101st Airborne Division

To live in a time and place where people are divided into two different groups and are not treated equal to one another, must have been a very difficult thing to process when your group isn’t the better half. When this time was a time when people truly believed that segregation was the best option to follow to the view that it was much safer for them and their loved ones must have been a very difficult time for the all the African Americans whose rights were denied to them and their loved ones…

As the newly designated Commander of the “Rakkasans” 3d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, I am aware that I am entering into a challenging position. Assuming command of a unit whose most recent combat deployment tarnished by the unjustified deaths of eight Iraqi civilians, the pending conviction of several United States Soldiers, and the pending relief of a Commander, Colonel Michael D. Steele. It is my duty to prepare this unit for its next deployment, only 12 months away. Prior to assuming…

The United States Armed Forces and veterans have sacrificed their entire lives to protect those of civilians, and because of that they deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, and care. Unfortunately, many veterans never fully recover from their military careers, and are left either partially or completely disabled due to physical and/or mental injury. This leaves them unable to work and provide for themselves and their families. An even smaller portion of these veterans were left disabled…

Haunting sleep terrors reoccur night after night. Anxiety attacks become so debilitating, maintaining a job seems impossible. Disturbing memories only seem to fade after reaching the bottom of a bottle. Eric Swinney, a former Marine in his late twenties, faces these exact conditions frequently. A deployment to Iraq, in which a job required him to clear the streets of Iraqi bodies following attacks, left him with a horror that would follow him home. Severe post-traumatic stress disorder…

In the book Black Hearts: One Platoon’s Descent into Madness in Iraq’s Triangle of Death, author Jim Frederick explores the events during the deployment of the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division and more specifically the actions of 1st Platoon, Bravo Company. Bravo Company, along with the rest of 1st Battalion faced grueling circumstances of inadequate supplies and personnel, poor living quarters, and a near constant barrage of enemy attacks during their 2005-2006…