Ask A Vet Podcast

"Incoming, incoming." Seven Navy reservists lay on the floor of a shipping container in the Saudi desert, holding hands around their sterilizers while Scud missiles came in overhead. A couple prayed. A couple cried. Navy nurse Judy Winkler just waited, thinking about who would have to pick up the pieces.

Judy grew up dancing with sailors and Marines as a USO girl in San Diego, raised three kids in Salt Lake City, and worked her way from beauty school to surgical tech to registered nurse and operating room leader, one scholarship at a time. At 46, she joined the Navy Nurse Corps Reserve to give something back. She had to write to the Secretary of the Navy to get in. In January 1991 she was one of five Utah Navy nurses deployed to Operation Desert Storm with Fleet Hospital 15, a 500-bed tent hospital her unit built from bare sand near Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, in 12 days and nights.

She talks about a concussion on her first day in country, running the hospital's sterile supply with Vietnam-era equipment, trading gas masks with the Marines, losing her father while deployed, and the months after coming home when she couldn't function. Decades later, she finally put a name to it. Judy wrote about it all in her book, The Warrior Family, for the families who served alongside the reservists.This episode is dedicated to the reservists of Fleet Hospital 15 and the families who held everything together at home.

Content advisory: This episode includes a missile attack and post-traumatic stress. Veterans Crisis Line: call 988 then press 1, text 838255, or chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net.

📖 Judy's Books:

• The Warrior Family: When a Reservist Goes to War, by Judy Little: https://a.co/d/0cy4nJMb

• Pinky Goes to War: https://a.co/d/063CKcD1

⏱️ CHAPTERS:

00:35 San Diego, the USO & Dad's Barrage Balloons

04:18 Marriage, Three Kids & Project Mercury

05:53 From Beauty School to the Operating Room

11:26 RN, Educator & OR Leader

17:06 Joining the Navy at 46 "For the Uniform"

25:31 Fleet Hospitals & Getting Activated

35:28 Fort Dix, MOPP Gear & Landing in Saudi Arabia

40:03 Day One: A Face-Plant and a Concussion

46:31 Anthrax Shots & a 500-Bed Hospital in 12 Days

59:44 No Flak Jackets & the Night the Scuds Came

1:06:37 MREs, Liberty & the Seabees

1:16:04 The Marines & a Welcome Home in Cincinnati

1:20:53 Losing Her Dad & Leaving Early

1:25:11 A New Place in the Sand: PTSD & The Warrior Family

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#AskAVet #DesertStorm #NavyNurse #GulfWarVeteran #WomenVeterans #NavyReserve #VeteranStories #PTSDAwareness

On his first day in Vietnam, Joseph F. Maes climbed onto a Huey loaded with water, ammo and C-rations. It was his first helicopter ride, and for a few minutes it felt like a roller coaster. Then the door gunner pulled down his face shield and racked his weapon. Joseph's new company was under fire, and he was about to be dropped into it.

Joseph grew up Southern Ute, raised by a father who taught him to hunt, fish and "always use common sense." Drafted as a teenager in 1967, he went from Fort Lewis to the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, the Wolfhounds of the 25th Infantry Division at Cu Chi, in 1968, the war's bloodiest year.

As a new guy he walked point on night ambushes, checked enemy tunnels, and was wounded by a mine near the Iron Triangle. He served one year and one day and came home with nothing but a small box and the fatigues he was wearing.In this conversation, Joseph talks about the fear no training prepares you for, why he wrote his memoir in the words of an 18-year-old kid, what it means to be "sad in a happy world," and what he'd rather hear than "thank you for your service."

This episode is dedicated to the Wolfhounds of the 27th Infantry Regiment and every soldier of the 25th Infantry Division who served in Vietnam, to Joseph's lieutenant, who was killed trying to reach him after he was wounded, and to the young soldiers Joseph helped load onto a helicopter on his very first day. We remember them.

