On October 19, 2007, American and Afghan forces loaded up onto UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook from Afghanistan's Korengal Outpost. The mission was Operation Rock Avalanche: an insertion into the southern area of the Korengal Valley to prevent Taliban fighters from fleeing the region while reducing their ability to operate against U.S. and friendly troops there.
This was Salvatore Giunta's second deployment to Afghanistan. During his first tour in the country in 2005, he was shot in the leg and lost four of his fellow soldiers in an improvised explosive device attack. After a year back at home, he deployed once more. Then-Spc. Giunta was the rifle team leader for B Company, 1st Platoon, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team during Rock Avalanche.
Less than a week after landing in the valley, Giunta and his platoon were traversing a steep crest out of the valley when the Taliban ambushed them. By the end of the engagement, the 22-year-old Giunta would be the first living person since the Vietnam War to receive the Medal of Honor.
Firebase Vegas was located in the Korengal Valley near the Afghan-Pakistan border, which the soldiers stationed there nicknamed "The Valley of Death." Operation Rock Avalanche was supposed to be a six-day mission, but the soldiers said insurgents were everywhere. On October 25, 2007, B Company was spread across a mountain. First platoon watched over second and third platoons from nearby Honcho Hill.
Just two days prior, the Taliban killed Sgt. Larry Rougle wounded two others and made off with machine guns and night vision. Their captain, Dan Kearney, went into the village to demand they return the gear. Once Kearney and the command group left the scene via helicopter, the platoons began their long trek back to base through the insurgent-filled night. As they made their way down a rocky slope, the sound of gunfire and RPGs filled the night air.
Giunta saw Sgt. Erick Gallardo fall and ran to his aid, believing he was hit. Gallardo was okay, saved by his helmet, but Giunta took two rounds, one to his own armor and the other to a weapon strapped to his shoulder. The ambush was so heavy and close that Apache helicopters could not provide air support, and the second platoon was too far away to help.
"There were more bullets in the air than stars in the sky," Giunta later told Vanity Fair. "A wall of bullets at everyone at the same time with one crack and then a million other cracks afterward. They're above you, in front of you, behind you, below you. They're hitting in the dirt early. They're going over your head. Just all over the place. They were close – as close as I've ever seen."
The two soldiers were third and fourth in line before the shooting started. Realizing the fire was coming from two directions, they did the only thing they knew could save them from being wiped out: they attacked. They began to return fire and make their way to the soldiers in front of them, suppressing the ambush using grenades. When they reached Spc. Frank Eckrode, the second man in line, they found him wounded. He had been shot four times and was trying to unjam his SAW. Then Giunta realized their point man (and Giunta's best friend), Sgt. Josh Brennan was missing.
As Gallardo tended to Eckstrode's wounds, Giunta raced to the top of the hill, exposed to enemy small arms fire, to find two insurgents trying to carry Brennan from the battlefield. He killed one, which caused the other to drop Brennan's wounded body and make a break for it. Brennan had been hit eight times, so Giunta pulled him back and tried to administer aid as the rest of his squad provided security. It wasn't long before the second and third platoon arrived.
The intense ambush had lasted only three minutes, but five men, including the platoon's medic, were down. Giunta kept Brennan alive long enough for a medevac to get him out of the area, but the man died the next day. Two days later, Giunta was informed that Kearney had recommended him for the Medal of Honor, which was presented to him at the White House on November 16, 2010, by President Barack Obama.
"I'm not here because I'm a great soldier," Giunta said at the ceremony. "I'm here because I served with great soldiers."
True to that sentiment, Giunta would gift his medal to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in July 2017, wanting it to remain with them.
In the earliest years of the Iraq War, the city of Fallujah was one of the most contested cities in the country, but it didn't start out that way. Local citizens had taken control of maintaining order in the city, but a series of misunderstandings between Coalition forces and local leaders soon led to violence and outrage. At the end of March 2004, four private military contractors were massacred and mutilated by insurgents there. The same day, five American soldiers were killed by a massive explosive device near Habbaniyah while en route to Fallujah. The U.S. military decided something needed to be done.
On April 4, 2004, the U.S. launched a massive operation to capture or kill those responsible for murdering Blackwater contractors and the five American troops while pacifying the city. An estimated 10,000 troops, including U.S. Army soldiers from the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain Division, 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 5th Special Forces Group, and Delta Force operators had tried to pacify Fallujah, but it would be the Marine Corps who entered the city for what was officially known as Operation Vigilant Resolve.
Fallujah was part of the Sunni Triangle, a critical but volatile region in Iraq during the war. It highlighted the complexities and challenges of the post-invasion period, characterized by its predominantly Sunni population, historical ties to Saddam Hussein's regime, and its role as a center of insurgent activity and violence. The region saw intense fighting and resistance to U.S. and Coalition forces for much of the war.
Responsibility for the city was handed to the 1st Marine Division on March 24, 2004. Less than a week later, the murder of the contractors in Fallujah and the American soldiers in Habbaniyah forced the Marine Corps to make a major effort in the city, which was suddenly a hotbed of insurgent activity. The locals called it "the graveyard of Americans." Washington gave the Marines 72 hours to mount a response. They were to capture or kill those responsible for the deaths of the Americans, clear out foreign fighters, and remove any heavy weapons.
U.S. forces surrounded Fallujah with some 2,000 Marines on April 2, 2004. By the morning of April 5, 2004, the city was cut off from the rest of the country, with all roads blocked. A third of the city had already fled, but Coalition forces dropped leaflets and issued radio broadcasts, asking citizens to stay in their homes and help identify the men who killed the Americans. The city was under siege with an estimated 3,600 insurgents inside, armed with small arms, RPGs, mortars, and anti-aircraft guns.
On the night of April 4, special operations teams began raiding the houses of suspected enemy leaders Marines from 1st Battalion, 5th Marines (1/5), 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines (2/1), the regiment's supporting tank company, an assault amphibian company, and an artillery battery began the assault on April 5, approaching from the outskirts of Fallujah in a pincers movement, hoping to catch the insurgents inside. What came next would be an intense urban combat campaign over the next five days that American forces hadn't seen since the Battle of Hue in the Vietnam War.
