There are no words to adequately describe my past week in Afghanistan. I received an email from Kevin’s Company Commander giving me the go ahead to go down to Camp Leatherneck and see my son. Kevin is a Corporal and a squad leader in 1/5 Marines and has been doing daily foot patrols in the Sangin Valley of the Helmand Province in Afghanistan for the past 7 months. This is the most dangerous part of the country resulting in the highest number of casualties. It is...read more

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Wow, what a journey. I think its Tuesday but I am not quite sure. Leaving Friday from Fort Benning, traveling 22 hours to Kuwait, sleeping overnight at Ali Al Salem airbase, flying on a C 17 to Bagram and spending the night. I then choppered out the next afternoon to Kabul and convoyed into Camp Phoenix. A long journey, but at times, very interesting and exciting. The only negatives were not knowing when your next flight would be (due to sand storms) and carrying...read more

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Today was 0 day. I left my wonderful family in the O.C. and headed to Fort Benning, Georgia. My wife and kids dropped me off at the airport at 05:30 with hugs and kisses and it was downhill from there. The lady in the check in line argued for 15 minutes about paying for extra weight for her bag. Normally I would side with the lady but it took two people to lift her bag onto the conveyor belt. My first flight was uneventful; however, the next flight was,...read more

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Porcelain Toilet Seats Who ever thought that other than missing my family and friends, I would really miss a porcelain toilet? Now that I am home, the seemingly insignificant things in life are really appreciated. That being said, the last 2 weeks at basic training (BOLC) were exciting as well as challenging. The last...read more

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Week three was a blast. Every day something new and interesting. What’s more, I am over “it”. What I mean is that I am totally comfortable in my field environment. The cots, latrines, food and freezing morning temps just don’t faze me anymore. I can’t wait to get back to the FOB (forward operating base) tomorrow. We are out of here (Fort Sam) at 0500 and back for more FTX (field training exercises). This week we will...read more

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1 week down 3 to go What a great week! We started on Saturday getting our gear (TA 50) from the CIF. Everything was packed into one duffle bag (sea bag for the Marines and Sailors). We were then informed that we had to somehow pack our ACUs, undergarments, and anything else we needed into the same bag. For the prior military...read more

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http://armystrongstories.com/tell-your-story/Holy cow! These past three days have been awesome. I have met some incredibly interesting and motivated Americans! The Cadre are VERY helpful and so knowledgeable. We started Friday morning at 04:30 with an outdoor intro to proper push-ups and sit-ups. Did I mention it was outdoors and about 40 degrees. Only the prior military folks were smart enough to wear fleece. The rest of us new kids only had our...read more

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I am a 60 year old highly motivated physician from Newport Beach, California who has the privilege to go to Fort Sam Houston this Wed to begin OBLC RC. Becoming a part of the United States Army has always been a dream of mine and in just 3 days, that dream will come true. I have put this dream on hold since the early 80's when my wife and I started a family, a practice and bought a house. Now that all my kids college educations are taken care of, I belive the time is...read more

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