What is your family background in the military.
Mine for example,

•2 great grandfathers were Captains in the British Royal Navy in world war 1.
•My grandfather was a sailor (signalman) in the British Merchant Navy in WW2 doing North Atlantic convoy.
•His brother was a British Infantry Major (involved in Dunkirk, and D-Day landings.... drank heavily for the rest of his life)
•My grandmother's brother was a Sunderland Pilot in WW2, he was killed in action.
•And her other brother (Brit Infantry) was captured by the Japanese in Burma
•My other grandfather was a Royal Australian Artillery Bombadier in New Guinea and his brother flew Hawker Hurricanes.
•My uncle was a grunt in Vietnam, and then became a career soldier upon return, upon return he transfered into Army Trade school as an instructor then "retired" to Ordnance Corp.

So this history kinda guided me into the military life

The only person in my family who served in the military was my grandfather in World War II. He was in the Army Air Corps before the Army transferred him to Europe as a mechanic.

My dad served in the British Royal Army for 12 yrs 227 days. Made it to Sgt.
Revolutionary War: 2 (cant remember who right now. moms side, American) (Dads side, British): Not sure
Civil War: Great Great Great Great Grandfather, and Great Great Great Great Uncle
WWI: My dads Great Great Uncle ( Western Front, British Machine Gun Corps)
WWII: Great Uncle and his three brothers (moms side)
Vietnam: Uncle served during not in Veitnam, 20 years service in the Navy. Made it to Lt. Commander (moms side)
Panama Canal: Cousin by Marriage, 16 yrs service so far in the Air Force. So far a Lt. Col. (moms side)
Desert Storm: (ditto)
Iraqi Freedom: (ditto)

All I have for sure is my direct line of descent on my Dad's side, but my Mother's dad was a CPT in the Army Air Corps and served as a bombardier on a B29, and both my uncles served in Vietnam in the Army (Infantry and Field Artillery) as enlisted soldiers.

My line of descent on my Dad's side is:
My Dad - Air Force, made E5, Vietnam, MI (elctronic intelligence and linguistics)
My Granddad - Navy, WWII
Great Grandfather - Navy, WWI, USS Utah
GG Grandfather - Army, 20th Kansas Infantry, Spanish American War
GGG Grandfather - Army, 89 Indiana Infantry, Civil War
GGGGG Grandfather - New Jersey Militia, Revolutionary War

For all I know:
Grandfather was Airborne in WWII, made jump on D-day.
Grandma was nurse in England in WWII.
I am pretty sure I had some relatives in Vietnam
Dad's a naval reservist

I know relatives came over on the Mayflower so I think I may have some relatives in earlier wars.

Me - 22 years Army Field Artillery. Retired several years ago as a Major and now returned to duty as an ROTC professor of military studies.

Next younger brother did not serve nor did our sister.

Second younger brother served four years in the Air Force in Weisbaden, Germany (then West Germany).

Youngest brother served 20 years Army Field Artillery and was a Sergeant First Class in my National Guard battalion when I retired and is now retired himself.

Our father as many of you know was a US Marine in WWII and saw action from Guadalcanal up to Iwo Jima where his wounds finally ended his service and very nearly his life. The wounds shortened his life expectancy by decades.

My father's older brother was in the 101st Airborne in WWII and jumped on D-Day, Market Garden, and was at Bastogne. He was shot several times and it affected him the rest of his life. Always lived for the day and could never find roots.

My father's younger brother lies on the bottom of the Pacific in one of the many US Subs lost during the war. His mission was so classified my father never even learned the name of the sub he was on that went down.

My mother's only brother was an Army doctor and was sent to the Phillipines in November 1941 - just in time to wind up on the Bataan Death March and captivity in Japan working in condemned coal mines where the ceilings got lower by inches every day and many died in cave ins while being used as slave labor.

My mother's father was a noted scientist specializing in metallurgy and so did not go to WWI as he was too critical to the war effort.

My father's father was a recent German immigrant and so not wanted for service in WWI. He had left Germany because he did not want to follow his father's way of life in the German military and so became a carpenter specializing in fine woodwork and one of the first orthopedic shoemakers in America.

My maternal grandparents were both Scots as was my paternal grandmother. All of their peoples served as Highland warriors at one time or another for centuries. I can trace my maternal grandfather's line for example all the way back to Somerled the Great in the 800s.

My father's grandfather (my great grandfather) we know little about except that he was an officer in the German Army and fought in the Prusso-Austrian War and the Franco-Prussian War in (surprise) artillery.

My father's father was in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in World War I. He was no. 153 of "The First Five Hundred". He survived both Gallipoli AND the Somme (Beaumont Hamel, where his unit was wiped out). He was wounded in 1917 in Belgium and repatriated.

One of his brothers served in the Royal Navy, another in the Royal Artillery. I have no info on them, other than a photo. and a ribbonless medal.

Two of my dad's brothers went to the States to join up in World War II (Newfoundland was not recruiting after the decimation of WWI). While they were waiting, they got jobs on farms; big mistake if you wanted to enlist. Farming was essential "to the war effort" so they were prohibited by the Forces when their employer came and got them at the recruiting centre.

One of my dad's sister's married a Marine who served in Viet Nam; another married a Tech Sgt in the USAF who served in Korea and Vietnam. Yet another married an officer in the RCAF.

(Newfoundland had a closer relationship with the States than with Canada during and immediately after WWII, due to a large presence of American servicemen in places like Fort Pepperrell, NAVFAC Argentia, Stephenville, etc).

My mother has two uncles who served in the Royal Artillery in WWII.

And many of my cousins were cadets as youths, and went into the reserves later.

And family legend has it we are descended from the sister of the First Duke of Marlborough. It would be cool if it were true; but if not, that's OK, because he was a -head.

J

Great grandfather fought for the English in the Boer War.
Grandfather trained pilots durring WW2.

...oh and damn Redneck, that is a herritige to be proud of!

Well, my Grandfather on my Dad's side missed WW1 and WW2; my Opa , on my mom's side, on the other hand was active in the Dutch resistance during WW2, and laster served in the Dutch Navy during the war in Indonesia. I have a dutch cousin who's in the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps (secondoldest military formation in the world) and a cousin on my Dad's side that's in the Canadian Army, oiginally as an Infantry Officer, but now in Int.

Distant relative of a british Colonel during the American revoltionary war, and I have Two great uncles that landed on Omaha beach on D-Day, one of which was in the first wave, the other captured and held as a POW for the rest of the war, and my Grandfather served shortly after Korea in the Army.