Content advisory: This episode includes descriptions of combat, death, wounds, and the lasting emotional toll of war, including PTSD and suicide. If you or a veteran you love is struggling, the Veterans Crisis Line is available 24/7: call 988 then press 1, text 838255, or chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net.

📖 Read Joseph's memoir, My Spiritual Walk as a Wolfhound: A Grunt in Vietnam:

https://tuleburgpress.com/product/wolfhound/

⏱️ CHAPTERS:

00:33 Southern Ute Roots and the Draft Notice

04:20 Boot Camp at Fort Lewis and the "Dud Platoon"

14:33 Flying to Vietnam and Landing at Long Binh

18:14 Cu Chi and Checking Enemy Tunnels

26:46 Joining the Wolfhounds Under Fire

36:34 Walking Point on His First Night

43:06 Fear, Friendship and Holding On to Your Sanity

48:29 Day and Night Missions and a Jammed M16

01:00:00 Ambushed and Wounded by a Mine

01:09:59 Leading by Example and the Last Ambush

01:27:20 Coming Home: Oakland, His Brother and His Parents

01:37:08 "Sad to Come Back to a Happy World"

01:42:49 Writing My Spiritual Walk as a Wolfhound

02:07:01 What to Say to a Combat Veteran

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If you're a veteran with a story to tell, or you know someone who should be on the show, reach out at [email protected]

#AskAVet #VietnamVeteran #Wolfhounds #25thInfantryDivision #NativeAmericanVeteran #CuChi #PointMan #VeteranStories

Before they stepped off, their patrol commander pointed past a line in the fields of Panjwai and told them: as soon as we cross it, we will be hit. The bazaar was eerily quiet that morning. Then a Taliban machine gun opened up, and the rounds landed inches from David Wiseman's head.

Dave was born on a Canadian base in Lahr, Germany, the son of a signal operator. After 9/11 he knew his calling. He joined the Canadian infantry in 2007, became a LAV driver who didn't yet have a driver's license, and deployed to Kandahar in 2010 with a military police team mentoring the Afghan police in the Horn of Panjwai. He lived through a rocket attack on Kandahar Airfield, an ambush in an open field, and a Chinook shot down 400 meters away.

The hardest fight came after. Dave tells Greg how years of PTSD labels and 42 prescriptions missed what he believes was mefloquine poisoning and blast injury, how he found the answer in his own medical records, and how writing it all down became his memoir, From the Sands of Kandahar.

This episode is dedicated to the 158 Canadian soldiers who never came home from Afghanistan, to the more than 40,000 Canadians who served there, and to every veteran we've lost since coming home.Content advisory: combat, killing in combat, childhood abuse, PTSD, brain injury and veteran suicide.

Veterans Crisis Line: call 988 then press 1, text 838255, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net. In Canada, call or text 988.

📖 Get Dave's book, From the Sands of Kandahar: https://a.co/d/0h5XLKTN⏱️

CHAPTERS

00:44 Military Kid, Born in Lahr, Germany

02:25 9/11, Basic Training and the Snow

09:03 Infantry School in Meaford

14:22 The LAV Driver Without a License

21:57 Reassigned to the Military Police Team

26:38 Fort Irwin and the Warning Shot

34:25 Mefloquine: The Pill Before the War

43:30 Combat Landing and Rockets on Kandahar Airfield

1:01:53 Ambushed in Panjwai

1:18:54 The Bazaar, Burn Pits and the Afghan Police

1:27:12 The Chinook Goes Down

1:36:41 Coming Home Different

1:46:37 Finding the Answer and Writing the Book

1:59:43 Fighting for Recognition in Ottawa

2:09:54 Advice for Veterans and From the Sands of Kandahar

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Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UvdMjkOkOgoHM2yIckhlhListen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-a-vet-podcast/id1854840136Read the blog: https://curioushumanography.com/Follow us: https://www.instagram.com/curioushumanography/

If you're a veteran with a story to tell, or you know someone who should be on the show, reach out at [email protected]

#AskAVet #CanadianArmedForces #Afghanistan #Kandahar #VeteranStories #Mefloquine #PTSD #Infantry

How many missile batteries surrounded Chicago during the Cold War? About twenty, says Charles O'Hearn, and he helped run them. In the 1950s and '60s, Army Nike missiles sat in underground magazines along Lake Michigan, at Belmont Harbor and in Burnham Park, ready to rise on elevators and launch at Soviet bombers almost instantly.

