I am a French soldier who was sent on a mission to Afghanistan in 2001/2002. I was 21 years old, and I volunteered for the mission.

The role of my platoon was to maintain control over several small Afghan villages. It was very calm, as the fighting in that area had already ceased some time before my arrival. It was an incredibly profound human experience, as the local inhabitants were all kind,...

Does anyone know the policy about taking your kid with you to sit if your a single parent and have no one to watch your child?

This MF who was a pathological liar and terrible with money was once my friend and I let him borrow my nice suitcase to go back home from Japan. Time passes and it’s closing on him to check back in from leave. Sgt calls him and he says on the shin but he took the wrong way and has to wait to get off and catch the right direction. (You can make it maybe two stops before getting your ticket checked...

Military service is one of those "universally individual experiences": Everyone here has their own background, baggage, and stories to tell. We're able to relive and appreciate those stories because of our shared experience, shared understanding, shared knowledge, and shared hardship. We all took unique steps down a well-worn path.

Awareness of this reality started for me almost on Day One in the...

During my time in the military, I was stationed in a remote desert outpost known for its strange occurrences. We often heard rumors about unidentified flying objects and encounters with extraterrestrial beings, but I always dismissed them as mere urban legends.

One eerie night, however, my skepticism was shattered. I was on patrol duty with my squad, navigating through the barren landscape under a...

A new piece that will go in the book, in part or in whole. Enjoy.

The military has two kinds of volunteering, regardless of nation or branch. The first kind is "voluntold."

"I need a detail to police up the area before the general arrives. You three, get to it."

There is no "volunteer" in that at all. But we called it voluntold because they always said "I need" like it was a request, before...

It's been a while since I've posted a story here, and I really should be getting some (postgrad) university work done, but I really miss bullshitting with all you fuckers who have spent some time wearing some shade of green or brown, and I guess you guys who just wanna listen in on our campfire (only when in non-tac mode of course, especially seeing what drones can do today) stories are very much...

Dad was a WW2 paratrooper with the independent 509th. His nickname in the unit was Magnet because he was always getting shot. He had 4 Purple Hearts among his other awards.

In the end, near the town of Sadzot in December of 1944 dad was grievously wounded in the chest, face, throat and arms. After some battle field surgery he was evaced to a series of hospitals with each one triaging him as...

TL/DR: It’s a story - there is no TL/DR.

I’ve always felt that I lucked my way through the army - the right place at the right time. I joined right out of high school on an open Infantry enlistment. I sincerely doubted whether I was good enough to be a soldier. I thought it would really smoke me, but I could run, I was a former high school wrestler and I did just fine. Last day or two, a DS nudged...

I don't know the exact time or even exactly where (probably Sword beach). But my Granddad in the Royal Navy and was part of a crew for a landing craft/ part of a beach group. So as the story goes he was in a landing craft performing his regular duties when one of his friends got his attention to some army guy being transported to the beach who was in a nearby landing craft who was trying to get...