Victoria Shadley: Light Wheel Vehicle Mechanic
Victoria Shadley was told the sergeant major didn’t like the grease under her fingernails from a recent brake job. And not long after, this Army light wheel mechanic found herself deployed to Turkey f...
7 Huhti 20251min
Paul Lesch: In the Engine Room
Paul Lesch’s day aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt started, officially, at 7 a.m. But there was constant maintenance to be done in the nuclear reactor space. Then there were late-night drills. He was ...
7 Huhti 20251min
Lori Allert: The Army Hospital at Landstuhl
Lori Allert was stationed at the Army hospital at Landstuhl in Germany. There, the nurse helped stabilize US military troops wounded in the First Gulf War before their trip to stateside hospitals.
7 Huhti 20251min
Kathy Friedrich: Iraqi Patients
As an Army nurse in the First Gulf War, Kathy Friedrich ended up spending more time taking care of Iraqi POWs than American wounded. Her patients broke down into two groups: Saddam Hussein’s elite Gua...
7 Huhti 20251min
John W. Marshall: Humanizing the Enemy
John W. Marshall was hit by friendly tank fire, though he didn’t know it at the time. He was on the ground when an Iraqi—the enemy—ran up and offered him a drink of water and a cigarette.
7 Huhti 20251min
Lisa Erickson: Engines and Sand
Lisa Erickson, a jet engine mechanic at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, specialized in the Pratt & Whitney F100 engine that went in the Air Force’s F-15 and F-16 planes. Though not directly in the G...
7 Huhti 20251min
Shelby Setnikar: A Surprise Awakening
Shelby Setnikar, a pharmacist tech with the Army’s Third Infantry Division, came off guard duty to take a nap in the large barracks tent when someone burst in shouting, "Gas! Gas! Gas!"
7 Huhti 20251min
Larry Liljenquist: Mail Call
Larry Liiljenquist, stationed on the USS Blue Ridge, looked forward to mail call. There were letters from family and packages from a Persian Gulf support group back home with, among other things, the ...
7 Huhti 20251min