The Marines didn't really know how many enemy fighters they were up against because the deadline to fight back from Washington didn't give them time to prepare an adequate intelligence assessment. All they knew was they could be fighting anywhere from 500 to 6,000 enemy fighters. When the shooting started, the Marines faced stiff resistance and a surprisingly capable enemy. They could swarm positions, fight in coordinated teams, and effectively maneuver throughout the city. Their only trump card over the insurgency was the air and artillery fire support.
The fighting was house-to-house, as U.S. troops called in air strikes from AC-130 gunships' howitzer and gatling guns, along with F-16 Fighting Falcons and Cobra helicopter gunships.. Within three days, the Americans controlled a quarter of the city, but the resistance wasn't crumbling – they knew time was on their side if they could hold out. They began a disinformation campaign, claiming the Americans were effectively destroying much of the city and haphazardly killing civilians.
Meanwhile, as the fighting raged on, other cities in Iraq began to rise up. In Baghdad, followers of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr began reprisal attacks against Coalition forces. This militia would soon be known as the Mahdi Army and would be the main anti-Coalition militia in Iraq until it was disbanded in 2008. In Ramadi, another city in the Sunni Triangle, Sunni fighters would increase their resistance to American control. Other cities like Mosul and Najaf also saw an uptick in violence. The Iraqi Governing Council eventually had enough of the widespread violence and demanded the Marines call a ceasefire in Fallujah on April 9, 2004.
Humanitarian aid poured into the city over the next three weeks as the Marines continued their sporadic fighting with Fallujah's insurgents. Iraq estimated 600 civilians died in the month-long battle, while the United States lost 39 killed and 37 wounded. The provisional Iraqi government forced the Marines to leave the city and hand responsibility off to the Iraqi Fallujah Brigade, a newly created force of Sunni Iraqis. The Marines were skeptical about the reliability of such a force but withdrew anyway.
The First Battle of Fallujah was a loss for the Americans, but not because of the Marines' fighting ability. They were forced to engage a target without adequate intelligence or planning. They were also restricted in the number and power of reinforcements available to them. Finally, the American political leadership did not have the will to see the battle through to the end in the face of insurgent misinformation.
This platform has allowed me to reconnect with those who I've had the pleasure of
serving and stay in communication with them.
SMSgt Kevin Richardson US Air Force (Ret)
Served 1982-2011
The Siege of Bastogne was one of the most crucial fights of World War II, and it came amid the largest battle the U.S. Army has ever fought – the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans caught the Americans by surprise on Dec. 16, 1944, mustering more than 400,000 men, 550 tanks, and hundreds of other vehicles for one last offensive. The goal was to push the Allies back toward the sea and recapture the critical port of Antwerp.
German forces overwhelmed American defenses as they poured through the Ardennes Forest, forcing the retreat of tens of thousands of shocked American soldiers. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower knew his supply lines were already thin, a blizzard negated Allied air superiority and the Ardennes area was full of green and exhausted troops – some who had been fighting since D-Day. Eisenhower declared that holding the Belgia
n city of Bastogne would be the single most important mission of the battle and sent the 101st Airborne Division to mount its defenses.
Among those paratroopers sent to Bastogne was a young Pvt. Vince Speranza. Speranza joined the Army at age 18, hoping to become a simple line infantryman. But when he saw his first demonstration of a new kind of warfare, airborne paratroopers, he became enamored and signed up to join their ranks. He became a machine gunner and a replacement troop attached to Company H, 3rd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, and arrived in Europe in time to defend Bastogne.
Speranza survived the war and buried his memories of it. He allowed them to come back up when he taught kids about World War II as a history teacher, his decades-long postwar career. He eventually decided to return to Bastogne in 2009 at 84 years old. When he got there, he discovered he was a kind of historical celebrity - but not for anything he did with his machine gun.
Like other members of the 101st Airborne, Speranza spent the first eight days of the siege getting pounded by German artillery along the front line. On the second day, his best friend Joe Willis was hit by shrapnel from the enemy barrages and was evacuated to a casualty collection point housed in a church inside the city. Speranza went to visit his friend the first time he got the chance.
When he finally found Willis, his buddy asked him to get him a drink, and he didn't mean water. Speranza tried to explain to his wounded comrade that much of the city was in ruins; they were surrounded, and supplies couldn't reach them. Willis implored Speranza to take a look anyway. As he walked out of the church, he located a nearby tavern – or what remained of a tavern. As luck would have it, he walked in, and one of the taps worked.
Having nothing else to carry the beer in, Speranza used his helmet, filling it with beer to take to his friend. He made two full trips before a major caught him. Angry, the officer warned Speranza the beer might kill his friend or anyone else who takes a drink. He threatened to shoot Speranza if the soldier didn't stop bringing beer to the patients.
Around 65 years after the incident, Vince Speranza finally returned to Bastogne. He visited the military cemetery nearby and saw his old foxhole, which was still there. He also learned that the legend of the paratrooper who made a beer run for his wounded comrade is still being told, and a Belgian beer company even immortalized him. Bastogne's Airborne Beer is still served in a ceramic helmet, even to this day.
