STORIES FROM OTHER CONFLICTS

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  Sean Baerman - Air Force +8 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Fighter pilot Sean Baerman's career was defined by the aircraft he loved, the A-10, affectionately known as the Warthog. It was designed to fight the Soviets but instead it saw service all over the world against a variety of enemies. (Caution: strong language)

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  Michael Hull - Army +9 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Michael Hull wanted to wait for his son to graduate high school in Canada so he extended his assignment there despite being told it would sink his next promotion. Turned out it did not so he continued his career as a full Colonel. A major highlight was his time at the Pentagon where he helped shepherd the Apache and Blackhawk programs through the budgeting process.

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  Stanley McChrystal - Army +9 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  In a time when only thirty percent of young people qualify to enlist in the armed forces, General Stanley McChrystal has become part of the Service Year Alliance, a group which promotes a paid year of national service.

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  Harold Dudley - Army Air Corps +9 Total Videos

  111th Army Airways Communications Squadron, 86th Army Airfield Unit, 13th Air Force

  After the big war, Army Air Corps veteran Harold Dudley was active in ROTC at college and participated in extensive MP training. His expertise was tested when he was serving at Fort Benning and given orders to clean up the cesspool at nearby Phenix City, Alabama. (This interview made possible with the support of CHESTER RUST.)

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  Harold Sterrett - Air Force +13 Total Videos

  Strategic Air Command (SAC)

  During his time at the Strategic Air Command, Rollie Sterrett had to give private briefings to a Navy Admiral who wasn't allowed in the general briefings due to arcane inter-service politics. The first question from the admiral forced Rollie to make a delicate choice, but he chose well.

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  Brooks Tucker - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment

  Brooks Tucker nearly came into contact with Iraqi Army units while deployed near Khafji in Saudi Arabia. His infantry platoon was supposed to dig in deep if confronted by Iraqi tanks and then pull a surprise maneuver. Only thing, it depended on them not getting run over by the tanks.

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  LTG (Ret) Lawson W. Magruder III - Army +14 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  The army had to plan for operations that were short of total war, stability and security operations. Lawson Magruder worked with a team writing new light infantry doctrine, which was the type of force that would be tasked with these missions. Ironically, he was soon at the 10th Mountain Division, which was destined for Somalia.

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  LTG (Ret) Robert T. Clark - Army +15 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  The Army reinvented itself after Vietnam. The NCO corps was professionalized with new schools and many other lessons learned were applied. Bob Clark rose through the ranks during this time in some key roles.

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  Walt Richardson - Air Force +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Asked what was the strangest thing he saw in the Air Force, Walt Richardson recalls a visit to a Japanese bath house while he was stationed in Okinawa. The proprietor had never seen a black man before and was puzzled about something.

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  LTG (Ret) John LeMoyne - Army +15 Total Videos

  24th Infantry Division

  John LeMoyne had come in to Saudi Arabia leading an advance team. Starting from scratch in the desert, in the summer, huge operating bases were established. The locals were amazed at the way the Americans adapted to the environment. It was during this conflict that many innovations in troop care and comfort were devised.

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  Norman Kling - Marines +12 Total Videos

  Marine Corps Reserve

  Marine Corps reservist Norman Kling was activated for Korea and there was one thought uppermost in his mind. How long will this delay my college degree?

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  George Ferkes - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Special forces went through a bit of a renaissance after the failed rescue of the hostages in Iran. Never again would US special operations be caught flat footed and unprepared. Pilot George Ferkes was a part of that mission and it provided him with a purpose that guided him through the rest of his career.

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  Roland Guidry - Air Force +18 Total Videos

  8th Special Operations Squadron

  The seizure of the American embassy in Tehran caught the Pentagon flat footed with no existing special operations capability to do anything about it. An ad hoc task force was hastily assembled and Roland Guidry was part of that effort. He had just assumed command of an Air Force special ops squadron which immediately began training with the new Delta Force. Part 1 of 4.

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  Bob McClaren - Navy +9 Total Videos

  Multiple Ships

  He retired on a Thursday and started a job at Newport News Shipbuilding the following Monday. 24 years on submarines and 25 more building them. Bob McClaren was proud of his Cold War service which stymied the Soviet expansion.

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  Harold Sterrett - Air Force +13 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  At the time, Rollie Sterrett thought you had to be a pilot to advance in his specialty in the Air Force intelligence community. That turned out not to be the case, but he had no regrets leaving the service for a successful private life.