Charles got his draft notice in 1952, chose to enlist, and was three days from shipping out to Korea when the Army pulled him off the manifest because he wore glasses. Instead he spent 25 years in Army air defense: Nike Ajax and Nike Hercules batteries in Chicago, near Cincinnati, in West Germany and in South Korea, then the Safeguard anti-ballistic missile tests at White Sands in the 1970s. After retiring, he built a second career in defense technology, from F-15 radar reliability to fielding U-2 radar imaging in Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield.

Now 93 and still learning Python, Charles walks us through a part of military history most Americans never knew was right in their backyard.

⏱ CHAPTERS

00:25 Indianapolis, the Draft & Basic Training

05:32 Pulled Off the Ship to Korea, Sent to Germany

12:28 Re-Enlisting for the Nike Missile Program

23:52 Nike Sites on Chicago's Lakefront

30:05 Cincinnati, West Germany & Ohio

39:05 White Sands & the Safeguard Program

51:16 Korea: Monsoons & Martial Law

54:39 IBM, Fort Hood & Retirement

1:00:49 Second Career: Brussels to the F-15

1:11:22 The U-2 & Desert Shield

1:19:28 Public Service & Looking Back at 93

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Read the blog: https://curioushumanography.com/

Follow us: https://www.instagram.com/curioushumanography/If you're a veteran with a story to tell, or you know someone who should be on the show, reach out at [email protected]

#AskAVet #VeteranStories #ColdWar #NikeMissile #USArmy #ArmyVeteran#MilitaryHistory #Chicago

Ten feet above a firefight in Vietnam's Central Highlands, a door gunner put his boot in John Fisher's back and shoved him out of the helicopter. It was his first day as a radio telephone operator, and he had no idea what was waiting on the ground.

A month earlier, John had won the U.S. Surfing Association Class A championship and come home to a draft notice. By May 1968 he was humping a 25-pound PRC-25 radio through the jungles around Pleiku, Kon Tum and Dak To with the 4th Infantry Division, calling in artillery with a map and a compass. In this episode he talks about the lieutenants he served beside, the mortar blast that took his hearing, the night his mother's nightmare pulled him off a firebase hours before his gun was destroyed, and coming home on July 3, 1969 to a country that didn't want to hear it

.Then he tells us what came after: surfing his way through New Zealand and Australia, becoming a chiropractor, writing his way through PTSD, and going back to Vietnam more than a dozen times, where a former enemy soldier lifted his shirt to show his scars and told John, "Now we can be friends."

This episode is dedicated to the lieutenants John Fisher served beside as a radio telephone operator in Vietnam's Central Highlands, to the battery captain and the gun crew lost on his firebase, to the radio operator killed the day before John arrived, and to every soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who served in the jungles around Pleiku, Kon Tum and Dak To. We also remember the more than 58,000 Americans who never came home from Vietnam, and the Vietnamese people on every side who lost their lives, their families and their homes in the war.

Content advisory: This episode includes descriptions of combat, the deaths of fellow soldiers, wounded men in a field hospital, killing in war, moral injury, PTSD and substance use after coming home. If you're a veteran who is struggling, you are not alone. Call 988 then press 1, text 838255, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.

