COMBAT STORIES FROM AFGHAN./IRAQ/OTHER

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Showing : AFGHAN./IRAQ/OTHER Videos

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment

  After graduating from the Command Sergeant Major Academy, Ken Preston had to wait a little while for his assignment. When it came, things started happening fast. The next thing you know, he was in the desert in Kuwait.

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  Chris Pinkerton - Army +16 Total Videos

  25th ID (ABN)

  2LT Pinkerton dramatically recalls what happened after an explosive projectile slammed into an army truck injuring two buddies and killing an officer all the soldiers respected.

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  Peter Sprenger - Army +15 Total Videos

  101st Airborne

  Slammed by powerful explosives, 2LT Sprenger describes the sheer terror of being blinded and badly injured. He relives the heroic efforts of those who helped him scramble to safety.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  NCO Academy, US Army Armor School

  Ken Preston had a very rewarding position as 1st Sgt at BNCOC, the basic NCO course at Fort Knox. Scouts, tank and Bradley crewmen and mechanics all received their instruction there. He was elevated to deputy commandant, which meant that he was now the busiest person in the Army. He was right up on twenty years and he filled out the form for a retirement date, but his boss had something to say about that.

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  Michael Boyce - Marines +3 Total Videos

  USMC, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expedition Brigade, 1st-4th Air Wings

  Mr. Boyce discusses working with many Kurds and Iraqi civilians for about a year following the end of the first Gulf War.

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  Patty Justice +4 Total Videos

  7303rd Medical Training Support Battalion, 1st Medical Training Brigade

  Justice details a too-close-for-comfort interaction with a vehicle-borne IED. The IED came as a complete surprise and the entire F.O.B. fell into what Justice could only describe as “chaos” immediately following the explosion. She suffered several injuries and had to work with the nurses back in Bagram and depend on the friendship of comrade Colonel Ellison to come back from the injuries.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  V Corp Headquarters

  After the war in Iraq shifted from a conventional war to an insurgency, intelligence became very important. That and up-armoring vehicles to protect them from the enemy's favorite weapon; the Improvised Explosive Device or IED. Compounding the problem was a lack of disposal teams. For V Corps Command Sgt Major Ken Preston, it was a difficult fight with a steep learning curve.

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  Mike Schlitz - Army +5 Total Videos

  4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division

  Mike Schlitz tells about the circumstances that led to his injury and all of the life changes that occurred as a result.

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  Bill Pearson - Army +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Bill Pearson had been to Vietnam twice and returned unscathed, but the Army wasn't done putting him in danger. He was assigned as an aviation consultant to Iran, advising the Shah's air force on it's supply of American aircraft. The day he arrived, martial law was declared and it wasn't long before there were mobs outside trying to burn down the building. The embassy was no help. Escape seemed impossible.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  Sergeant Major of the Army

  A big priority for Ken Preston, the 13th Sgt Major of the Army, was helping the families of service members who were being pressed into longer and longer deployments. The armed forces were being stretched thin. In 2009, he was asked to come to the White House to brief the President from the enlisted perspective and he was able to voice his concerns at the highest level.

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  LC Johnson - Air Force +6 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  The bomber jacket worn by a hometown character caught LC Johnson's young eye, so he always had the Air Force on his mind, not the Army. He was stationed at isolated radar sites in the Southwest, at first. Then he got his first taste of a real Air Force base in Japan, where he worked in supply and at the clubs on base.

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  Bill Pearson - Army +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Anyone who's in the Army for an extended period can point to mentors who helped them or inspired them along the way. Bill Pearson remembers several, including Norman Schwarzkopf.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  Sergeant Major of the Army

  Looking back on Iraq, Ken Preston recalls how limited the communications were, with very few satellite units to go around. There was internet for the troops, which was not the case in the previous war. Daily communication with home has it down side, though.

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  LC Johnson - Air Force +6 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  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.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  11th Armored Cavalry Regiment

  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.

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  LC Johnson - Air Force +6 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  LC Johnson pays tribute to colleagues who helped make his career so very successful, starting with his supervisor from his tour in Vietnam, Jim Peterson.

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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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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  Sergeant Major of the Army

  A lot of technology has changed, but to an old tank master gunner like Ken Preston, it still comes down to that last hundred yards on the ground, force to force. Getting to that point has been aided greatly by GPS technology, something that helped tremendously in Iraq.

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  Brooks Tucker - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment

  It was ironic that Brooks Tucker was born in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked in the oil industry. He decided to become a Marine and that set him on a path to return to that part of the world as a young officer.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  His dream was to be an architect, but now he was in the Army for a few years. The recruiter tried to help Ken Preston by putting him on an engineering and surveying path, but he found out about a $2500 bonus for committing to an armored unit. That was a lot of money in 1975.

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  Brooks Tucker - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment

  He was a newly minted rifle platoon leader in the Marine infantry. Brooks Tucker had no experience outside of training, so he worked hard to fit in and get respect in the historic unit, which counted Tarawa and Beirut in it's backstory.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  11th Armored Cavalry Regiment

  Ken Preston's armored cavalry unit deployed to the Kuwait/Iraq border to provide security for the pullout following the swift resolution of Operation Desert Storm. He has vivid memories of the oil well fires and the wreckage covering the battlefield.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  Sergeant Major of the Army

  As the length of deployments increased, lessons were learned about how service members went through the process of reuniting with their families. Sgt Major of the Army Ken Preston explains how it was a mistake to go immediately on a vacation.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  US Army Armor School

  He was back at Fort Knox, where ordinary tank gunners became master gunners. Ken Preston enjoyed passing knowledge on to young NCO's who could go back to their units as a more valuable asset. He had served in Germany and the Middle East and was coming up on a big decision. Make twenty and retire or keep going?

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  V Corp Headquarters

  After the war on terror brought US forces into Afghanistan, the focus changed from the 9/11 attacks to weapons of mass destruction believed to be in the hands of Saddam Hussein. At V Corps, Command Sgt Major Ken Preston started preparing for a possible invasion in the summer of 2002. The following March, US soldiers rolled into Iraq covered in chemical warfare suits.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  Sergeant Major of the Army

  He'd come a long way from those early months of the Iraq war. Ken Preston recalls welding steels plates in the doors of Humvees to make "hillbilly armor." When he became Sgt Major of the Army, he was able to help improve the quality of the equipment in the field. Not only that, more child development centers were built for Army families to improve their quality of life.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  Sergeant Major of the Army

  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.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Just as he was retiring from a twenty year career, Ken Preston was persuaded to stay because he had a good chance of becoming a Command Sgt Major. It happened for him and he began the most interesting course of instruction he had been through.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  1st Armored Division

  The 1st Armored Division was in Germany and prepping for Kosovo when Ken Preston arrived to take over the Command Sgt Major position. He had only been there a little more than a year when he got a call from US Army Europe headquarters. It was a familiar story, by now. They needed a big list of applicants for an important position.

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  Ken Preston - Army +33 Total Videos

  Sergeant Major of the Army

  It was a long and interesting career. Ken Preston rose from a tank gunner to become Sgt Major of the Army. But he didn't stop there. After retiring, he became involved with several worthwhile charitable and service organizations, including Homes For Our Troops and the USO.