America must bring its lost brigade home from Vietnam before it’s too late Tam Nguyen received the most dreaded gift. A folded flag. To the sound of a lone bugler playing taps, his son was laid to rest with full military honors. U.S. Marine Corporal Tevan Nguyen of...

He stood in the room, a sentry to my father during the final minutes of his life.  A muscular gentleman in a well starched uniform, a professional.  Rex Sprosta spoke softly and excused himself when we attended to my father.  The morning was a blur with...

A native of Tampa, Marine Sgt. Maj. Tim DeGrauwe grew up on Davis Islands and enlisted in the Marines shortly after graduating from Tampa Tech in 1978. Married to a career Marine who just retired after 24 years, his family is used to danger - from his deployment...

"If we don't finish this, it will follow us home," Command Sgt. Major Neil Ciotola says about the mission in Iraq. As the senior enlisted leader for the Multi-National Corps - Iraq, he oversees more than 158,000 service members and serves as the principal enlisted...

U.S. - Army Master Sgt. Kevin Daugherty is finishing his year-long tour in Afghanistan. As the enlisted leader for the Jalalabad Provincial Reconstruction Civil Affairs Team [PRT], he oversees the team's operations to rebuild and improve water management and roads. In...

"Voices From The Front" is a Tribune feature that is just about priceless, but because of the recent juvenile political maneuvering in Washington, it is as powerful as can be. On March 8 you featured a young man who is not yet old enough to even buy a beer in many...

A finance job in Qatar may seem to pale next to that of a trigger puller, but when a soldier has a pay problem that finance NCO becomes the most important person in the world." U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Kileigh Gard of North Dakota is that person. She is the...

Matthew Hohenbrink was not sure what he wanted to do with his life, so at the age of 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and joined the Alabama National Guard. "I'm a southern boy, grew up hunting and wanted to go into the infantry," he said. He deployed last October to...

Watching media coverage of Iraq did not prepare U.S. Army Command Sgt. Major Benny Hubbard for what he'd see on his deployment there last April. As the senior enlisted leader for the U.S. Corps of Engineers for nine of the eighteen provinces in Iraq, Hubbard instead...

Naval Petty Officer 2nd class Robert Corson wanted to join the police force and learned that military experience helps, so he enlisted in the Navy. He lives with his wife in Jacksonville, and they just had their first baby, Robby, Feb. 16. Corson provides protective...

A wave of wounded veterans has stretched our military's medical system to the point of dysfunction. Inundated with injured troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, military medical board cases have gone from 6,500 in 2002, when the war began, to 11,000 in 2006. Significantly...

After 28 years in the Army and earning the highest enlisted rank, Command Sgt. Major Daniel Elliott has seen a lot of things as an infantryman. But even he seemed surprised when three of his sons enlisted in the military after he deployed to Africa from Guam last...

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates recently requested an additional $2.4 billion in an effort to defeat the impact of improvised explosive devices. About 70 percent of American deaths from the war are from IEDs. Coalition bomb experts from the United Kingdom are...

With 25 years as Emergency Medical Services Captain at Jacksonville Fire Rescue, Command Sgt. Major Robert Lane is used to dealing with crisis and making sacrifices. Lane deployed to Iraq, where he leads the Professional Development Standards Team in Camp Taji, 30...

"Relations and negotiations never stop from the minute you meet somebody until the minute you leave," says Raouf Khalil, an American interpreter serving with the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 34th Infantry Division from Minnesota and currently in southern Iraq....

"Afghanistan is a beautiful country that has been ravaged by too many years of war, and the people are in desperate need of education, health care and a little help to escape the clutches of radical Islamists and get back on their feet again," says U.S. Army Major...

In addition to Iraq and Afghanistan, many service members deploy to Africa. Northeastern Africa is a region where the U.S. military works to abate the growth of terrorism. The Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) focuses on regional stability in order...

With recent airstrikes on terrorist targets in Somalia and the retreat of Islamic extremists from Mogadishu, northeastern Africa is a hotbed of activity. In the neighboring country of Djibouti, U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. William Welch is group superintendent of...

In evaluating Afghanistan's early stages of democracy, U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Tom Gills says it's been a "good news story." As the senior enlisted leader in charge of training the Afghan army and police, he is working with the Afghans toward a 50,000-man army and a...

Returning from Afghanistan for a conference at MacDill Air Force Base was a homecoming for U.S. Army Capt. Eugene "Geno" Fewell. Fewell graduated from King High School in 1995 and got married in July before deploying in August. His wife and son got to see him at Fort...

The Iraqi army's role is critical in addressing violence and stabilizing Iraq. U.S. Army Capt. Eric James serves as the operations adviser for a military transition team (MiTT) embedded with an Iraqi tank battalion. Based out of Fort Bliss, Texas, he and his wife have...

More than 217,000 Ethiopians were driven from their homes during immense flooding in November, and the U.S. military transported more than 80 metric tons of food and emergency relief supplies. Master Chief Petty Officer Andrew Smith worked in this region before the...

The Iraqi infantry and U.S. forces successfully fought back Sunni insurgents in November in the town of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. U.S. Army Capt. Damon Holditch took part in this firefight and shared his account of the situation with Tribune...

In support of the evacuation of Americans from Lebanon this summer, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Sharon Walters was notified one morning and got on a plane later that same day for Cyprus. As an electronics technician first class, she leads a mobile communications...

The ability to secure and protect the Iraqi people is essential for a free Iraq. Each day Iraqis risk their lives, as well as their families' well-being, to serve in the Iraqi army. U.S. soldiers make their own sacrifices to train them. This Thanksgiving the Carroll...

