Roderick “Roger” Pugh grew up on well water and outhouses in Grove Hill, Alabama, learning to hunt and fish before he ever imagined joining the Army. He enlisted in June 2001 hoping to follow his cousin into the Marine Corps — until he found out … Continue readingASK A VET EP 57: What They Didn’t Tell You About the First Black Sniper in Iraq
Bob Echols grew up moving constantly — eighteen states by his own count — following his father’s career with the U.S. Forest Service and the shadow of a war his father never talked about. Bob’s dad had flown transport missions out of Australia during World … Continue readingASK A VET EP 56: What They Don’t Tell You About Guarding Nuclear Weapons in Cold War Germany
When Henry Rausch arrived at Stanford in 1979, he thought he was headed for medical school. A summer working alongside doctors changed his mind fast — he realized he didn’t actually want to care for patients, he just liked the idea of being a doctor. … Continue readingASK A VET EP 54: What They Don’t Tell You About Life on a Nuclear Submarine
Joe Priester didn’t set out to become an Army pilot. He spent six years as an Air Force AWACS crewman, troubleshooting communications equipment on a radar plane that never got close to the fight — a job he describes, without much sugarcoating, as one he … Continue readingASK A VET EP 52: What They Don’t Tell You About Taking Fire in the Kiowa Warrior
At 32 years old, Josh Nacey had everything most people spend their lives chasing: two successful businesses, a comfortable life, a family. He also had a decade-old itch he’d never scratched. Not long after 9/11, he’d walked into a recruiter’s office wanting to join the … Continue readingASK A VET EP 51: What They Don’t Tell You About Giving Up Everything at 32 to Become a Green Beret
Robert Williams grew up in Colville, Utah, following a family legacy of service — grandfathers in World War I, a father who served under Patton, and an identical twin brother who commissioned alongside him through Army ROTC at the University of Utah. Robert trained as … Continue readingASK A VET EP 50: What They Don’t Tell You About Vietnam Artillery
Larry Winters grew up in a house his parents bought when it had no electricity, no running water, and no bathroom. He was three years old when they moved in, and the rest of his childhood was spent helping his father, a Navy veteran and … Continue readingASK A VET EP 49: What They Didn’t Tell Me About Being a Marine Door Gunner
Stephen Davy was twenty years old, working the toy gun counter at a Toys R Us outside Washington D.C., when his draft notice arrived in the spring of 1967. By November he was at Lackland Air Force Base for basic training, and by the following … Continue readingEP 48: What They Never Told You About Playing Rock & Roll in a War Zone
Gary Howard grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, a swimmer in high school and the son of a WWII medical service officer who’d served in the Philippines. By late 1968 he’d finished college, hated every minute of it, and knew the draft was coming. He briefly … Continue readingASK A VET EP 47: What They Don’t Tell You About Taking Fire on Mekong Delta
Tim Martin’s Navy career began with a piece of advice from a high school math teacher. It was 1963, and the Las Vegas teenager and son of an enlisted Air Force man, had done something almost unheard of: he’d earned appointments to West Point, Annapolis, … Continue readingASK A VET EP 46: What They Don’t Tell You About Life on a Nuclear Submarine
