In the previous episode, we heard Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee describe his early military career, which took him from the Oklahoma National Guard to the Marine Corps’s force reconnaissance community. This episode picks up his story, as he recounts how he came to join the Army and his selection as a Special Forces soldier. He goes on to describe a 2013 deployment to Afghanistan. During that deployment, on August 28, the Taliban launched a complex attack on Forward Operating Base Ghazni, where he and his team were located. Outnumbered and under heavy fire, they fought back, seeking to seal the base's breached perimeter and repel the attackers. For his actions during that fight, Plumlee received the Medal of Honor.
In 2004, Dan Gade’s armor company took over a sector of Ramadi, Iraq, then the heart of the Sunni insurgency. Within days, his unit...
In 2003, Karl Blanke was a weapons platoon commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Crossing the line of departure in the first wave, Blanke’s Marines...
On August 30, 2021, General Chris Donahue stepped onto the ramp of the last American C-17 in Afghanistan and into the pages of history....