Personal Narrative: Flexibility In The Military

I’m a military child. Change was instilled in me since my birth in Spain. My childhood was spent briefly in Europe, the east coast of the U.S, and eventually the Midwest. This change of scenery, schools, friends, and just about everything else in my life led me to be the person I am today. Travelling was amusing and I enjoyed change of pace every couple of years, but it wasn’t easy. I learned early on that getting attached to people wasn’t a good idea and should be avoided in preparation for the next move. This led me to being an incredibly shy child who couldn’t open up to people. The world I come from is an adventurous but problematic one. When I concluded making friends would assist with each transition I found myself too terrified to attempt

It is important to say that the HUMVEE had its own agenda and was not part of the resupply of ammo and it is also more important to the story to say that it had the map and radio. Getting to the FASP was easy, I’ve been there hundreds of times and after a certain amount of driving the closer you get to “home” the more terrain you recognize. Once at the FASP I do what I get paid to do, load up and strap down High Explosives. This is where the plot thickens. The Driver of the HUMVEE having his own agenda took one of my marines because he needed him and goes away to do whatever mission he had to do. So including myself I’m down to seven marines. After we finished loading up we stage the trucks getting ready to head out. So after a quick SITREP (review our gear and situation.) We realize that we are an A-driver down, we have no radio or map, its hours away from being dark, and the best part is we don’t even have close to enough gas to get there. These are 7-ton trucks strapped with about 16,000

After the leadership conducted map recon they decided to push to a ridgeline that would give us a 360 degree view of the area. To paint a better picture there were a series of three ridgelines that were running almost parallel roughly a thousand meters apart. The plan was to push us to the middle ridgeline and recon the area. Everyone in the Platoon dropped most of their equipment except for the guys carrying mortar rounds and equipment. We meet no resistance getting to the ridge but moved slower than planned because not everyone could drop all of their equipment. When myself and the rest of 3rd platoon arrived on top of the ridgeline we were not prepared for what was about to happen next. In the time it took us to regroup, make a plan, initiate movement, and arriving at our new location, the enemy was able to set up a complex ambush on our location. The firefight was initiated by a few guys on the ridgeline to the south opening up with small arms and rpg fire. Then platoon almost reacted simultaneously by jumping to the reverse slope of the ridgeline. The spot I slid down was a little steep and I slid roughly eight feet down. The enemy knew this would be our reaction and they had a firing squad ready for us on the ridgeline to the north. We’re trapped, they opened up fire and it was a mad scramble back to the top of the ridgeline. With my 60mm in one hand and my M4 in the other it was a bit of a struggle to get to the top. Luckily a friend of mine SPC Tomila was there at the top along with one of our Afghan counterparts with their arms extended reaching down for me. They grabbed my arms and started to pull me up, the earth below my feet started popping where machine gun rounds were impacting. This was single handedly the scariest moment of my life. I made it back to the top of the ridgeline and started low crawling backwards to the direction I’m getting

It all started on a dare, I was told to join the armed forces. So I did, but everything changed that day when I saw a petty officer sprinting down the street. Only to stop not 2 feet in front of me and say “urgent telegram for Sergeant Rose!!” Which is when I knew that something was different because I never get anything important from the air force, I had only become sergeant a month ago. The briefing was hard because we knew most wouldn’t come back. Then it was shipping day. The steps toward the plane weren’t any better most of the men were married and yet most of them knew, knew that more likely than not they weren’t making it back. As for the ones that would be able to sleep on their own beds after this, well it would be worse. They would have to live with the fact that they lost their brothers in arms, but hey I'm getting ahead of myself, gotta focus on surviving.

When I was a boy, I had a dream to go in the military. The Marines corps to be exact. The toughest of the tough. My mom did not approve. Why you ask? Because her husband,my dad, had been taken prisoner of war and went MIA is WWI. My dream came true, but not without a price. I had paid dearly for it. Now here is my story…

I’m born in country which to be have fallowed the religion, culture we never can step up from those things. Important from this we have social life not an Individual life at the most part of our life we have to follow our adult our family members. At the beginning 2002 one of my brother went to army, I was waist sometimes when he was in training, I try so many to go inside the training area but I was not allowed to go inside. Finally one day I went inside of the Kabul military training center, when I saw the role and discipline that was to interesting for me then. I decided to join the military in 2003.

