My grandfather (Mum's dad) fought in the second world war as an infantryman. He was Canadian, signed up as soon as he was able and probably lied about his birthday to get in early. His dad was an awful human being and basically abandoned raising him after his mom (my great grandmother) died or left, we don't know which. He was dropped off at an orphanage at the age of 5 or 6, and when he was...

infantry AIT at Ft Polk, going to the overhead livefire night course. in the bleachers for our instructions, we were told "do NOT leave your position until your squad leader comes for you. they've already been shown where to place you". it gets darker, we're placed. overhead fire commences. about 20 mins later it ceases. no one ever comes to get me. i'm thinking "do i violate my last order?"....

Late 1960's. I was on a Polaris submarine. I had just made an ice cream cone at the softy machine, sprinkled some chopped nuts and put a cherry on top. "BONG BONG BONG GENERAL QUARTERS MAN BATTLE STATIONS MISSILE MAN BATTLE STATIONS MISSILE BONG BONG BONG..." and so on. Not being one to waste an ice cream cone, I carried it through the boat as I ran to my battle station in Manuvering. My division...

About April 1968. After 18 months with the United States Army Security Agency's 51st Special Operations Company working as a MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) O58-20 - "Morse Code Intercept Operator", I was transferred to the 856th Radio Research Detachment (RRD - cover name for all ASA units in Vietnam - and spent two weeks being cross-trained to become an MOS 056-20, "Special Identifications...

^{The story you're about to read is true. All names have been changed to protect the innocent and the stupid.}

Prior to deployment to Iraq in 2004, our platoon sergeant had been in Operation: Desert Storm. We drew on his experiences to prep for a trip to the desert, including copious amounts of "chem lights" - those plastic sticks you bend in the middle until they snap, and give off light for a few...

Way back in 1985 I was stationed at Elizabeth City, NC. As it was explained to the crew, the city of Roanoke, VA was flooding, people were trapped and needing help. Apparently, the state police were called for air assistance, but they did not have a helicopter rigged for rescue. The Air Force was called but I never heard or don't remember why they couldn't help (the AF is responsible for inland...

A story over on r/talesfromtechsupport, reminded me of this. As much as I would love to forget it ever happened. This is nothing more than a rant. It's been 40 years and it's still something that pisses me off, but that I'm also prouder of than anything else I've ever done.

A bit of background, this was back in 1982/83 time frame, USAF was a LOT slacker back then on a lot of things. Mobility was...

As transcribed from my grandfather about his time in the Navy during WW2:

This is how I acquired my two Japanese Swords and a stopwatch which I have given to my grandson, xxxxxxxxxxxx.

In World War II, I was stationed on an amphibian ship. I acquired the two swords in January 1946 when we were dispatched to the Hokkaido islands to help evacuate 48,000 Japanese. During this process, we got...

Sorry about taking so long in writing this last story. I tried to write it within the 3 days of the last one, so it got kicked back. After that, I forgot about finishing the story.

This is a warning. It’s long, but good.

What finished her started when a married SGT (been in for 10 years at the time) and his whole family was sick including a newborn. His wife was so sick that she couldn’t get out...

In 1994, 35,000 Cubans jumped in rafts and floated for Miami. This was called ‘The Balsero Crisis’. These were people seeking a better life, and willing to risk everything for it. The Coast Guard picked up most of them and took them Guantanamo. When Guantanamo filled up, we built camps on Empire Range Complex next to Rodman Naval Base in Panama. There were four camps. Each held 1500 Cuban...