My life and adventures in the U.S. Army, National Guard and Reserve — from basic training at Fort Gordon, to Airborne School at Fort Benning, to Fort Bragg, to “Urgent Fury” in Grenada, to Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Provide Comfort in Kuwait and Iraq during the first Gulf War, to Joint Endeavor in Bosnia, and beyond.
Hat Trick
- Specialist McMurry Goes to Grenada: I lost my operational cherry on Operation Urgent Fury between October 22, 1983, and December, 1983. Short and sweet, but I spent time at Point Salines, Grand Anse and St. George’s.
- From Green Bay to the Persian Gulf: In 1991, during Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Provide Comfort (the refugee relief effort in Kurdistan after the Gulf War), the 432nd Civil Affairs Company was deployed to Dhahran and Jubayl in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait City, Incirlik and Silopi in Turkey, then Zakho and Chameju in Iraq. The Rub Al Khali of Desert Storm sites.
- From Green Bay to Bosnia: On Christmas weekend, December, 1995, the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion, U.S. Army Reserve, was mobilized for duty in the ex-Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina. I spent time in Tuzla, Zivinice, Kladanj, Vlasenica, Sokolac, Olovo, Vares, Visoko and Zenica. Operation Joint Endeavor completed my operational hat trick.
About Me
- The Decompression Chamber: Podcast interview I did about my military life.
- Hohenfels JMRC: My annual Reserve training during Mountain Eagle VI at the JMRC in sunny Hohenfels, Germany, in December, 1997.
- 153rd Field Artillery Brigade: I was the commo officer for this Arizona Army National Guard unit from 1989-1990.
- McMurry’s Military Biography: As everyone knows, good war stories don’t always involve wars …
Other Stuff
- Military Dictionary: Learn the meanings behind words like 3-hole Shitter, Article 15, Bikini Babes, Burn In, Claymore, Cluster Fuck, Dummy Cord, Goat Screw, Green Ramp, Hooch, ICTY, IFOR, Leg, Lunch Bucket, MEPS, MRE, NBC, PMCS, QRF, REMF, ROE, SALUTE, SINCGARS, Snivel Gear, TacSat, UNHCR, UNPROFOR, USACAPOC, UXO, ZOS, Jody Calls, and more.
- B-17: Queen of the Skies: B17QotS is an out-of-print Avalon Hill board game that simulates the World War II Allied strategic bombing campaign over Germany, in the form of a solitary B-17F “Flying Fortress”. If you have seen “Memphis Belle” or “Twelve O’Clock High”, you get the idea. Includes the Avro Lancaster, B-24 “Flying Boxcar”, other variants, and the Emulator Project, wherein I converted the board game to a Visual Basic 6.0 application. I am thinking about doing v2.0 in a cross-platform web-based technology. Probably PHP.