📚 Find John's books, including Dak To Rx: A Travelogue - A Veteran Returns to the Land of His Nightmares on his website: https://www.johnwesleyfisherbooks.com/Dak To Rx: A Travelogue on Amazon: ​​https://a.co/d/0eWsifpG

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:36 Surf Champion to Draft Notice

05:30 Fort Ord, Fort Sill and the 105 Howitzer

10:00 Shipped Out Early to Cam Ranh Bay

15:30 Pleiku, the M16 and the PRC-252

1:30 Sent Further Forward29:00 Life in the Jungle

33:30 Three Lieutenants

44:00 Coming Home to "Baby Killer"

47:00 The Mortar Blast and the Field Hospital

54:30 "My Mom Saved My Life"

1:01:30 R&R in Thailand With His Brother

1:09:00 Surfing Cam Ranh Bay and a Painful Return

1:16:30 The Last Months on the Hill

1:20:30 Home on July 3, 1969

1:36:30 Mexico, New Zealand, Australia and Chiropractic

1:44:30 PTSD and Writing Angels in Vietnam

1:50:00 Back to Vietnam: "Now We Can Be Friends"

2:04:00 Dak To Rx: Back to the Central Highlands

2:13:00 No Accidents, War and the Soul, and Maine🎖️

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Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-a-vet-podcast/id1854840136Read the blog: https://curioushumanography.com/

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If you're a veteran with a story to tell, or you know someone who should be on the show, reach out at [email protected]

#AskAVet #VietnamVeteran #VietnamWar #4thInfantryDivision #CentralHighlands #DakTo #VeteranStories #PTSD

A lieutenant was yelling in his face about his jungle boots, and Alex Pelensky just laughed: what are you going to do, send me to Vietnam? He'd just gotten back. That was Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, 1970.Alex joined the Air Force in 1968 to stay ahead of the draft, trained in electronics at Chanute AFB and spent a year at Tuy Hoa Air Base on the coast of the South China Sea, keeping the autopilot systems on F-100 Super Sabres working. He arrived angry at being sent away from his wife and three-month-old daughter. By the end of his tour, he didn't want to leave.What he brought home nearly cost him everything: a career on Wall Street, a 17-year marriage, and seven years on the streets of New York. Then his mother died, and a line he'd heard in an AA meeting came back to him: you don't have to live like this anymore. Alex has been clean and sober since November 22, 1994. He raised his son, earned two master's degrees, and taught technology in New York City public schools for 20 years.This episode is dedicated to the airmen of Tuy Hoa Air Base and to every American who served in Vietnam, especially those who came home still fighting, and to anyone working their way back from addiction one day at a time.Content advisory: This episode includes discussion of drug and alcohol addiction, heroin use, homelessness and divorce. If you're a veteran in crisis, or worried about one, call 988 then press 1, text 838255, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.⏱️ CHAPTERS00:30 Meet Alex: East Village, New York City 01:44 College, partying and a 1-A draft notice 03:05 Joining the Air Force: basic and tech school 07:17 Cannon AFB, marriage and orders for Vietnam 11:16 Arriving at Tuy Hoa Air Base 14:12 The Maytag repairman: working on F-100 autopilots 17:51 Off base, attacks and the smoke-a-thon 22:05 Da Nang and heroin 23:07 Expo '70 and wanting to stay 26:36 Coming home radicalized 34:16 The GI Bill, Wall Street and a hidden habit 39:47 Divorce and seven years homeless 44:53 "You don't have to live like this anymore" 48:02 Raising his son and 20 years teaching 52:17 Looking back on Vietnam🎖️ SUBSCRIBE for new veteran interviews every week.Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UvdMjkOkOgoHM2yIckhlhListen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-a-vet-podcast/id1854840136Read the blog: https://curioushumanography.com/Follow us: https://www.instagram.com/curioushumanography/If you're a veteran with a story to tell, or you know someone who should be on the show, reach out at [email protected]#VietnamVeteran #AirForce #VietnamWar #TuyHoa #VeteranStories #Recovery #AskAVet #F100

It was about 10:30 in the morning on July 29, 1967. Joe Duarte was underneath an F-4 Phantom on the flight deck of USS Forrestal, hooking up the air start for the second launch of the day, when the first explosion went off. A volunteer firefighter back home, he jumped into the catwalk and started handing out fire hoses. Then two more bombs exploded, and he knew he couldn't stay.