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  Walt Richardson - Air Force +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  It was a little known story. 1500 airmen were sent out from the Tuskegee Airmen to integrate white units in the Air Force. Walt Richardson was one of those and the work he did did not stop when he retired.

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  Bob Ratonyi +17 Total Videos

  Hungarian Civilian

  For Bob Ratonyi, living in communist Hungary meant only one inevitable outcome, moral decay. When you have to lie, cheat and steal, just to have a decent life, it begins to affect your soul. Still, there were true believers in the utopian fantasy.

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  LTG (Ret) John LeMoyne - Army +15 Total Videos

  24th Infantry Division

  John LeMoyne never had a bad assignment. That's the way he looked at it, anyway, and it had a lot to do with the excellent leaders he encountered throughout his career. They helped him crack the code on how to win the trust of soldiers.

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  George Ferkes - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  There is a always lot of dry humor in military life. Special operations pilot George Ferkes recalls some moments from his career that made him laugh.

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  Roland Guidry - Air Force +18 Total Videos

  8th Special Operations Squadron

  Early in the planning for the rescue attempt of the hostages in Iran, it was decided that carrier based helicopters would be the key aircraft. They would rendezvous with fixed wing aircraft carrying personnel and fuel in the remote Iranian desert. Pilot Roland Guidry explains why a preliminary clandestine mission was required before planning could continue. Part 2 of 4.

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  Brig Gen Tom Fleming - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  From the beginning, Tom Fleming wanted to be a fighter pilot. He settled for a tour as a forward air controller in Vietnam and, after that, his quest for fighters continued as he embarked on a lengthy Air Force career. That career took him to Turkey, Germany, many stateside bases and the Pentagon, but it was Hawaii that was most satisfactory.

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  Dennis Smith - Air Force +13 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  It was 1990 and Dennis Smith had put in his retirement papers. That was when he learned about Stop-Loss. The general had one more job for him.

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  Angela Beltz - Army +11 Total Videos

  134th Quartermaster Detachment

  There is a song that will make Angela Beltz recall her time in the desert, and another that will make her cry. As for the present, she is worried about the military being able to recruit among the existing pool of young people. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, the National Veterans Memorial & Museum- https://nationalvmm.org/)

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  Al Stiles - Navy +16 Total Videos

  Multiple Ships

  While in the Mediterranean aboard the USS Talbot, Petty Officer Al Stiles flippantly suggested to the captain that he should be able to learn to drive the ship and stand that watch. To his surprise, the captain did just that and the captain of his next ship agreed to continue. This led to an interesting exchange between the captain and Admiral Stansfield Turner.

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  Brooks Tucker - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment

  Operation Desert Storm was so brief that Brooks Tucker, a Marine veteran of that conflict, believes that it may be a forgotten war. He speaks of the lessons learned, including operating in desert terrain and adjusting expectations for possible outcomes.

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  Rick Hilton - Air Force +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  The second homecoming from Vietnam wasn't as bad as the first for Rick Hilton. The war was basically over and he settled into an Air Force career. Eventually retiring out of the Pentagon, he had another career waiting at Hughes Aircraft.

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  Bob Ratonyi +17 Total Videos

  Hungarian Civilian

  It began as a simple student march in Budapest permitted by the communist government. Overnight, it became a bloody uprising. Bob Ratonyi was an eighteen year old freshman who was swept up in the moment. It began a course of events that would lead to a brutal crackdown and to his eventual escape to the West. Part 1 of 4.

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  Brig Gen Tom Fleming - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  Joint Staff (JS)

  As Operation Desert Shield gave way to Operation Desert Storm, the Pentagon needed someone like a fighter pilot to brief the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense on biological and chemical warfare in language they could understand. So, Tom Fleming became the "bugs and gas guy."

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  Paul Berry - Army +16 Total Videos

  514th Ambulance Company, 36th Medical Battalion

  Paul Berry saved a few t-shirts from his time in the Army but there is one that is special. From the Desert Storm deployment with the 514th Ambulance Company, a shirt that only a select few have.

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  Ben Wormington +12 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  In Iraq, Ben Wormington befriended an Iraqi interpreter who was a big help to his unit. Years later, he heard from the man on Facebook and began a decade long struggle to bring him and his family to America.