"Always Faithful, Always Forward"
The year was 1942, and a new type of unit was born in the US Marine Corps. Edson's 1st Raider Battalion was designated, and several days later, Carlson's 2d Raider Battalion was named. Later in the year, Liversedge's 3rd Raider Battalion and Roosevelt's 4th Raider Battalion were created. One hundred seventy-five members of Marines TWS are part of the United States Marine Raiders Association as members of one or more of the four Marine Raider Battalions during their respective periods of existence between 16 Feb 1942 and 31 Jan 1944 based on the Master U.S. Marine Raider Roster which contains about 7,710 Marine and 368 Navy personnel. As of 2023, a USMC battalion strength was about 900. Also, 127 current MTWS members had been assigned to the 1st Marine Raider Bn. A special TWS forum dedicated entirely to the late Raymond 
Louis Merrell (Sgt. USMC) titled "Raider Ray's Remembrances" includes eleven full pages of his threads about the Raiders written over an eighteen-month period 2017-18. Seventeen women have attempted Marine Raider training. The Association additionally summarizes these units' early days in a comprehensive manner, "Beginning in the mid-1930s the Marine Corps began experimenting with amphibious landings… In June 1941, he [General Holland M. Smith] personally picked Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. " ed Mike" Edson to command a battalion in the First Marine Division and designated it to serve permanently with the Navy's APD [i.e., high-speed transport, "AP" = transport, "D" = destroyer] squadron. Smith began to refer to Edson's outfit as the "light battalion" or the "APD battalion." When the 5th Marines and the other elements of the 1st Marine Division moved down to New River that fall, the 1st Battalion remained behind in Quantico with Force headquarters… He [Edson] believed that the APD battalion would focus primarily on reconnaissance, raids, and other special operations. In his mind, it was a waterborne version of the parachutists.
Similarly, the battalion would rely on speed and mobility, not firepower, as its tactical mainstay… At the beginning of 1942, with the United States now at war and recruits pouring into the Corps, Smith wrote the Major General Commandant and asked him to redesignate the battalion. On 7 January, Edson received word that he headed the 1st Separate Battalion.
The Raider battalions soon received priority in the Marine Corps on men and equipment. Edson and [Colonel Evans F.] Carlson combed their respective divisions' ranks and siphoned off many of the best men pouring forth from the recruit depots. They had no difficulty attracting volunteers with the promise that they would be the first to fight the Japanese. On 16 Feb 1942, predating the creation of the U.S. Army Rangers by four months, Edson received word that the 1st Separate Battalion had been officially designated the 1st Raider Battalion." In 2006, almost 65 years later, under the direction of the late SECDEF Donald Rumsfeld, the United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command activated at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Marines from the 1st and 2nd Force Reconnaissance Companies folded into the command. In 2015, the command rejoined its Second World War roots and became the present-day Marine Raiders comprised today of 1st and 2nd Marine Raider Bn.
Interestingly, the artificial intelligence version of the unit's formation reads, "The battalion was formed in response to a request from Admiral Chester Nimitz, the new commander of the Pacific Fleet, for 'commando units' to raid Japanese-held islands… The battalion was based in part on British Commandos and Chinese communist guerrillas…" General Thomas Holcomb (1879-1965) was famously reluctant to create the Raiders. He believed any "… standard Marine infantry battalion could execute any mission associated with British Commandos or Chinese guerrillas." Edson was awarded the Medal of Honor for his front-line leadership in a battle during which his Raiders suffered more than 250 killed and wounded. Bigger, bloodier battles awaited, but Edson's Ridge and the Raiders hold a special place among leathernecks of all generations, according to Beth Crumley, a U.S. Marine Corps History Division historian. "Anybody who has taken an interest in the history of the corps, they're going to know the story about Edson, and they're going to know about the Raiders and the Battle of Edson's Ridge," she said. They were the only ground units to participate in every island assault in the Solomon Islands. Raiders, as individuals or units, were in virtually every island-hopping event in the Pacific War and made the first landing in Japan after its announced surrender.
The 1st Marine Raider Battalion and its three sister battalions became famous for their fighting prowess in World War II. The battalion's inception, growth, and eventual end also revealed a lot about the development of amphibious operations during the war, as well as the challenges the Corps faced as it expanded from 19,000 men to nearly half a million. "Eight months after Pearl Harbor to the day, the Marines landed in combat. To secure Guadalcanal, the Raiders were assigned to take the neighboring island of Tulagi, where they would be up against the best of the Japanese combat forces, the Rikusentai or Japanese "Special Naval Landing Forces." Coming in on Higgins Boats in the morning hours of 7 Aug 1942, the Raiders would clash for three days in vicious fighting, encountering hitherto unknown Japanese cave bunkers plus their enemies' sniper actions, night-fighting, and willingness to fight to the death. On 14 Sep 1942, the first light at Guadalcanal revealed over a thousand Japanese dead on the ridge. Outnumbered five to one for two nights, the Raiders held on against Japanese shelling by sea and Imperial troops, and the battle became legendary in Marine Corps history." After two years of action, the four Raider battalions were disbanded. The Marine Raider Regiment (MRR), formerly known as the Marine Special Operations Regiment (MSOR), is a special operations force of the U.S. Marine Corps that is part of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC). The 1st Marine Raider Battalion was reactivated on 26 Oct 2006 and was headquartered at Camp Pendleton, CA, until moving to Camp Lejeune, NC, between 2019-2022.
"The Battalions' organization was finalized in 2006 and is one of three battalions of the Marine Raider Regiment. The 1st and 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalions and the Marine Special Operations Advisor Group (MSOAG, the predecessor of the 3rd Marine Special Operations Battalion) were created. Most of the combat personnel assigned to the battalion were drawn from the Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance. The battalion consists of four companies, each company consisting of 4 fourteen-man Marine Special Operations Teams (MSOT). The Marine Corps Special Operations proof of concept consisted of Det One deploying to Iraq with Navy SEALs from Naval Special Warfare Group 1 in 2004. The initial force structure for the Marine Special Operations Battalions were the 1st and 2nd Force Reconnaissance Companies, which then deployed elements to Afghanistan in 2007. In September 2009, the 1st Raider Battalion returned to Afghanistan in command of a joint special operations task force in the northwest of the country."
