Your Stories
Garland Auton
I recall looking hard at the word "homosexual" on the entry form I filled out to enlist in the U.S. Air Force, then at the "Yes" or "No" boxes that followed the word. It seemed as though time stood still as I considered how to answer that question.
Gene Bivens
At this time in our history, as we are contemplating a new war that would involve the lives of young U.S. men and women, it’s important to keep in mind the price of such war.
Gina Foringer
My driver and I were on a mail run in Somalia in 1993, between the seaport of Mogadishu and the U.N. compound. I was a convoy commander and my vehicle was second in the convoy. We ran over a command-detonated landmine that caused our truck to fly into the air.
Hank Thomas
I enlisted as a private in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve while I was in high school. After boot camp, I went on to graduate from the Virginia Military Institute. Following graduation, I was commissioned as a regular officer in the Marine Corps.
Jeff Cleghorn
I am from a working-class family in a small town in Georgia. I pursued an Army ROTC scholarship that allowed me to attend college, graduating as a "distinguished military graduate" from North Georgia College.
Jeffrey Kongslie
I enlisted in the Air Force to get an education, to do something meaningful and to see the world. It was 1992 and I was 18 years old. I knew that I was different, but I thought the military would "make a man" of me.