Joe grew up in Holbrook, Long Island, and joined the Navy in 1965 with his Army draft notice already in hand. Trained as an AME (Aviation Structural Mechanic, Safety Equipment), he serviced ejection seats, liquid oxygen and pilot masks for the VF-74 Be-Devilers. In this episode he takes us from boot camp at Great Lakes to the crossing-the-line ceremony, life aboard a 5,500-man carrier, and five days on Yankee Station before the Navy's deadliest carrier fire since World War II.

He tells us about the shrapnel that cut through his arm, the bone set without enough morphine, the chaplain who arrived at his family's door with a $10,000 check because the Navy thought he was dead, nine months of rehab at St. Albans, and the life he built afterward.This episode is dedicated to the 134 sailors and aviators who lost their lives aboard USS Forrestal on July 29, 1967, to the 161 who were injured, and to every crew member who fought that fire.

Content advisory: This episode includes descriptions of fire, explosions, death and serious injury. Veterans Crisis Line: call 988 then press 1, text 838255, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:30 Growing up in Holbrook, Long Island

02:28 Drafted, so he joined the Navy

04:22 Boot camp and becoming an AME

07:36 The VF-74 Be-Devilers and the F-4 Phantom

09:50 Life aboard USS Forrestal

15:27 The voyage to Vietnam

24:09 Yankee Station, Gulf of Tonkin

28:10 July 29, 1967: the Forrestal fire

31:29 Sick bay and surgery

39:30 The long road home

43:39 The chaplain at the door

44:55 Nine months at St. Albans

50:19 The shipmates who didn't come home

53:42 Life after the Navy, and looking back

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If you're a veteran with a story to tell, or you know someone who should be on the show, reach out at [email protected]

#USSForrestal #VietnamVeteran #NavyVeteran #AircraftCarrier #F4Phantom #VeteranStories #AskAVet #MilitaryHistory

Seven grenades with the pins pulled. A Marine he'd never met shaking beside him in the hole. Forty minutes of fire, a lull, then forty more. Then the word came down the line: "Fix bayonets."

Amadeo Robert "Stef" Stefanelli grew up in South Brooklyn in a family of Marines. He enlisted at 17, started boot camp at Parris Island in April 1966, and survived a plane that nearly went down over the Pacific before he ever reached Vietnam. In 1967 he served as a machine gunner with the Marines, moving north from Dai Loc to Phu Bai, Dong Ha, C-2 and Con Thien, within sight of the DMZ. He lost friends, carried mortars and an M14 when the new M16s jammed, and earned a spot promotion to corporal in under a year.

Now 78, Stef talks honestly about the friend who told him "I'm so lucky" the day before he was killed, coming home to protesters at Port Authority, years of nightmares, and the seven years of PTSD group at the VA that helped him come through the other side.

This episode is dedicated to the Marines Stef served beside who never came home, including PJ Smith, Sgt. Solomon, James Trusha and Herbie Rogers, and to every Marine and Corpsman who fought along the DMZ in 1967.

Content advisory: This episode includes descriptions of combat, the deaths of friends, wounded prisoners, the destruction of a village, racial violence, physical abuse in boot camp, a mention of suicide, PTSD and alcohol use. Veterans Crisis Line, 24/7: call 988 then press 1, text 838255, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

01:27 A Family of Marines and Parris Island

05:40 Infantry Training and the Plane That Almost Went Down

09:43 Stories from Vietnam: Hastings, Prairie and Starlite

12:39 Dai Loc, Mortars and China Beach16:19 Learning from the Veterans and Losing His Gun Team

19:55 Seven Grenades and “Fix Bayonets!”

