouldn’t budge no matter how much I pleaded with him. At that time I had no means of transportation and had just relocated to NC from CA after losing my 3 year job because the company I worked for had filed for bankruptcy. My dad stated that he was not going to contribute to his daughter’s death and that is what he believed would happen to me if I joined the military. His idea of the military was the one he was forced to enlist in 50 years prior as a Ukrainiaan in the Russian army where there were days the soldiers had nothing to subsist on but raw onion and stale black bread, not to mention so many other horrors he experienced there as well. Trying to explain the difference to my dad between his forced service in Russia half a century ago to my voluntary desire to serve in the United States was like talking to a brick wall, literally impossible. However, rather than giving up, I wanted to prove to him, to all of them, that I was my father’s daughter through and through and was made of harder stuff than what they thought I was made of…that I had what it takes to become a Marine and it was not going to necessarily end with my untimely death. Because when theres a will, there is a way, and I found that way.

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Cpl Daniel Crispell, U.S. Marine Corps (1966-1968)

Cpl Daniel Crispell, U.S. Marine Corps (1966-1968)

What do you miss most about your time in the service and what made this especially significant to you?:

The bond of Friendship. My Marine Friend Bob born 04-06-1946 . We met in Vietnam and were both Dump Truck drivers leading convoys and building roads into the jungle. While at Hill-55 we worked on Liberty Road and camped in a tent over looking the river and our bunkers below. Everynight after 8 pm we were attacked bullets whizzing through our tent. While working on this road I had a bulldozer track blown up in front of me. During the day working I had another Marine’s truck reared blew up by a landmine.

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CPL Joshua Thigpen, U.S. Army (2002-2014)

CPL Joshua Thigpen, U.S. Army (2002-2014)

What do you miss most about your time in the service and what made this especially significant to you?:

Brotherhood and Comradery: What I Miss Most From My Military Service.

While I miss many things from my time in the service every day, the element I miss the most is the comradery I shared with those I served with. In the early 2000s, it was a high op-tempo existence. We were constantly mobilized OCONUS, CONUS, and even assisting with things like Hurricane Katrina. We never knew if we would be together, and when several of us would be pulled out for an ad-hoc mission, we didn’t know if it would be the last time we would ever see one another. Yet somehow, we always found our way back together, and some of the most defining characteristics of who I am today came from my time with my brethren in the field. We didn’t squabble over issues that currently tear friends, family, and compatriots apart; we just saw each other as brothers to fight next to and for. When I look back on those days, I don’t remember the fear, I don’t remember the pain, the sweat, the tears of agony, enduring whatever hardship was placed before us next. What I remember is the laughter, the smiles, the extremely cool and unique things we got to do as soldiers together. Whether it be the disciplined execution of elements within our Top Secret ADA Mission in the NCR or us looking out for one another as we shammed out behind a connex, I have never trusted and believed in a group of men to both do their duty with integrity and to look out for me while doing it.

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SGT John Podlaski, U.S. Army (1970-1971)

SGT John Podlaski, U.S. Army (1970-1971)

What do you miss most about your time in the service and what made this especially significant to you?:

What I miss from my time in the service. Remember when we were younger, we had lots of friends. Although we had our favorites and best friend – it was a crushing blow when our family had to move to another location. We lost that best friend – never to be seen again. However, we met new friends, and with some, a lasting relationship. When I was in Vietnam, I was assigned to a squad of soldiers in one of the infantry platoons. Although the size should be a dozen or so soldiers, we generally ran with eight soldiers. We spent 24 hours a day with one another and got to know each other rather well. Oftentimes, we shared intricate secrets that we kept to ourselves for many years. Trust was never questioned. Was it possible to have eight besties?

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