Personal Narrative: The 101st Airborne Division

The next day they send sent me out the battlefield to look for the enemy's hideout. Guns, bombs can be seen everywhere. I can't believe this is really happening. My hands, knees, every inch of my body is trembling. After a long day of search, we have no luck finding it. We finished eating dinner and ready to sleep. Volunteers can't stay at night in the field because we're inexperienced. I reach my bunk bed and saw an envelope. I opened it up and it was a letter from Jackson. It says that my family got attacked and they had found one body of a woman and a body of a kid identifying as my mother and my sister. I questioned myself if it was really a good idea leaving them. I am frustrated at Jackson where was he when they got attack he didn't do anything to help them, but I shouldn’t blame him it’s all my fault. They're gone everyone's gone, now I have more reason why we should win, I don't care if I survive or not. I have no one to return to. I crumble the paper and shove it in my bag, and slept. We continued searching here and there, but nothing ever comes. For about a week now one of my comrades got a clue where they’re might be hiding. The army formed a surprise attack. Tomorrow we're gonna launch the

It was 115 degrees; the platoon was walking through the middle of the desert each of them with 40 pounds of gear on and an M16A2 rifle. It was summer time in the country of Afghanistan and the temperature was rising. At this point I asked myself what the hell I am doing here and why did I join the United States Army? Right when I was thinking that I felt a tug on my leg and there stood a young boy about 7 years old with only one arm, “Candy,Candy” he asked. Upon speaking with the local villagers we found out that his arm was taken from an improvised explosive device (IED) planted

One of civil air patrol's motto's in the cadet program is "rise to the challenge". When I first joined shortly after my 12th birthday I had NO idea what that meant. BUT over time I've learned SO much about myself and my abilities despite my age. Like most cadets...I want to use MY TIME in civil air patrol to inspire and lead...BUT--most of all I want to offer my service....to my friends , my family and my community....

I was in the Marine Corps serving under Third battalion Eleventh marines Mike Battery in Twenty-Nine Palms California from 2009-2013. What our unit did was put rounds down range, oorah. We were an artillery battery, think modern day cannons. As far as twenty-nine palms all you have to imagine is sand in a five hundred square foot mile area. My job as Ammo chief was to insure the safe handling and transportation of hundred pound high explosive bombs. On one partially long training exercise I was instructed to take my marines and four ‘7-ton’ trucks and go to the rear to load up with more ammo. No problem, I’ve done this before but on this occasion when I was going to return the battery would have moved positions. So they gave me the grid number

All bullets were counted, beds made, uniforms cleaned, this occurred until suddenly 03:45 arrived. “Men, the time is nearly here,” my words choked as self-hatred flooded my body, “What we do here today will be remembered for generations to come, we fight today not only for ourselves, but all who we know. All our mates and family who live back home!” A faint cheer followed my speech as I steadied myself for what was to come. “We charge in 5 minutes. We charge not only for our freedom but for the freedom of our country. For the freedom of the world!” Spit filled the air from the cheer which erupted from my unit this time. A unity formed over the men, a cold malevolent sweat captured me. Who was I to send these boys to their death? A resolve set inside me, I would fight alongside my men, their lives are worth the same as mine. 04:00 “THIS IS IT MEN! WE FIGHT FOR THE WORLD!” I screamed as I led the charge. Vaulting out of the trench I saw no man’s land clearly for the first time. Death was everywhere, flies swarming the pools of blood. The land so barren of life no greenery was seen. A cold resolution set over me, it was the Germans fault, they caused

I was informed of a Hauptmann (company officer) was in the area and I was to kill him. The german forces were set up in the town square so I snuck into one of the buildings nearby to get a good shot on them. There were four of us assigned to the mission but I was to take the shot at the Hauptmann. As we waited for what seemed like hours the Hauptmann finally came out into the open. I set up my rifle and lined up my scope with the target I saw something I wish I didn't see, the Hauptmann was Heinrich little did I know he too joined the war but he quickly rose through the ranks and now my friend, my brother was at the other end of my rifle and I had to kill him. I didn't have much time and my companions were getting uneasy so I had two options shoot my brother and help win the war or let him live and possibly make the war last alot longer. So I did what had to be done I squeezed the trigger, everything went quiet as if the world stood still, a tear rolled down my left eye as I realised what I had done. I came back a hero everyone loved me, but what I would give to go back to those days in

As I stood in the gunner’s hatch completely focused with a firm grip on the 240B machine gun that was mounted on top of the Stryker I was assigned to. I listened to all the radio traffic that was being sent across the net hopeful and eager that maybe there was a chance we could recover the Soldier that had been taken captive. My heart was racing and the anticipation was high that night as it was pitch black and all you could see was the gun fight’s that were ensuing all throughout the Area of Operation (A.O.). As I scanned the surrounding area we were assigned that night to block off, all that kept running through my mind was we have to get this guy back.