23:32 Heading to Phu Bai and Ambushed on the Way to Dong Ha

26:22 Mortars, Rockets and Con Thien Near the DMZ

30:07 Ambushes, Losing Friends and a Spot Promotion

35:12 Life in the Field, a B-52 Strike and a Captured NVA Soldier

42:11 Leadership, Coming Home and the Aftermath of War

47:05 Nightmares, R&R and Facing His Fears

50:11 Coming Home to Protests and Racial Violence

52:29 Life After Vietnam, Family and the Marine Corps

57:23 When the M16 Jammed and the Weapons He Carried

1:01:34 Looking Back at 78, Remembering Fallen Marines and Finding Healing

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If you're a veteran with a story to tell, or you know someone who should be on the show, reach out at [email protected]

#AskAVet #VietnamVeteran #USMC #Marines #ConThien #VietnamWar #VeteranStories #PTSDAwareness

Thanksgiving Day, 1967. Lieutenant Douglas Greenlaw's platoon was supposed to land, pop green smoke, and mark a safe zone for the rest of the company. Instead, the helicopters set them down a thousand yards too far, at the edge of a North Vietnamese battalion. Forty-five Americans against roughly four hundred. They fought for five hours.Doug grew up in a steel-mill family on Lake Michigan, survived being thrown from a car at four and struck by lightning at thirteen, flunked his way off a college baseball team, and was drafted. The Army turned him into an infantry officer. In Vietnam with the 196th Infantry, he led a platoon and then, at 23, a company of 158 men on search and destroy missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He was wounded twice, earned the Silver Star and the Purple Heart, and survived a booby trap so devastating that he says he died on the table.Then he came home and went to work: straight A's at Indiana University on the GI Bill, radio ad sales in Indianapolis, building The Family Channel, taking MTV to Madison Avenue, and running a 100-year-old media company. At 82, he says he's the luckiest man you'll ever meet, and he's not done yet.📖 Read Doug's book, Forged by Lightning: From Boyhood to the Battlefield to the Boardroom: https://www.amazon.com/Douglas-Greenlaw/e/B0D6ZC5KPK⚠️ CONTENT ADVISORY: This episode contains graphic descriptions of close combat, killing, severe battlefield wounds, the death of a child, and the lasting effects of war. Viewer discretion is advised.If you're a veteran in crisis, or worried about one, help is available 24/7. Call 988 and press 1, text 838255, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.⏱️ CHAPTERS00:40 Growing Up in a Steel Mill Town02:10 Thrown From a Car at 65 MPH03:55 Struck by Lightning at 1305:38 Indiana University and Back to the Mills06:30 Drafted06:51 Basic Training at Fort Knox07:24 Selected for OCS08:06 On Detail With Sergeant Street14:53 Officer Candidate School16:44 Training Officer Candidates19:14 Jungle School in Panama20:42 Shipping Out to Vietnam21:18 First Command: Firing the Platoon Sergeant25:25 Search and Destroy29:48 90 Days in the Field33:31 Booby Traps, Snipers and Walking Point34:53 Firefights Nearly Every Day38:24 The Weapons He Carried39:18 Night Patrols Under a Full Moon40:39 "Call Me Law": Leading Like a Brother42:43 Thanksgiving 1967: 45 Against 40046:03 Surviving the Ambush46:50 Face to Face With a North Vietnamese Lieutenant49:11 Into the Tunnel53:44 The Purple Heart and the Silver Star54:50 Losing Fear and Faith55:45 R&R in Bangkok58:46 Company Commander at 2359:44 The Men He Led1:00:40 Arnold Bittner, the Medic Who Wouldn't Get Down1:04:06 1968 and the Tet Offensive1:06:10 Patrolling the Ho Chi Minh Trail1:07:43 Face-First in a Rice Paddy1:09:39 The Booby Trap1:12:27 "Dying Is Not That Bad"1:13:51 Recovery in Da Nang and the Bob Hope Show1:16:33 Yokohama and the Red Cross1:19:05 Rehab at Fort Sheridan1:19:54 Coming Home Without Fear1:23:20 Selling Radio Ads in Indianapolis1:27:58 Building The Family Channel1:31:31 Taking MTV to Madison Avenue1:33:30 CEO of Multimedia1:36:23 Marriage, Family and an Only Child1:37:02 The Nightmares and How They Stopped1:40:26 What Vietnam Taught Him1:42:41 The Wounds He Still Carries1:43:45 82 and Not Done Yet1:44:11 The Greenville Journal🎖️ SUBSCRIBE for new veteran interviews every week.Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UvdMjkOkOgoHM2yIckhlhListen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-a-vet-podcast/id1854840136Read the blog: https://curioushumanography.com/Follow us: https://www.instagram.com/curioushumanography/If you're a veteran with a story to tell, or you know someone who should be on the show, reach out at [email protected]#AskAVet #VietnamVeteran #VietnamWar #ArmyVeteran #InfantryOfficer #SilverStar #VeteranStories #MilitaryHistory

