Head Held High
November 5, 2019
Kristen Wilkerson, United States Marine Corps I joined the Marine Corps looking for a challenge. I wanted to open doors for a new career and longed to have a positive impact on the world around me. Looking back five years later, I realize I found all that I originally sought, but I’ve also found something … Read More Speaking Up
November 5, 2019
Catherine Ulrich, United States Marine Corps It’s early February, I am in the third trimester of my pregnancy with my second child, and I am a lance corporal in the United States Marine Corps. I work in a small shop of three other Marines and a building that only has one other female; her name … Read More Home
November 5, 2019
Scott Simpson, United States Army Family Member The feeling of comfort and safety has an enormous impact on what home is to some people. Home is not just a place of safety, but for some it is the cultural background, the experiences of life, and a place to return to and return to that feeling. … Read More The Dependant
November 5, 2019
John Metzger, Air Force Family Member As a boy, I thought a lot about war. It was a romantic type of thinking that goes along with building model fighter jets and green army men facing tanks and artillery of plastic. But when my father, an Air Force Major, went away for over a year, he … Read More It’s the Simple Things
November 5, 2019
Harrison Foust, United States Marine Corps The time I was in Djibouti, Africa, it was just my fellow Marines and me. We were out in the desert and not a building or any type of light was within miles. We didn’t even have our tents at this time, and we were just sitting in the … Read More Carpets And Drapes
November 5, 2019
Amanda Flick, United States Army I took a deep breath as I entered the coffee shop. The line was short; Autumn, Nicole, and I slipped in behind a heavyset woman and a young man in a leather jacket, chatting while we waited. “Oh!” Autumn said suddenly. I turned my head to glance at whatever had … Read More The Other Side
November 5, 2019
Ray “Chief” Charfauros, United States Marine Corps I can feel the kiss of the sun touch my skin, my pores open up, and sweat starts to bead down from my cheeks. Am I dreaming? NO. Suddenly, I wake up with a pool of sweat around my head. It is 120 degrees out. I lay there … Read More How Proudly We Serve
November 5, 2019
Robert Bennett, United States Army As a veteran, I never served any time in combat. At 18-years of age, I enlisted into the US Army in 1975, just after Vietnam. I had a choice to either enlist in the Army or play football at the University of Nebraska, but as an American citizen, I felt … Read More Juno Rd.
November 5, 2019
Marilyn Alkire, United States Navy 2018 Wilmington, NC Hanging out in the garage with my husband, Jeff, while he waxed his truck, the song “The House That Built Me” came on the radio. Sung by Miranda Lambert, it is about her having gone back to her childhood home and introducing herself to the current owner … Read More