Series: Untold Stories

Cindy Strange’s first deployment was in a still war-torn Bosnia.

Richard Ekholm had a dad in World War II. He also had friends in the military. So he volunteered for the Navy in 1974.

Stephen Rocheford tells the story behind the first military recruitment ads in a mainstream LGBTQ publication in history.

Marieli Guzman talks about the importance of having female mentors of color in the enlisted (not just officer) ranks in the Minnesota National Guard.

Shirley Schleret had some wonderful experiences in the Army. She was sent to Hawaii for training and lived in a barracks next to a pineapple plantation. The pineapples were the best she ever had.

Shirley Schleret’s Army job was radar operator, which required a security clearance. She had to list every school, every place she’d ever lived, so the Army could do its background check.

During basic training at Fort Dix, Shirley Schleret and her sister recruits went on long marches and bivouacked in the sandy outdoors. To her it was just like camping. But not every recruit enjoyed military life in the great outdoors.

Shirley Schleret already had a college degree. Her recruiter said all she had to do was pass a test and she was in the Army. The first night at boot camp, she went to sleep to the sound of homesick recruits crying.

Shirley Schleret, Fond du Lac reservation, was working as a park board employee when her contract was up. Now what was she going to do? Like her brothers, she joined the Army.