Following General Petraeus's take over of command in Afghanistan in 2010, in support of the ALP/VSO program (Afghan Local Police/Village Stability Operations), SOF in Afghanistan was task-organized into battalion-level SOTF (Special Operations Task Forces), each with a geographic area of responsibility; for MARSOC in western Afghanistan and Helmand Province. In March 2012, Marine Raiders suffered several casualties to Green on Blue attacks. The Marine Raiders were deployed to support the Global War on Terrorism in December 2013 alongside the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable). They conducted various missions, ranging from direct action to surveillance and other missions. In 2014, it was announced that the Marine Special Operations Regiment and its subordinate units would be renamed Marine Raiders. However, the renaming was not official until 19 June 2015 due to administrative delays. In February 2019, Marine Corps Times reported that since the formation of MARSOC 13 years before, it had conducted 300 operational deployments across 13 countries, awarded more than 300 valor awards, and that 43 Raiders, including two multipurpose canines, had been killed in training and combat operations.
"Even though the large-scale counter-terrorism campaigns of previous years have slowed down, Marine Raiders continue to deploy all across the globe, enhancing partnerships and setting the conditions to defeat adversaries if called upon. Marine Raiders are constantly deployed overseas. At any given time, a Marine Special Operations Team could be in Africa, Europe, South America, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. As the United States military pivots toward Great Power Competition with geopolitical rivals like China in the Indo-Pacific, Marine Raiders find themselves in familiar territory."
"Since standing up in May of 2012, the Marine Raider Foundation has funded the Raider Legacy Preservation Program. This support includes:
• Funding to bring WWII Marine Raiders to their annual U.S. Marine Raider Association Reunion (all travel and reunion fees are covered)
• Funding for the construction of memorials honoring fallen Marine Raiders, including the Memorial Wall at MARSOC Headquarters, the Jonathan Gifford statue at Gifford Hall, the K9 Statue and Dog Handler Memorial Stone at the Corporal David M. Sonka Multipurpose Canine Facility, the memorial at 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, and memorial displays at Military Entrance Processing Stations
• Funding to bring WWII Marine Raiders to modern-day Raider ceremonies and commemorative events, linking together these two generations to help preserve the legacy that originated with WWII Marine Raiders and is carried on today by modern-day Raiders
• Funding for ceremonies that celebrate excellence within the Marine Raider community, including Marine Raider symposiums, Individual Training Course Graduation, awards ceremonies, and Celebration of Life ceremonies."
The 1st Marine Raider Bn insignia white stars featured on the night-sky blue (and other colored) background are in the arrangement of the Southern Cross constellation, under which the Guadalcanal fighting took place. The edged weapon depicted centrally on their SSI is a Marine Raider Stiletto (facsimile of the British Commando FS fighting knife) made by Camillus Cutlery during WWII, with only 15,000 manufactured. The U.S. military has traditionally avoided incorporating darker heraldry images into its patches and insignia. The main exception, however, is the World War II Marine Raiders and their use of the skull. Col Evans Carlson's 2nd Raider Battalion first used a skull with crossed cutlasses as its unofficial battalion logo and calling card. It was influential in the adaptation of the Marine Raider Regiment shoulder patch. The design is still used in various ways by Marines in the U.S. Special Operations Command (MARSOC) today. Since then, lesser-known units have also appropriated skulls for insignia in other units and service branches. Reportedly, nearly 87,000 marines were casualties during World War II (including almost 20,000 KIA), and 82 were awarded the Medal of Honor. Marine GWOT casualties from 1991-2016 were 1,257 KIA and 13,704 WIA, with two receiving the MOH.
Having gone to several military sites, most just want to sell you Stuff. TWS actually provides a service to those like myself who want to connect with the past. Our awards, accomplishments, and activities can be remembered here for others to enjoy or reminisce about. I had few friends while in the Navy, and I recognize that many made lifelong friends. I can certainly respect that and admire those who did just that. I must admit that I have already found one person I served with; thanks to TWS, I would have never found him. Now to make contact.
Perhaps the biggest service that TWS provides is the opportunity to relive memorable events in a safe way that leaves the pain behind. Some suffered more than others, for some suffering is gone, yet we hold onto those memories differently. TWS also provides a reality check that few, if any, provided how we can compare our service to others. Sometimes we don't have all our facts straight or recall events as accurately as others, and TWS provides different venues to compare.
I have found TWS to be a positive and uplifting force that allows service members to reconnect, recall memories, and divest thoughts that keep reoccurring through life into a meaningful force for good.
Thanks, TWS!
Applying for disability compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) can be time-consuming and frustrating. This frustration is made worse by the time it takes to get a decision. Often, this wait is extended because needed information is missing. When that happens, additional time passes as the Veteran and VA search for that information.
One way to avoid this additional time and help the VA complete your claim faster is to present all the information needed when initially applying for benefits. This is often referred to as presenting a completed claim. With all the needed information, VA claims processors can focus on rendering the decision, avoiding "back-and-forth" communication with the Veteran about what is missing.
To apply for disability compensation, you have to demonstrate three items. Here is a listing of these items and the documentation used to support each item.
Item 1 – Demonstrate that you were in the military when the injury (or disability) occurred and that you are eligible.
Documentation:
• DD214 – your discharge document has your dates of service and type of discharge
• Military Personnel Records – among the information these contain are the locations of your service and dates you were there. This will be important if you are demonstrating you were in a particular place during specific dates.
Item 2 – Demonstrate the incident – injury/disability - occurred.
• Military Medical Records—Ideally, when you were hurt, you got medical attention, and this would be recorded in your records.
• Lay statements – if you were not treated and, therefore, have no evidence of your injury in your medical records, lay evidence can be provided. These are statements from witnesses who saw the injury occur.
Item 3 – Connect your present condition to injury while in the service.
• Medical records (Military or non-military) that document the connection
• Lay statements that demonstrate the connection and severity.
Sources
If you don't have them, your military-related documents – DD214, Military Personnel Records, and Military Records - can be obtained from NARA, the National Archives and Record Administration, using this link - https://www.archives.gov/veterans.
You should be able to obtain your non-military records from your private provider. If you want the VA to get these for you, complete these forms and include them in your application for disability compensation:
• VA Form 21-4142, "Authorization to Disclose Information to the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA)"
• VA Form 21-4142a, "General Release for Medical Provide information to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)"
Lay evidence refers to statements written by people who are not healthcare professionals that support your application for disability compensation. These statements can be provided by anyone who has knowledge of the situation or events described in the application. The most common sources of lay evidence are:
• The Veteran – explaining the effects of the incident that go beyond the medical evidence.
