In 2009, Lieutenant Mike Karlson deployed to Afghanistan, new to both his unit and to his job as executive office of its maintenance troop. During that deployment, he struggled to balance the pressing requirements of his job and some very challenging personal circumstances: his father was terminally ill with brain cancer. After returning home on emergency leave to say goodbye to his father, he was back in Afghanistan in just two weeks, faced with new challenges as he took over a platoon under unique and potentially difficult conditions.
Col. Bill Ostlund retired from the Army in 2019. In 1990, as a lieutenant, he arrived at his first unit as an officer and...
In 2007, Col. Marc Hoffmeister was a major on a Military Transition Team advising Iraqi Security Forces when an explosively formed penetrator, a specific...
In 2004, Tim Strabbing was a lieutenant and platoon commander in the Marine Corps, deployed to an area just outside Fallujah in Iraq's restive...