In 2013, I never thought of becoming an airman until I was on the bus with my bag and paperwork. Fully motivated, I was ready to receive the biggest challenges that was going to be chucked at me like a pitcher's fastball. In these challenges however, I found one giant struggle that temporarily blocked my progression. It's true that the greatest battles would be given to the strongest knights as a test from God. In this story, you will know what and how I overcame my greatest struggle.

Hello! My name is Justus, and I'm almost at the end of my military contract. The Air Force has been my life for almost the past five years. The Air Force has been my everything, and I don't really know anything outside of the Air Force. It's a really nerve wracking thought about being on the outside, just because I've had the safety net of the military for the past five years. It feels like I'm losing a piece of me, and I don't know how to fill that void.

May 2, 2005, USS Carl Vinson's resting gear and catapults went down, making it impossible to launch or recover any aircrafts. All aircrafts were redirected to Al Asad Iraq. All aircrafts were accounted for, all but two. VMFA 323 aircrafts 210, piloted by Major John Spahr, and 201, piloted by Captain Kelly Hinz.

Let me start by saying this is my experience and not everyone goes through this, but this is my story and its time for me to tell it.

On January 6th, 2020, the tensions between the United States and Iran continued to escalate when the United States decided to send B-52 bombers to help with tightness in Iran. To be more specific, the United States sent B-52 bombers to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia is a British Indian Ocean Territory located near the Maldives and the Seychelles, south of India, and Sri Lanka. All of this means that they were not sent anywhere near Iran, but let’s put all of that aside. Many things can make someone scratch their head and ask, “is all of this really necessary?” It is people and questions like these that make it very important to keep in mind the B-52 bomber and what they are and what they are capable of.

"That Others May Live" that is the motto of the United States Air Force Pararescue Team. These guys are bad MFs who won't stop until the mission is done and lives have been saved. They are without a doubt the most elite Special Forces Unit in the Nation and perhaps the world.

NOVEMBER 11 OSCAR-01 0633 HOURS LOCAL 1233 HOURS ZULU Howe rose early, his head finally feeling somewhat better. Olerud had re-bandaged it last night, and a couple of tranks had kept the guilty nightmares at bay. All he could remember was a dream of a pleasant summer stroll to the Stave Church in Minot, holding hands with Sheree, while Dotty chased birds and chattered incessantly.

48.24.57 N 101.21.29 W 1510 HOURS LOCAL 2110 HOURS ZULU The sun was weak and low in the sky by the time they began to pass the first smashed and burned buildings on the base grounds. Howe could see the elementary school they were going to send Dotty off to next year in the distance, its roof smashed in as if by a petulant giant, its playground warped and twisted.

48.24.57 N 101.21.29 W 1211 HOURS LOCAL 1811 HOURS ZULU Most people living in and around Minot AFB heard the sirens. Some more attentive and knowledgeable residents, like the off-duty crews, might have seen the B-52s and KC-135s doing emergency starts off the alert pads with black, smoky roars, and firing into the air, headed for Russia. If not, they heard the Emergency Broadcast System cut off their TV program with its high-pitched wail of doom. But there was no time to do a damned thing about it.

THE KREMLIN CONFERENCE ROOM 2035 HOURS LOCAL 1735 HOURS ZULU The old men filed out of the conference room into the hallway. Veterans of Stalin’s time, their circadian rhythms permanently shifted as a result of years of late-night meetings, they were not used to concluding so quickly.

NOVEMBER 9 48.49.28 N 101.16.55 W 0735 HOURS LOCAL 1335 HOURS ZULU The blue pickup sped down the featureless road, past the billiard-table flat farms, full of stupefied, staring cattle, leaning against the harsh wind.

Judge Advocate General, Lieutenant General Larca Wells sat down in her leather chair. Major General Magdalene McCorkell and Lieutenant Colonel Hendra Rizzano stood rigid at the position of attention.