With no vision or plan to enter the civilian life and no idea what to do with my life, I still had severe scars of the year in Iraq. There wasn’t a priority or a drive, but however, I did have some responsibility I had a wife and three children. In a desperate move, I attempted to return to the State where I was born as I think about it this may have been some comfort zone. I would send my two new children back home to their state while I attempted to land a job. My first interview would be in Cincinnati as a Retail Manager in a large company. Confident that I had some stability, I couldn’t avoid the heavy drinking or my violent outbursts I would eventually succumb to leaving my wife and two children to find myself in this lost world, which later I regretted. My focus was to leave everything behind and start a new life this would

thump Thump THUMP BOOM, “GET UP SOLDIER THIS IS A BATTLE GROUND NOT A BED Thomas blitzfield get up and shoot the dang nazis”! Major strongmen shouted at thomas who was knocked out by the motor that exploded near him. As he stumbled to his torn boots he gets knocked down again but this time by one of his squad members rien ” you should know better to stand up in a fight with a German tank”. Thomas had completely forgotten that there was a tiger tank involved,to be honest he had forgotten he was in a battle in the first place. As he slowly came to his senses (mind)and knelt on the ground instead of standing on his feet. He and 34 other soldiers were trapped against a army of 200 soldiers with much bigger fire power then them that was not including

We heard approaching footsteps so we hid inside some bushes. Later in the day, we ran into heavy German resistance. We heard a German shouting to us. One of our guys translated the German into English; "YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES TO SURRENDER OR WE WILL SWEEP THE DITCH FROM BOTH ENDS, AND THERE WILL BE NO CHANCE OF ANYONE SURVIVING." Lt. Bodak gave the order to surrender, but a few of us slipped through a hedgerow and fled towards a barn. As we entered the barn, three German Soldiers were trying to get out of the same door. We grabbed the German Soldiers and pulled them back inside. We had them as prisoners. While the prisoners were being guarded, I slipped away alone to another part of the barn. I pulled up a loose floorboard and stuffed my package which contained General Falley's command post flag, replaced the floorboard and covered it with straw. With our German prisoners as insurance, we left the barn safely. After travelling a few hundred yards, we came face to face with a German Tank, which fired its big gun at us. A shell exploded just behind our group, wounding many. One of the prisoners although bleeding from his wounds jumped up and waved cease-fire gestures to the tank commander. The insurance paid off, the tank commander decided to take prisoners rather than kill us. After being taken prisoner, we walked several miles to a chateau where there were about 250 prisoners, American, British

It was about to be noon and you look to your left. You see the landing craft filled with people and you see your friend waving at you. You didn’t wave back because you were getting sea sick. Your friend turns around and looking straight at his captain. You turned your right side and there were more landing crafts. You hear Jack speaking up and you turned around. Jack says “listen up, D company wants our bloody A** up to the cliff to take down those gunners. But first we would need to…”. “German counter attack”, someone yells out. You see mortars shells falling down from the sky and hitting some of the landing crafts. You look around and saw about 11 landing crafts had exploded and burnt in flames. You see burnt bodies on the railings and on the water. You were hoping that none of your friends died from the mortar strike. You see gun fire from the cliff shooting downwards towards you. Someone yelled out “get down”. You ducked down. You saw people in your boat fell to the

The anticipation was gnawing at my stomach, the date was June 5th 1944.I feel i'm going to die on this bed, waiting for the green light to invade Omaha, just as I feel myself calm down we are called outside. I hop out of my bed and start the stroll outside, while i'm outside I run into Pvt. Jason Tyron, although everyone calls him Humphrey due to the fact he looks like Humphrey Bogart. I slug him in the shoulder, “How's it going Humphrey.” With no hesitation he slugs me back twice as hard.,

“August, 1944. Beach landing south of France. Suddenly the day is ripped apart by the sound of machine gun fire; you and your men are pinned down with no help en route. As you rush forward, sliding in amongst your men, you see the fear in their eyes. If ever there was a now or never moment, now is it. With no regard for your own safety, you slam a fresh magazine in your carbine, grab two grenades and charge around the farmhouse between you and the machine gun nest. You quickly find yourself separated from your men; the only option is

I joined the Marine Corps looking for a challenge. I wanted to open doors for a new career and longed to have a positive impact on the world around me. Looking back five years later, I realize I found all that I originally sought, but I’ve also found something profoundly satisfying and meaningful that I never knew I was missing.

This means I am old enough to fight for my country. To be a fighter. A US soldier. I have been convinced to be a soldier on the day that my dad was told to be in coma. It’s time for me to live for him to fight for him. I will not do this for revenge, but for the greater good. I will have to train and exercise to help in war. Hitler is wrong and must be stopped before he stops us from fighting him. His famous pledge/salute become to us as a formal threat because he wanted to eliminate one certain type of mankind, jews. Japs had that chance to destroy Pearl harbor base which they did. The US knew they could have but we didn’t know Japan would do such a thing. So, USA decided to fight back. Know I am here being a US recruit. No knowledge about nothing involved in the military. I realize I do know something I know how to ride a simple helicopter but I could learn how to ride something bigger. At that moment they asked me, “Son, do you have any specialties?” Says the weird looking guy that I don't know his name, or rank. I simply answered “I know how to pilot a helicopter”. “Thank’s” he said. “Well, congrats Lucas Marcus you are now a US military