December 2023 Creative Kiosk Articles
Bob DeZenzo
The author narrates an entertaining story of his experience learning to drive a five-ton dump truck in the Republic of Vietnam.
PDF uploaded on: 12 December 2023
Adam Fenner
The author of this poem reflects on becoming a new father while deployed to Afghanistan.
PDF uploaded on: 06 December 2023
November 2023 Creative Kiosk Articles
Gerald J. Troiano
Retired Police Officer
Mount Olive, New Jersey
Article published on: 15 November 2023
Wayne Adams, U.S. Army Veteran
A U.S. Army veteran remembers the fighting and destruction in Europe. Read the stirring verses that bridge past and present "I Remember It Well."
Article published on: 06 November 2023
Dick Epstein, Army Vietnam War Veteran, Signal Corps
This U.S. Army veteran tells of the fellow soldiers he served with during the Vietnam War. During their weekly lunch, they recall the old times and how they are today.
Article published on: 06 November 2023
June 2023 Creative Kiosk Articles
Maj. Dan Dillenback, U.S. Army
The author wrote this poem a few years ago while trying to make sense of an incident in Afghanistan. In 2013 on Forward Operating Base Gamberi, he held my pistol to his head, deciding whether or not to pull the trigger. Ultimately, he chose to live.
Article published on: 30 June 2023
Col. Dwayne K. Wagner, U.S. Army, Retired
Edited by Amanda Cherry and Heather Karambelas
Reflecting on the personal meaning of the United States’ newest federal holiday to him, his family, and to the nation at large, a retired Army colonel chronicles in verse the torturous journey of African-Americans in U.S. history from their first arrival as slaves, through many halting stages of discouraging events to emancipation from slavery, the Civil Rights Movement and the ensuing struggle for genuine equality from the end of the Civil War up until the modern day, and concludes with an aspirational vision of progress toward unity in the future for all Americans.
Article published on: 06 June 2023
May 2023 Creative Kiosk Articles
P. C. Carter
Paul Carter served as an 11B Infantryman for two years, five months, and twenty-three days during the war in Vietnam. He served during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge.
Article published on: 22 May 2023
Charles Merkel
Charles Merkel served in a variety of jobs with the 103rd Engineer Company (CS) while deployed to Vietnam from February 1967 to February 1968 including as a driver, an armed guard on truck convoys, a laborer, assistant to the company clerk, a temporary mail clerk, and a fill-in as an officer’s driver. He was in Vietnam during the first twenty-two days of the Tet Offensive.
Article published on: 16 May 2023
Bob DeZenzo
Bob DeZenzo is a retired textbook manager living in South Bend, Indiana. His career in the military as a draftee was a brief two years, from 1968 through 1970. He spent one year in Vietnam, first with the 116th Engineer Battalion. Then, after an injury and a short stay at Zama Army Hospital in Japan, he returned to Bao Loc and was reassigned to the 547th Asphalt Platoon. After Vietnam, he spent six months at Fort Hood, Texas, with the 1st Armor Division, 73rd Battalion. In August 1970, he returned home to New Jersey where he settled into civilian life.
Article published on: 08 May 2023
Carl “Papa” Palmer
Sgt. 1st Class Carl "Papa" Palmer served in the U.S. Army for twenty years from 1967 to 1987 as an air defense (HAWK Missile) senior master technician. He had three tours in Germany during the heart of the Cold War, operating air defense systems in support of Army and NATO preparedness against a potential Soviet invasion into Western Europe. In addition, he had a tour of duty in Korea during one of the more tense periods of confrontation between North Korea and coalition forces in South Korea. He retired at Fort Lewis, Washington. He and a circle of his uniformed colleagues all agree that the prevailing lifestyle of the military that they all experienced during the turbulent time over their terms of service was "Hurry Up and Wait."
Article published on: 01 May 2023
March 2023 Creative Kiosk Articles
Maj. Lance B. Brender
A veteran of many deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism contemplates his future when at some point his service in the military is completed.
Article published on: 28 March 2023
Nicholas Nechitailo, PhD
Wars play a significant role in human history. Often, it is relatively easy to predict dates for when the next war would start due to existing communication channels and information from spies. However, predicting the war duration is a challenging problem. I propose a theory in which war events could be compared to the transient events observed in nonlinear structural dynamics. It seems possible to apply simplified models of elastic-plastic deformations and structural stability to predict the duration of the main war events. Prediction of transient and final post-chaotic states is challenging; however, predicting the duration of the system responses seems possible. Recently developed simplified analytical solutions were applied to the events of World War II, including its beginning, the battle for Stalingrad, the liberation of all Soviet territories from the German army, and the end of Adolf Hitler’s regime. This same approach is also applied to the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war with an attempt to predict the time window for the war to end, as well as the subsequent time windows for major instabilities and possible disintegration of the Russian Federation.
Article published on: 07 March 2023
February 2023 Creative Kiosk Articles
Judi Klug, Indianapolis
I am 74, raised by parents in the Greatest Generation. My dad never took credit for his war effort. He wrote to his grandkids, ‘Of course I joined up; everyone joined up; it was the right thing to do,’ he said, when asked. Therefore, it was not until he was in his 90s that we learned, by requesting his Bronze Star paperwork, that, working in naval intelligence in China with the Coastwatchers during World War 2, he was responsible for saving more than 64 downed Allied pilots. Both my brothers served (Army, National Guard), though not in wartime and I lost friends in Viet Nam. God bless and keep strong the United States military and God bless America!, Judi Lynn Klug, Indiana
Article published on: 07 February 2023
January 2023 Creative Kiosk Articles
Milton P. Ehrlich, PhD
Milton P. Ehrlich, PhD is a 91-year-old psychologist and Korean War veteran. His poetry has appeared in a broad range of print venues including Toronto Quarterly, Wisconsin Review, the Christian Science Monitor, the London Grip, Shofar Literary Review, and the Huffington Post.
Article published on: 30 January 2023
Sgt. John Hoff, U.S. Army
We do not fight insurgencies successfully because American military leadership, by and large, has not walked in the tattered shoes of Third World poverty, has not lived inside its hungry skin, and has utterly failed to have understanding and empathy for a Third World mindset.
Article published on: 06 January 2023