2:55 | Carlene Knoll-Arambula recalls a valuable teamwork lesson learned during Navy bootcamp. Provided by Bob Stevens, the Veterans' Forum.
There were two parallel conflicts in Central America while Hank Cramer was serving with Special Forces in the area. The Sandanistas were fighting the Contras in Nicaragua and Manuel Noriega was running Panama like Al Capone.
LTG Wesley was deployed to Germany at the tail end of the Cold War where he was able to serve with the 1st Armored Division. He would have to sit out Desert Storm, but the experience gained during this time would be very valuable in the future.
Walt Richardson was in the last all black training flight in the Air Force. His aim was to serve his three year obligation and then return to college, but he saw a musical revue put on by members of the fabled Tuskegee Airmen. They were holding open auditions and he went to showcase his fine singing voice.
What is one sign of a Special Forces success? The lack of a war. If war does break out, they are likely already there. Hank Cramer's father was a member of the very first Special Forces unit and their motto was Everywhere Yet Nowhere.
The class before his and the class after his were all sent to Korea but George Carrigan's entire class of radar maintenance technicians were sent to Germany. He found it to be much like America in some ways but it was also the front line in the Cold War.
When Dionne Archibald went to the Military Sea Lift Command, she was lucky to get a brand new ship. The job was fueling and supplying ships at sea and it was during this time that she got to make a contribution to the Desert Storm operation.
Hank Cramer had grown up with only a memory of his father. He wanted to be in Special Forces like him but the Army put him in the Signal Corps. He did manage to get to Airborne School and he kept applying for Special Forces, always hoping. Finally, he got the call. It was the First Special Forces Group, the same unit as his father.
Tom Grissom was an accidental finance officer. Assigned to that function in Australia, he returned to the States after the war and continued in that capacity, rising to the highest levels of the Finance Corps.
People skills and networking allowed LC Johnson to rise in the Air Force and they also enabled him to succeed in the field of education after he retired. From guidance counselor to superintendent, it was a mirror of his military career.
Five years was all the Signal Corps would let Hank Cramer stay in Special Forces and he was in the field nearly the entire time. There was no war, but countries everywhere were asking for help. All over Southeast Asia and then on to Central America where no one got along.
Max Della Pia was at a retirement ceremony for a friend when someone asked, why does the General talk about you like a favorite son? He then heard the tale of a complicated air drop training mission which was plagued by problems but was still successful.
His ship was preparing for a NATO cruise, but Navy cutbacks led to the discharge of all personnel who were drafted. That meant that, after 21 months in the Navy, Stan Seaman was returning home. That was fine with him since he had a great job at Grumman, where he went on to a long career.
The Ranger Creed is not just a poem that you recite at PT. Longtime Ranger Michael Hall explains what it means to live the Ranger Creed.
Ken Preston describes how a well functioning armored cavalry unit operates in the field. There are a lot of moving pieces and it requires a platoon leader and a platoon sergeant with skills. After his part in Desert Storm was over, a drawdown began in the Army which stymied his promotion. No big deal. He now had experience.
John Le Moyne 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.
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.
After the Challenger tragedy, NASA mission specialist Bob Stewart returned to the Army where they made him a general. He worked at the Strategic Defense Command, a legacy of Ronald Reagan's SDI program. At some point the Army wanted him in Washington DC, at which point he promoted himself to ski bum.
Operation Eagle Claw was a pivotal moment in Special Operations history. Unconventional warfare had been ignored after the Vietnam War and three veterans of that conflict, who were also deeply involved with the attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran, reveal the inside story of the planning and tragic outcome. George Ferkes, Roland Guidry and Keith Nightingale each offer a unique perspective on the events.
The all volunteer Army faced serious challenges in the transition from a conscript force. Retired Sgt Major of the Army Ken Preston was there for the whole ride and has some observations about how it became a success.
Gary Howard was just hanging around after high school learning carpentry when a friend suggested he enlist. He asked a recruiter if he could be a carpenter in the Army. Sure, but there's a six month wait to begin. I want to go now, though. Another recruiter leaned in and said, you look like a cop.
He had joined because of it, but the Korean War ended while Carter Tucker was in submarine school. Without a shooting war, the vessels were used for intelligence gathering and this nearly led to an icy disaster for him on his first patrol off the coast of Russia.
After technical school in blazing hot Texas, Tyrell Felder headed to her first job as a medical technician at Langley Air Force Base. Her father was career Army, and he told her not to expect to see many minorities in positions of power in the military. She was happy to discover that was no longer the case.
Vietnam was winding down when Gary Howard enlisted. He remembers watching the news every night because he had cousins there. At the recruiter's office, they told him he could pick his duty station if he did well on tests. I don't care where, came the response. Well, are you married and do you like beer?
Charlie Hooper recalls life aboard ship, the scare of rough seas, the dynamic of enlisted and officer relations and the challenge of playing basketball on an old liberty ship.
Inchon did not have a deep water port. Ocean going ships had to drop anchor outside the tidal basin and offload the cargo and personnel to smaller vessels. Transportation officer Tom Pemberton expected to be sent up country, but he was given a job at the port.
The Austrians were very happy to see the American GI's, including Bob Nash, who was there as part of an MP battalion. He traded his cigarettes for some very nice souvenirs that he sent home. After his tour, he joined the reserve but quit over a pay dispute. Turned out he was just in time to miss something big.
Fighter pilot Rick Hilton was scrambled and sent aloft from his base in New Mexico for possible strikes in Cuba during the missile crisis. He was amazed when he contacted the FAA for flight clearance. No low priority this time.
Lt. Geoff Farrell was sleeping in the command track when he heard it on the radio. We were at war with Iraq. His armored cavalry unit crossed from Saudi Arabia into Iraq where they were greeted by friendly children in the middle of nowhere.
Everybody had been through EMT training, thanks to the foresight of the commander of the 36th Medical Battalion. Paul Berry was a medic and ambulance driver who made a little investment before the Desert Storm deployment. He stocked up on something that he could sell for a tidy profit.
The war damage had been cleaned up on the free side of the Berlin Wall but the other side looked pretty bad, according to radar technician George Carrigan. His unit operated and maintained the ground control radar and control towers at the air base in Erding. He recalls when a secret U2 reconnaissance plane made an emergency landing.