• Family members – providing observations about the Veteran and how the injury or disability has affected their daily life and relationships.
• Friends – providing observations about how the events have changed their interactions and relationships with the Veteran.
• Fellow Veterans – statements from fellow Veterans are often called "buddy statements." Often, they explain events they witnessed which were not reported and, therefore, not documented in official records.
• Co-workers – describing their observations about the Veteran's work live and relationships
Statements to support your application can be provided on VA Form 21-10210 Lay/Witness Statement. However, it is not necessary to use the form. Most statements are written, typed, or printed on plain paper.
The most helpful statements describe events, symptoms, severity, or impacts related to the application. They provide information that is not in the official records, or that is not explained sufficiently. These statements and the detailed descriptions can "fill in the gaps" in the official records, present information not reported, or provide context that helps the VA better appreciate the situation that led to the Veteran applying for disability compensation.
Bottomline: Submitting a complete application is the best way to help the VA render a decision on your claim as quickly as possible.
Paul R. Lawrence, Ph.D., served as Under Secretary of Benefits at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from May 2018 to January 2021. He is the author of "Veterans Benefits for You: Get What You Deserve," available from Amazon.
Behind the imposing gates of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia rests the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Around the clock, active-duty personnel stand as sentinels remembering our fallen veterans. Many cemeteries have remains of Soldiers from past wars marked with a single haunting word, "Unknown." To properly identify each man and woman who have paid the ultimate price for their country, the military created identification tags. Here is a look at how those tags have changed over the years.
Civil War
The Civil War changed how military officials recorded battlefield deaths. On April 3, 1862, the Adjutant General Office (AGO) of the War Department issued General Order No. 33, which in effect read: "To secure as far as possible the decent interment of those who have fallen or may fall in battle…lay off lots of ground in a suitable spot near every battlefield and… register of each burial and will be preserved".
During the Civil War, large numbers of casualties on both sides prompted Soldiers and civilians to consider other ways to identify fallen Soldiers. In 1862, New York City resident John Kennedy wrote to the Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. He proposed that the US Army provide a medal identification badge for all officers and enlisted men that Soldiers could wear under the clothing. The War Department rejected Kennedy's proposal.
Civil War Soldiers could purchase (at their own expense) identification badges or tags manufactured by military camp suppliers called sutlers. Sutlers were civilian contractors who traveled with the armies selling commonly needed items from photographs to wares. Some of these identification badges and tags were ornate in design.
Death became a reality for thousands of Soldiers who had no proper identification. During the battle of Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864, Soldiers, knowing they might be killed, wrote their names and military units on loose slips of paper, and pinned them to their kepis (caps) or sack coats. They hoped someone would identify their remains after the battle. Another 35 years would pass before the subject of identification tags was brought up again.
Spanish-American War
The War with Spain began on April 25, 1898, and again required the United States military to turn their attention to how to identify fallen Soldiers. With fighting in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, the American Red Cross (founded in 1881) took up the cause to provide identification tags for Soldiers. Neither the United States military nor individual states provided any identification tags at that time. The San Francisco Red Cross Society, one of the strongest advocates of tags, furnished them to thousands of Soldiers en route to the Philippines. The tags were smaller than a half-dollar and made of aluminum.
The discs were inscribed with the Soldier's company, regiments, and a number corresponding to their eventual Compiled Military Service Record numerical identifier. On the other side of the disc was the visual design of the Red Cross, inscribed with the letters "RED."
In 1899 United States Army Chaplain Charles C. Pierce was instrumental in establishing the Quartermaster Graves Registration Service. He wrote to the AGO office: "It is better that all men should wear these marks as a military duty than one should fail to be identified." Pierce, a veteran of the Spanish American War, had witnessed the horrors of war and strongly advocated issuing identification tags for all Soldiers in the military. Six more years would pass before the military adopted official tags.
Official Military Tags Introduced
On December 20, 1906, the US Army formally adopted Identification Tags when they issued General Order No. 204. The order read, "An aluminum Identification tag the size of a silver half dollar…stamped with name, rank, company, regiment, or corps of the wearer will be worn by each officer and enlisted man…whenever the field kit is worn." Each tag had a cord attached through a small hole. The Ordnance Department provided each Army organization and unit with a steel die kit and two sets of dies, one for the alphabet and the other for Arabic numerals.
World War I
Following the entry of the United States into World War I on April 6, 1917, the United States War Department changed regulations on issuing tags. General Order No. 80, issued on June 30, 1917, read, "Gratuitous issues will be limited to two tags to an enlistment." Soldiers were now issued two matching identification tags. An addendum called, Change of Army Regulations (or CAR) issued with General Order No. 58 on July 6, 1917, added, "These tags are prescribed as part of the uniform and when not worn as directed…will be habitually kept in the possession of the owner", therefore making the Soldier responsible for the care of the tags. They were to be part of their kits and always kept with them.
Another significant change to identification tags was issued with General Order No. 21 on August 13, 1917, when the military added, "The tag now prescribed for wear by officers and enlisted men will be worn also by all civilians attached to these forces." Civilian employees attached to the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) would be authorized to wear identification tags. One final wartime change occurred on February 12, 1918, with the issuing of General Order No. 27. That order authorized service numbers for enlisted army personnel. The numbers were added to the identification tags.
Identification Tags for other branches
On October 6, 1916, the US Marine Corps issued General Order No 32, which read: "Hereafter identification tags will be issued to all officers and enlisted men of the Marine Corps… always be worn when engaged in field service…at all other times they will either be worn or kept in possession of the owner." Initially believed to be of little importance, opinions later changed.
