The Fire Pit

by Mitch “Taco” Bell Sometimes you never know who your neighbors are and I don’t mean that in the ax murderer scenario way, but in the sense that you have true heros hiding out in plain sight. Take Tommy King, for instance. One weekend we had a giant wind storm and …

by Greg Chabot Note from the author: The following is all from my perspective and how I remember it. Any inaccuracies are on me. Overview I often get asked, “What was the most dangerous mission you went on?” My reply: “Logpack to FOB Warhorse.”  Baqubah in 2004-05 was not a …

On this particular day, I was feeling quite fed up with all the fucking trackers. I went on a rant. And then… by Cliff Wade Back in Garrison, 2015 The Army is big on trackers. They track unit’s training requirements, numerous administrative actions, leave dates, fire extinguisher expiration dates, duty exemptions, …

by Mitch “Taco” Bell We called him “Pyro” after he ran around the Charleston O’Club, drunk as hell, butt-naked with a rolled-up newspaper stuck in the crack of his rear, on fire, and a green tee shirt over his head with two eyes cut out. Tonight, his in-flight emergency was …

by Kevin Cresswell Picture the scene: It was early hours on July 4, 2003, at Camp Slayer in Baghdad, Iraq. There were several hundred U.S. troops and a handful of odds and sods ‘Brits & Aussies.’ In the middle of the lake was a boathouse with a flagpole. During the …

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 Jim Lechner Editor’s note: Army Ranger (Ret) Jim Lechner wrote the following hymn to comradeship and patriotism – an essay that reverberates among those who long for the lost clarity of war. A veteran of multiple Special Operations missions, Lechner was wounded in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in …

by Greg Chabot The beginning of February 2005 was a busy time in Baqubah. Insurgent activity had picked up considerably, keeping all of us at the Police HQ on our toes. With the end of the deployment coming, I had tried multiple times to extend my tour but was denied. …

by Martin Kufus Excerpted from Plow the Dirt but Watch the Sky: True Tales of Manure, Media, Militaries, and More, by Martin Kufus. And the sign said YOU ARE LEAVING THE AMERICAN SECTOR.  Our Mercedes bus idled at Checkpoint Charlie, the tightly controlled Allied crossing through the Berlin Wall into the …

  by Babatim  I couldn’t take being out of the game anymore, so off I went to touch the elephant. I had just cracked open the first beer of the afternoon when I heard the rockets coming in. Wise now to the ways of war I stayed in my lawn …