The "golden hour" marks the most critical period for combat casualties. Wound data and casualty rates indicate that 90 percent die within that first hour if they do not receive advanced trauma life support. The aim of military medicine on today's battlefield is to...

My Taps magazine sits on a pile of periodicals, distinguished from the others by its cover photo of weathered tombstones beneath magnolia blossoms. This thin supplement comes with the Assembly, an alumni publication for the U.S. Military Academy. On the last page, a...

Craig Bonnema always wanted to be a doctor. He couldn't go directly into medicine when he joined the Navy, so he served as a flight officer for eight years before attending the Uniformed Services University in Health Sciences in Bethesda. He is a board-certified...

The Iraqi National Police are fully operational and working to secure Baghdad against sectarian violence, militias, terrorists and criminal elements. Army Sgt. Maj. Rocklyn Shiffer has been deployed to Iraq for a year as part of a 15-man team advising and training the...

Two oil platforms in the northern Arabian Gulf generate the majority of Iraq's revenue and are the shipping point for a significant portion of the world's oil. In 2004, terrorists attempted to attack one platform, but coalition forces deterred them. Today the U.S....

They are the Army's elite force, among the best-trained warriors who take on the toughest missions. They are the Green Berets, the Special Forces. A 12-man team has weapons, communication, engineering, medical and multilingual expertise that can be used to train...

In a volatile region of northeastern Africa where the United States is trying to prevent the seeds of terrorism from taking root, Maj. Mark Ingles, an Air Force chaplain, worked with religious leaders to address humanitarian needs and challenges. He recently finished...

Marine Col. Oliver Grant's command surprised him recently when they took him to visit his stepson, a Marine also serving in Iraq. As the deputy director and chief of staff for the project contracting office for logistics based in Baghdad, he oversaw 1,400 Iraqi...

A soldier from Tampa contacted the Tribune to share his story with correspondent MyLinh Shattan. Army Specialist Miguel A. Collazo-Quintana graduated from Leto High School in 2004 and enlisted in the Army shortly afterward because of benefits like the college tuition...

Command Chief Master Sgt. Curtis Brownhill is the senior enlisted leader and primary adviser to Gen. John Abizaid at U.S. Central Command. He oversees U.S. military interests and troops for 27 countries in the Middle Eastern theater of operations. Meeting recently...

For a budding al-Qaida operative, marriage has its advantages. Married members earn 6,500 Pakistani rupee per month and 700 rupee for each additional wife. They also receive a week's vacation every three weeks. By comparison, bachelors receive only 1000 rupee and five...

Air Force Maj. J. Scott Sanford is the Security Forces Squadron commander at Bagram Airfield, the largest base in Afghanistan. Sanford has an excellent vantage point of U.S. military operations against the Taliban, progress of the country's new government and its...

The Navy has expanded its traditional role by augmenting the Army and Marine Corps with sailors who fill infantry positions alongside soldiers. With 27 years in service, Master Chief Pat Flavin takes on the new job of command master chief of Naval Central Command in...

Lance Cpl. Fredrick Wyman of Durham, N.C., enlisted in the Marines one month after his 18th birthday. At 19 he finds himself deployed with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit on the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship in the Mediterranean Sea. Last month his unit...

Florida, Orlando, Tampa – we’re the destination for many Americans, arguably the tourist capital of the world. So, where do Floridians go on their vacation? We experienced this firsthand recently with our friends, the Bennett family, who makes a summer trek to the...

“See the streaks?” my father asked, pointing at the window. “Do it again.” I protested since I had ‘cleaned’ half the windows in the house already. He showed me how to buff the window and I did it right the next time, having learned a tough lesson as a young child....

"Who cares if you work or stay home? … Be the best mother that you can be … and ignore what everyone else says." This is sage advice from a Tampa mom who chose to start a law practice, but later made the tough decision to scale back and spend more time with her family...

My Vietnamese mother reminded me that Tet, the Lunar New Year, fell on Jan. 29 this year. As an American, I’ve never been quite sure what that’s supposed to mean for me. I know a little about the sticky rice cakes, altars with incense and fruit, and prayers for a...

Driving home on Dale Mabry, my daughter noticed a construction trailer on the side of the road and exclaimed, "Hey, a portable! They're probably making a school, Mommy."She's in first grade, so her experience with public school includes numerous portable classrooms....

My father climbed into the attic and brought down the large Pampers box where he stored our artificial tree. Dusty corrugated boxes with the tops held together by masking tape followed. Decorating the house kicked off the holiday season for our family. When it came to...

Foundation Keeps Promise To America's Fallen Warriors Eight-year-old Meagan pulled herself up to the bar while hundreds of Army Rangers looked on, counting, "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen …" Col. William E. Powell told his men that if they couldn't do as many pull-ups...

It's Not About The Shoes I knew it was time to be concerned when the sales guy informed me that the running shoe was designed by someone from Porsche. And did I mention it includes biomorphic fit technology that conforms to my individual foot? The sneakers looked like...

Books Reveal Volumes About Their Readers Three years ago I convinced a few friends in Lutz to come together to enjoy each other's company and some good books. It's a diverse group, not only in life stages, but in our reading interests, which include everything from...

Who Says Cheating Doesn't Pay? I observed two of my students conversing in the back row during a test. They were on the same page and whispering about the answers. The students explained they were only helping each other, relating that this had been common practice in...

A Nation of Above Average The fragile French ego struggles with history. Or at least the British think so. During a re-enactment this June, the English used blue and red ships rather than identify them as British or French. They were celebrating the 200th anniversary...

When my 4-year-old daughter considers her reflection wearing her Sleeping Beauty costume, adjusts the tiara just so and smiles, she is clearly pleased. What do I see when I look in the mirror? I see a loosely assembled version of my former self: a woman in a T-shirt,...