Best Military Stories Post

The Military Stories cases readers rated highest and believed most — the jury's all-time picks.

1. The Ten Seconds on That Bridge I Will Never Get Back or Forget

   People who have never deployed think danger announces itself. Sirens, explosions, dramatic music. The truth is that the worst moments of my …

   172 Upvote · 67% of readers believe this story

2. The Light on the Far Hill That Watched Us Back

   Our outpost sat in a wide valley, the kind of place where the dark comes down complete and the stars are so thick they look fake. I pulled a…

   158 Upvote · 68% of readers believe this story

3. The Barracks at the End of the Runway Were Never Empty

   The base we deployed to was old. Not old like a couple of decades old. Old like it had been built, abandoned, and built again on top of itse…

   140 Upvote · 69% of readers believe this story

4. Someone Kept Making My Bunk While I Was On Watch

   This is not a ghost story, even though for a while I was sure it was. On my second deployment I pulled the graveyard radio shift for most of…

   110 Upvote · 68% of readers believe this story

5. The Recruit Who Packed His Bag to Quit, and the Night That Stopped Him

   His name was Whitfield and he was going to quit. That was just a fact, like the weather. By the end of the second week of basic training eve…

   92 Upvote · 67% of readers believe this story

6. The First Night I Learned What Fire Watch Really Means

   They handed me a flashlight, a clipboard, and one instruction that made no sense at the time. Walk the bay. Count the racks. Wake the next m…

   88 Upvote · 68% of readers believe this story

7. The Letters a Stranger Wrote to Keep Me Alive Inside

   When I shipped to basic training I did not expect mail. I had aged out of foster care two years earlier and the truth was there was nobody b…

   70 Upvote · 67% of readers believe this story

8. My Drill Sergeant Gave Me One Rule and It Saved My Life Downrange

   In basic training I was convinced Drill Sergeant Colby existed only to ruin my life. He was a lean, quiet man who almost never yelled, which…

   54 Upvote · 67% of readers believe this story

9. How the Whole Platoon Got Smoked Over a Single Rubber Duck

   Third week of basic was the worst week. Everybody who has been through it knows the one I mean. The newness has worn off, home feels a thous…

   41 Upvote · 72% of readers believe this story

10. Gate Duty at Three in the Morning and the Car That Should Not Have Been There

    They do not tell you in basic training how much of soldiering is just standing somewhere being cold and bored. I found that out my first win…

    33 Upvote · 74% of readers believe this story

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