So, once I decided to move up to the front-line, in the back of my mind I realised that as part of providing this care, I'd have to carry arms to defend myself, and to defend my patients, and those looking after my patients. The front-line was a terrible place. It was situated just over the border from Albania, within Kosovo. The days were quite warm - up to 35 degrees, and the nights cooled down to temperatures just above zero. I set up a surgical unit in a small cave that had been used by shepherds previously. This cave was only situated 300 or so metres from the forwardmost Serbian positions. The cave itself measured only seven or eight metres by four metres across, and I had to do all the operating at the mouth of the cave, to make the

It is one month ‘till March 1st, the day my time in the Army is done. All those miserable days of fighting are almost done. But, the question I’ve been asking myself is, will I re-enlist? I’ve served my time of 9 months in the Army.(D.B.Q., Background Essay) in really harsh conditions. Sleeping in a small hut with 12 other men, eating firecakes, no shoes and barely any clothing. Having to relive myself outside in the open. Lastly having that terrible illness.Will I re-enlist or not re-enlist? In other words, will I sign up again, or will I quit and not join the Army again? I will not re-enlist because of no food and supplies, bad conditions, and all the diseases going around. Also I am concerned in my aging mother. If I die who will take care

Morning happens and I wake up at exactly at 5:12 am; just one minute before the alarm. I have been literally doing that all my life. I get ready and later wait for the bus from 7:00 am even though the suggested time to wait for the bus is 7:20 and the bus arrives at 7:30! I am told by my family members and friends that I am compulsive, I can be described as a person who lives the military lifestyle even though I do not know anyone who serves in the military. It just comes naturally. I start my school day with a positive attitude even though my surroundings are filled with depressing situations (my mom’s struggle, violence at school, disruptive students). I try to learn something new every day at school, I ask questions, I am curious. Bell

Our convoy would move forward as a leading element to the Gulf War in convoys we moved across the desert at a fast pace it was the longest we would stay awake it was close to a day and half until we would meet our objective phase line Delta as the convoy came to a halt the radio silence began then all of a sudden loud explosions in the air and on the ground. As we buttoned up, you couldn’t hear yourself think within minutes we were in our battle stations and moving right to engage an enemy tank. This would be the moment to see if your team worked together with all the intense training, As I yelled “gunner hep 350” everything came naturally the round that was the size of a watermelon was chambered and a direct hit to the enemy tank. My adrenaline was so high as I ordered the other tanks to engage. Night time approached fast, and fighting intensified. As my unit moved forward, we would engage tank after tank not knowing if we were winning. All I knew was that my tanks were moving forward as radio chatter increased. I heard of one of our tanks hit and partially destroyed looking through my scopes I could see the flames about one mile to my left, deciphering the radio communications there would be no one near the tank to help. I could hear the alarms that only two survivors needed assistance! I picked the radio mic up and said, “Alpha 45 in route to retrieve tank”. Hesitating, the Commanding Officer yelled back for a crossfire which meant there would be both enemy and friendly tanks as I approached the

At the age of seven I was a good, smart boy who never got into trouble, who always obeyed the rules until one day I was walking home from school on a rainy day. A woman in her 50’s hit me with her car while I was crossing the road. I was taken to the hospital and was determined by the doctors to be in a coma for a long time. My parents were devastated and could not go on, in only three short weeks I awoke form the comatose state. My parents were separated and resented each other. After a childhood of blaming my parents for all the mistakes I made I had to grow up and become a adult so I enlisted in the United States Army. Six years of my life was dedicated to the military, being a hard working individual with a weight problem. I had to work

Throughout life I have always been reminded that freedom is not free, and my few years in the service have confirmed that. Military service is of extreme importance because without the men and women that protect and serve, the United States of America would not be what it is today. Throughout history, America gained it’s freedom and independence with use of military power. With today’s threat of enemies whom are willing and capable to harm, a powerful and robust military is a necessity in deterring this kind of terrorism. The military paved the chance to change my life and better my future for my potential family down the road. My career in the military helped envision my true ambitions and matured me in a special way. My commitment in the

the incident that affected me the most is when we had to go on patrol outside of the base camp to familiarize ourselves with the surroundings. during one specific convoy (exact date and time is unknown but I happened during the early stages of deployment) we came into contact with an area which consisted of a town or village that showed evidence of damages of where a military skirmish had taking place. I saw several buildings, home and vehicles (both enemy and civilian such as tanks, jeeps, pickup trucks and other vehicles modified for combat) that had been bombed exploded, set on fire or fired upon with weapons which was obvious given all the bullet holes, artillery and mortar damages. all of which was charred and burnt. I also saw several

Readying this post took me back to my deployment. I remember on the nights I was down and out I would go out to the flight line with my headphones and just let the music get me through the night. Most of the time we knew when planes were coming down so id get out there a little early or on the nights I just wanted to get away from everybody. Most of the time I was going out early and sitting on the spot jamming out. I will say that it was soothing for me and helped me get past the home sick feeling. Also with all the crazy attacks we were under it gave me a chance to forget I was in a hostile area and get away from it all. The music let me think about what I wanted to do when I finally made it back home. I did a lot of thinking on my deployment

It was just past midnight in a foreign country when I first saw the bottle of Habu Sake behind the bar with a two-headed snake inside it. I had just got to my first duty station earlier that week on the U.S.S. George Washington in Yokosuka, Japan. I remember being extremely nervous because everything around me for the last few months has been nonstop changing, ever since I joined the United States Navy. This was the first time since leaving for boot camp that I knew I would be in a somewhat permanent location. I had just gotten a tour of the ship and met my new division, when a couple of guys invited two other new guys and me to go out drinking with them. Since I was new and having nothing else to do and wanting to make new friends, I gladly accepted the offer. That was probably the best mistake I ever made.