The Fire Pit

by Fred A. Ganous, SGM, USA (Ret) The departure point was LZ Washington in downtown Baghdad, which stayed busier than the Atlanta airport. The pilot in command was a Chief Warrant 4 who was well-trained in his aviation duties. He saw a convoy of five U.S. army vehicles come under …

By Greg Chabot In mid-2005 the name Juba struck fear into coalition troops in Baghdad. He had become a folk hero to the insurgency with his attacks on check points that were filmed and uploaded to the internet along with a graphic novel written about him. He would leave an …

Precious time is the most valuable thing any of us will ever possess. by Heath Hansen As I reflect on what Memorial Day means, and remember the sacrifices so many American servicemen and servicewomen made for my freedom, I’m humbled. I think about the buddies I lost – the guys I knew …

by Cliff Wade It was the kind of place where a man earned his name on a bracelet for all eternity.  Iraq, September 2007 In an attempt to win over hearts and minds, we would sometimes be tasked with delivering humanitarian assistance (HA) to local villages or neighborhoods. We would …

Depressed over the April 30, 1975 fall of Saigon, this Army veteran went to see a new movie. by Jack Hawkins Released in Los Angeles in 1978, The Deer Hunter was already becoming a legendary film by the time it hit “flyover country” a few months later. I was between …

by Carl Hancocks For the past four years, the city of Agadez has been what could barely pass as home for a woman without a name. Nigerian, she fends for herself as a sex-worker, but that was not how she arrived in this place. Her story is that of a …

Rusting Vietnam-era landing mats and weathered steel still mark the remains of Clinton’s 1990s border fence. Retired Border Patrol agent Richard Hansen was part of the team that built it. by Richard Hansen and Heath Hansen In 1994, under the Clinton administration, Operation Gatekeeper received bipartisan support to help secure …

by James Woods Editor’s note: Reader James Woods sent this story about his father in law, who had an interesting time one night after dark during WWII. My father in law was assigned to the HQ company of an engineer unit as a driver during WWII. The unit was going …

by Jan Scruggs As you readers may know, I started what is now known as The Wall.  The wall gets 5 million visitors a year, according to the National Park Service.  The idea was not complex. We would get a site and build a memorial engraved with the names of “..the men …

“Hey knucklehead. See these gold wings? I’m a God damn Naval Aviator. I know how to fly this plane.” by Mitchell “Taco” Bell Dear Gang, While I was channel surfing the other day, I stopped on a news clip about two battle groups in the Persian Gulf off the coast …