On October 23, 1983, at 6:22 in the morning, a truck bomb destroyed the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Marine Scout Sniper Frank Roberts was 400 yards away, sleeping in the dirt near Charlie Company. The blast threw him into a wall. When he came to, the four-story building was gone.Frank was 20 years old. He had come up through amphibious recon school and Scout Sniper School, where he learned from the legendary Carlos Hathcock, and was sent to Beirut with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines on what was called a peacekeeping mission. In this episode of Ask A Vet, he tells us what it really was: restrictive rules of engagement, constant shelling, sniper duels, and, after the bombing, more than a week cut off with no resupply and their chain of command gone.Frank also shares what came after: training the next generation of snipers, undercover narcotics work in New Haven, a contract on his life during the largest RICO case in Connecticut history, and the oyster farm in South Carolina where he found his way home.IN MEMORY: This episode is dedicated to the 241 American service members, 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and 3 soldiers, killed in Beirut on October 23, 1983, to the 58 French paratroopers lost the same morning, and to every Marine and sailor who served there.CONTENT ADVISORY: This episode contains graphic descriptions of combat, the aftermath of the bombing, severe injuries, PTSD, and strong language. Veterans in crisis: call 988 and press 1, text 838255, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.⏱️ CHAPTERS00:36 The man with two birth certificates01:01 Growing up in a Marine family02:20 The first enlisted man in the family04:31 Parris Island05:36 Eight months at sea on the USS Nassau07:47 Selected for Scout Sniper08:18 Amphibious Recon School, Little Creek10:28 Scout Sniper School and Carlos Hathcock12:04 The M40A1 and two-man teams14:27 Learning to stalk16:11 Orders to Beirut18:36 Patrolling the rubble19:44 Rules of engagement: one round at a time22:18 First sniper mission25:49 Humping through Beirut27:32 Ambushed in a ditch31:17 The man with the white handkerchief35:47 Letters home36:52 Warning signs and the tank that was moved37:58 The morning of the bombing41:03 "It was gone"42:43 241 lost44:17 Cut off: no ammo, no food, no water46:15 Help turned away47:47 The plane he refused to board50:24 33 days of shelling51:03 A prayer under fire53:20 Abandoned: "What's to become of us?"55:35 Twelve men step forward57:55 Coming home1:00:05 Rebuilding as a sniper instructor1:01:14 Delta Force and a CIA offer1:02:16 New Haven Police: undercover narcotics1:05:39 The raid on West Street1:08:18 No fear left1:09:01 The Latin Kings and the FBI1:11:07 A contract on his life1:13:35 On the witness stand1:17:43 The truth about the bomb1:19:10 Becoming an oyster farmer1:24:03 The bond with his brothers1:27:25 Nightmares, healing, and the VA1:30:10 Closing🎖️ SUBSCRIBE for new veteran interviews every week.Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UvdMjkOkOgoHM2yIckhlhListen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-a-vet-podcast/id1854840136Read the blog: https://curioushumanography.com/Follow us: https://www.instagram.com/curioushumanography/If you're a veteran with a story to tell, or you know someone who should be on the show, reach out at [email protected]#AskAVet #Beirut1983 #MarineCorps #ScoutSniper #BeirutBarracks #VeteranStories #USMC #militaryhistory