Airmen come in all shapes and sizes. You have your tall Airmen, useful for securing high things, like books from shelves. You have your strong Airmen, needed for opening pickle jars and moving large boxes. You have your class “A,” high-speed Airman, the best of the best, whose abilities know no bounds. But this story … Read more
I didn’t keep my uniforms. When my four years of active duty and four years of inactive reserve were finally up, to the very day, I packed all my uniforms, my forest cammies, desert cammies, service alphas and charlies, even my dress shoes and boots, into a trash bag and brought them to an army … Read more
On the USS Halsey, sailing though the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, I lay in my tiny rack, a bed that’s only big enough for one person, and I write a letter to her back home. I write at night when the lights are off throughout the ship and everyone is resting for the following … Read more
I’m ready for the physical training (PT) test this year. I know that I’ve been keeping my training up every day. I got this, I’m shooting for 100+ push-ups and sit-ups, but honestly that doesn’t matter, what matters is the run. I’m getting that mile and a half, I know everyone in my section and … Read more
I love and care about him, but does he love me back? It’s like he is scared to admit that he has emotions, and at times I don’t even know if he really even cares about me. Ever since he moved to Okinawa, he has slowly been getting more cold and distant. I don’t get … Read more
During deployments we have an abundant amount of time to romanticize the day we will arrive home. Will our loved ones be there? What will it feel like to hold them in our arms? It wasn’t until my fifth deployment that I allowed myself to build up fantasies of the perfect homecoming. The embrace of … Read more
Transitioning from the Army to college has been a struggle. Sometimes I am reminded about my age, either directly or indirectly. For example, whenever a teaching assistant asks in section the year each person was born and the general reply is 2000 or 2001, I feel embarrassed, so I lie and say I was born … Read more
I left home when I was 19 years old. My mom was pregnant with her third child, and my sister was a senior in high school. My father has been out of picture since I was a child. I had graduated from high school but didn’t try to go to college. Instead, I began working. After a summer of selling office supplies, … Read more
“SHOTS ARE READY!…One for you!… Do you have one?….DOES EVERYONE HAVE A SHOT?!?!” This was the start of a party I threw in East LA before I headed out for my first deployment to Afghanistan as a Navy augmentee to an “Airborne Information, Surveillance and Reconnaissance” unit. I was nervous about not knowing what was … Read more
The blistering dry heat of the Arabian afternoon hit me as I opened the maintenance shop door. I trudged across the sunbaked pavement to the KC-10 Extender refueling jets lined up on the far end of the runway. “Airman Young!” a loud, no-nonsense New Jersey voice bellowed, cutting through the hot desert silence. It was … Read more