On May 12, 1917, the Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issued General Order No. 294 stating: "The identification tag for officers and enlisted men of the Navy consists of an oval plate Monel metal…and suspended from the neck by a Monel wire encased in a cotton sleeve". The Navy had more information added to the tags, which read, "The tag has on one side the etched fingerprints of the right index finger…the other side the individual's initials, surname, month and year of enlistment [in numerals] …this side will also bear the letters U.S.N," with officers it added: "Initials and surname, rank held, and date of appointment."
The US Coast Guard issued Identification Tags authorized by the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation in Circular Letter No. 152-41 on December 16, 1941, which read, "The Bureau also directs identification tags be prepared and furnished the officers and enlisted men of the Coast Guard…the letters USCG should be stamped or etched on the face of the tag issued to officers and men of the Coast Guard". In times of war, the Coast Guard operated under orders of the Navy, and they began to discontinue tags in the 1970s.
Between the World Wars
Following the end of World War I on November 11, 1918, the US Army made very few changes to identification tags until December 1, 1928, with Army Regulations 600-40 stating, "Tags are now officially part of the uniform and must be worn at all times." From 1906 to 1928, tags were not officially considered part of the uniform. By the mid-1930s, identification tags were referred to by their colloquial name, "dog tags," and were commonly worn by Soldiers, sailors, and marines. The Army Historical Foundation wrote that newspaper editor William Randolph Hearst coined the term to undermine support for President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Hearst heard that employees of the newly formed Social Security Administration were issued nameplates for personal identification, and he nicknamed them "dog tags." There are other rumors of how the nickname emerged, but regardless, the history stretches back for decades.
World War II
In 1940, before the United States entered World War II, a major change was made to tags. Four new types were introduced for use during the war.
The first type came in December 1940 in Army Regulations (AR 600-35). It included a new shape and size and was made of Monel metal. It was two inches long by 1 1/8 inch wide and 1/40 inch in thickness. The tags included five lines of information:
Name of Soldier
Serial Number and then added the blood type "A", "B", "AB" or "O" blood.
Name of emergency contact
Street address of contact
City and State of contact
The second type, introduced in November 1941, made additional changes, including adding the religious affiliation of the wearer on the fifth line. Those designations were C for Catholic, H for Hebrew, and P for Protestant. This presented a challenge for service members who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church, not considering itself Protestant, requested that the letters "LDS" be included. They contacted the War Department, but the request was not formally adopted. Some Soldiers created their own dog tags that included the LDS designation. Thus, the five lines on this tag were:
Name of Soldier
Serial Number and Tetanus immunization (Letter T and 2-number year and added 2-number year for when toxoid was completed) and also the blood type of the wearer with the following: "A, "B", "AB", or "O" type blood.
Name of emergency contact
Street address of contact
City and State of contact/Religious Designation
The third type, introduced in July 1943, cut the lines down to three and included the following modifications:
Name of Soldier (with first name, middle initial, and last name)
Serial Numbers, Tetanus immunization date, tetanus toxoid date, and blood type abbreviated.
Religion of wearer (abbreviated)
The fourth type, introduced in March 1944, also included three lines and lasted until April 1946. It was nearly identical to the previous type, but the last name was listed first, followed by the first name, last.
One additional change occurred when a notch was added to one side of the tag. A myth began circulating that the notch was added for medical reasons, to hold open the mouths of deceased Soldiers to prevent the body from gaseous bloating. In reality, the notch was created by the stamping machine.
In the years leading up to the Korean War on July 1, 1947, the tags were further modified and began adding prefixes as part of the serial numbers, with "RA" added for Regular Army.
It has provided an excellent meeting place for Marines. Social media is changing, and I'm glad someone
had the foresight to create a site that caters to all the Armed Forces. Keep up the good work!
LtCol Norman Hitchcock, US Marine Corps (Ret)
Served 1974-2003
Everyone loves a good story; few stories are more engaging than Medal of Honor citations. They have everything anyone could ever want in a story: danger, suspense, and a fierce battle against overwhelming odds. Most importantly, they have a hero – and every story needs a hero.
No one recognizes this more than Malcolm Gladwell. He's a journalist and author who has been telling stories for most of his life. Gladwell is the longtime host and mind behind the Revisionist History podcast and author of "The Tipping Point" and "The Bomber Mafia." His newest work recognizes the powerful and real-life stories of America's greatest heroes: Medal of Honor recipients.
"Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage" is a nine-part podcast series from Pushkin Industries and iHeartPodcasts that profiles the life and heroism of a new Medal of Honor recipient each week. It also explores ideas like what makes a hero, why people are willing to risk their lives for others, what humans are really capable of doing when a situation calls for it, and the true nature of sacrifice.
"We tell stories about heroes because of a simple fact about the human mind: Courage is contagious," Gladwell explained in a statement. "And when you hear about someone doing something heroic, it makes you want to be a hero too. And these days, we could use more heroes."
The first season of "Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage" will take us all the way back to the Civil War, with the story of Mary Walker, the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor, and Douglas Munro, the only Coast Guardsman to receive the award. It also brings us to the story behind "Harlem Hellfighter" Henry Johnson's Medal of Honor, which took place during World War I but wasn't upgraded to the nation's highest award for gallantry until 2015 due to the prevailing racism of the era.
Other recipients profiled in season one include Mike Thornton, Alwyn Cashe, Tibor Rubin, Jay R. Vargas, Robert Bush, and John Chapman, spanning American conflicts from the Civil War to the Iraq War. New episodes of "Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage" will be released each Wednesday starting June 26, 2024, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and elsewhere.
On June 4, 1944, the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal and its escort destroyers picked up a sonar ping. A U-boat was hiding off the coast of Cape Verde. U.S. Navy Captain Daniel V. Gallery was in command of his second hunter-killer cruise as skipper of the Guadalcanal. Having already sunk three U-boats, he was determined to capture one and get the trove of valuable intelligence information hidden aboard it. He was so ready to make history; he had several boarding teams and a film crew ready and waiting.
Charles Lachman, a journalist whose work includes The New York Post, Fox News, and "Inside Edition," has written a new book about the capture of U-505. Called "Codename Nemo: The Hunt for a Nazi U-Boat and The Elusive Enigma Machine," he goes into painstaking detail, having researched the story for three years and digging up interviews from both the American and German stories of the tale. The result is a fast-paced, thrilling adventure at sea filled with great American heroes.
Before we continue with the story of the Guadalcanal and U-505, let's take a step back in time to 1815. The War of 1812 had been raging on the high seas for years. It had finally ended on December 24, 1814, but word had yet to spread to all the ships at sea. Historians are unsure of whether Master Commandant Lewis Warrington, commander of the USS Peacock, knew the war was over or not. What he did know is that the British East India Company's brig HCS Nautilus was his for the taking. Peacock's capture of the Nautilus was the last time the U.S. Navy captured an enemy ship at sea. That is the last time until Capt. Gallery's task force picked up U-505 on sonar.
Gallery had long strategized about the possibility of capturing a German U-boat. He first got the idea while stationed in Iceland in 1942. At the time, the World War II Battle of the Atlantic was still in its early days, and U-boat "wolfpacks" were wreaking havoc on Allied shipping. Advances in radar, aircraft, and convoy protection took its toll on the U-boats, forcing many to hunt alone and stay submerged until the cover of darkness could hide their locations on the surface.
He believed it wasn't necessary to utterly destroy a submarine at every encounter. He theorized they could be neutralized and forced to the surface with well-placed depth charges and hedgehog anti-submarine mortars. When the crew abandoned their boat, he believed it would be possible to send a boarding party over, disable the charges set to scuttle the sub and capture the intel on board.
His primary objective was to capture a German Enigma, the machine used by the Nazis to encode their military communications. He had no idea that the Allies had not only already captured a machine but had broken Enigma and were reading German messages. In his mind, obtaining an Enigma machine would be a crucial win for the Allied cause.
After being detected by the American task force's sonar, U-505's position was marked by Grumman F4F Hellcat fighters while the USS Chatelain dropped a flurry of depth charges and hedgehogs. Its targeting was perfect; U-505 popped up out of the water, and the Americans began to pummel it with small-arms fire. Once the crew had abandoned ship, the U.S. sailors in the boarding party went in without hesitation – no small feat.
They had been told to expect that some German sailors would have remained aboard to kill any boarders and ensure the sub was scuttled. Naval intelligence told them that they had mere minutes to find and disable all 14 charges before they went off. The Americans thought they were going on a suicide mission but went anyway. Luckily, no one was left aboard, and in the crew's haste to abandon ship, the charges hadn't been properly set. U-505 was now in American hands.
That's not the end of the story, however. U-505 still had to get back to a friendly port without its capture being discovered by the Germans. Adm. Ernest King was furious with Capt. Gallery because if the Germans believed their codes were compromised, they might change them. Find out how U-505 became the USS Nemo and how Capt. Gallery and his crew became heroes while keeping their capture secret in Charles Lachman's gripping book.
"Codename Nemo: The Hunt for a Nazi U-Boat and The Elusive Enigma Machine" is available now, wherever books are sold. It can be found on Amazon in hardback, Kindle e-reader and audiobook starting at $17.99
This was Salvatore Giunta's second deployment to Afghanistan. During his first tour in the country in 2005, he was shot in the leg and lost four of his fellow soldiers in an improvised explosive device attack. After a year back at home, he deployed once more. Then-Spc. Giunta was the rifle team leader for B Company, 1st Platoon, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team during Rock Avalanche. 
The two soldiers were third and fourth in line before the shooting started. Realizing the fire was coming from two directions, they did the only thing they knew could save them from being wiped out: they attacked. They began to return fire and make their way to the soldiers in front of them, suppressing the ambush using grenades. When they reached Spc. Frank Eckrode, the second man in line, they found him wounded. He had been shot four times and was trying to unjam his SAW. Then Giunta realized their point man (and Giunta's best friend), Sgt. Josh Brennan was missing. 
On April 4, 2004, the U.S. launched a massive operation to capture or kill those responsible for murdering Blackwater contractors and the five American troops while pacifying the city. An estimated 10,000 troops, including U.S. Army soldiers from the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain Division, 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 5th Special Forces Group, and Delta Force operators had tried to pacify Fallujah, but it would be the Marine Corps who entered the city for what was officially known as Operation Vigilant Resolve. 
U.S. forces surrounded Fallujah with some 2,000 Marines on April 2, 2004. By the morning of April 5, 2004, the city was cut off from the rest of the country, with all roads blocked. A third of the city had already fled, but Coalition forces dropped leaflets and issued radio broadcasts, asking citizens to stay in their homes and help identify the men who killed the Americans. The city was under siege with an estimated 3,600 insurgents inside, armed with small arms, RPGs, mortars, and anti-aircraft guns. 
The fighting was house-to-house, as U.S. troops called in air strikes from AC-130 gunships' howitzer and gatling guns, along with F-16 Fighting Falcons and Cobra helicopter gunships.. Within three days, the Americans controlled a quarter of the city, but the resistance wasn't crumbling – they knew time was on their side if they could hold out. They began a disinformation campaign, claiming the Americans were effectively destroying much of the city and haphazardly killing civilians. 
n city of Bastogne would be the single most important mission of the battle and sent the 101st Airborne Division to mount its defenses.
When he finally found Willis, his buddy asked him to get him a drink, and he didn't mean water. Speranza tried to explain to his wounded comrade that much of the city was in ruins; they were surrounded, and supplies couldn't reach them. Willis implored Speranza to take a look anyway. As he walked out of the church, he located a nearby tavern – or what remained of a tavern. As luck would have it, he walked in, and one of the taps worked.
Louis Merrell (Sgt. USMC) titled "Raider Ray's Remembrances" includes eleven full pages of his threads about the Raiders written over an eighteen-month period 2017-18. Seventeen women have attempted Marine Raider training. The Association additionally summarizes these units' early days in a comprehensive manner, "Beginning in the mid-1930s the Marine Corps began experimenting with amphibious landings… In June 1941, he [General Holland M. Smith] personally picked Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. " ed Mike" Edson to command a battalion in the First Marine Division and designated it to serve permanently with the Navy's APD [i.e., high-speed transport, "AP" = transport, "D" = destroyer] squadron. Smith began to refer to Edson's outfit as the "light battalion" or the "APD battalion." When the 5th Marines and the other elements of the 1st Marine Division moved down to New River that fall, the 1st Battalion remained behind in Quantico with Force headquarters… He [Edson] believed that the APD battalion would focus primarily on reconnaissance, raids, and other special operations. In his mind, it was a waterborne version of the parachutists.
The 1st Marine Raider Battalion and its three sister battalions became famous for their fighting prowess in World War II. The battalion's inception, growth, and eventual end also revealed a lot about the development of amphibious operations during the war, as well as the challenges the Corps faced as it expanded from 19,000 men to nearly half a million. "Eight months after Pearl Harbor to the day, the Marines landed in combat. To secure Guadalcanal, the Raiders were assigned to take the neighboring island of Tulagi, where they would be up against the best of the Japanese combat forces, the Rikusentai or Japanese "Special Naval Landing Forces." Coming in on Higgins Boats in the morning hours of 7 Aug 1942, the Raiders would clash for three days in vicious fighting, encountering hitherto unknown Japanese cave bunkers plus their enemies' sniper actions, night-fighting, and willingness to fight to the death. On 14 Sep 1942, the first light at Guadalcanal revealed over a thousand Japanese dead on the ridge. Outnumbered five to one for two nights, the Raiders held on against Japanese shelling by sea and Imperial troops, and the battle became legendary in Marine Corps history." After two years of action, the four Raider battalions were disbanded. The Marine Raider Regiment (MRR), formerly known as the Marine Special Operations Regiment (MSOR), is a special operations force of the U.S. Marine Corps that is part of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC). The 1st Marine Raider Battalion was reactivated on 26 Oct 2006 and was headquartered at Camp Pendleton, CA, until moving to Camp Lejeune, NC, between 2019-2022.
Following General Petraeus's take over of command in Afghanistan in 2010, in support of the ALP/VSO program (Afghan Local Police/Village Stability Operations), SOF in Afghanistan was task-organized into battalion-level SOTF (Special Operations Task Forces), each with a geographic area of responsibility; for MARSOC in western Afghanistan and Helmand Province. In March 2012, Marine Raiders suffered several casualties to Green on Blue attacks. The Marine Raiders were deployed to support the Global War on Terrorism in December 2013 alongside the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable). They conducted various missions, ranging from direct action to surveillance and other missions. In 2014, it was announced that the Marine Special Operations Regiment and its subordinate units would be renamed Marine Raiders. However, the renaming was not official until 19 June 2015 due to administrative delays. In February 2019, Marine Corps Times reported that since the formation of MARSOC 13 years before, it had conducted 300 operational deployments across 13 countries, awarded more than 300 valor awards, and that 43 Raiders, including two multipurpose canines, had been killed in training and combat operations.
The 1st Marine Raider Bn insignia white stars featured on the night-sky blue (and other colored) background are in the arrangement of the Southern Cross constellation, under which the Guadalcanal fighting took place. The edged weapon depicted centrally on their SSI is a Marine Raider Stiletto (facsimile of the British Commando FS fighting knife) made by Camillus Cutlery during WWII, with only 15,000 manufactured. The U.S. military has traditionally avoided incorporating darker heraldry images into its patches and insignia. The main exception, however, is the World War II Marine Raiders and their use of the skull. Col Evans Carlson's 2nd Raider Battalion first used a skull with crossed cutlasses as its unofficial battalion logo and calling card. It was influential in the adaptation of the Marine Raider Regiment shoulder patch. The design is still used in various ways by Marines in the U.S. Special Operations Command (MARSOC) today. Since then, lesser-known units have also appropriated skulls for insignia in other units and service branches. Reportedly, nearly 87,000 marines were casualties during World War II (including almost 20,000 KIA), and 82 were awarded the Medal of Honor. Marine GWOT casualties from 1991-2016 were 1,257 KIA and 13,704 WIA, with two receiving the MOH.
One way to avoid this additional time and help the VA complete your claim faster is to present all the information needed when initially applying for benefits. This is often referred to as presenting a completed claim. With all the needed information, VA claims processors can focus on rendering the decision, avoiding "back-and-forth" communication with the Veteran about what is missing.
Sources
Civil War
Spanish-American War
World War I
Name of Soldier
Name of Soldier (with first name, middle initial, and last name)
No one recognizes this more than Malcolm Gladwell. He's a journalist and author who has been telling stories for most of his life. Gladwell is the longtime host and mind behind the Revisionist History podcast and author of "The Tipping Point" and "The Bomber Mafia." His newest work recognizes the powerful and real-life stories of America's greatest heroes: Medal of Honor recipients. 
The first season of "Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage" will take us all the way back to the Civil War, with the story of Mary Walker, the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor, and Douglas Munro, the only Coast Guardsman to receive the award. It also brings us to the story behind "Harlem Hellfighter" Henry Johnson's Medal of Honor, which took place during World War I but wasn't upgraded to the nation's highest award for gallantry until 2015 due to the prevailing racism of the era. 
On June 4, 1944, the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal and its escort destroyers picked up a sonar ping. A U-boat was hiding off the coast of Cape Verde. U.S. Navy Captain Daniel V. Gallery was in command of his second hunter-killer cruise as skipper of the Guadalcanal. Having already sunk three U-boats, he was determined to capture one and get the trove of valuable intelligence information hidden aboard it. He was so ready to make history; he had several boarding teams and a film crew ready and waiting. 
After being detected by the American task force's sonar, U-505's position was marked by Grumman F4F Hellcat fighters while the USS Chatelain dropped a flurry of depth charges and hedgehogs. Its targeting was perfect; U-505 popped up out of the water, and the Americans began to pummel it with small-arms fire. Once the crew had abandoned ship, the U.S. sailors in the boarding party went in without hesitation – no small feat.