Blake Curtis and Ryan Wing

Recorded April 26, 2023 53:17 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id: ddv002429

Description

Blake Curtis (74) and Ryan Wing (39), uncle and nephew respectively, talk about their road to the military and the experiences and lessons learned from service.

Subject Log / Time Code

Ryan Wing (R) asks Blake Curtis (B) what enlistment for him was like. B's father was dying of cancer and made B promise to go to the military before he died. Army gave him a 120 day delay, which added another year of service. Ryan begins to share his experience too.
R enlisted just to pay for college, and everyone encouraged him that Maine Guard hadn't been deployed since WWII. A few weeks after training, while he was still in high school, 9/11 happened.
R talks about days training in the New York cold and passing his M-16 around the metal detector at the airport.
R talks about having to get his bottom two teeth pulled and only getting local anesthetic because of the military's anesthesia policy, had a numb mouth for a month.
R's mother calls B upset about the fine print of the military college policy. B took action.
Neither of them thought of themselves as warriors, wasn't in the fabric of the family. B says people should thank and respect this current generation.
B talks about hearing the music being made in the US while oversees in the 60s, says those songs still take him back.
R shares memory of having to transport $1000 in ones to Kuwait for internet service and them putting a case of beer in a computer box for him on the way back.
B sent R a box of golf balls while in the military.
B remembers five brothers harmonizing beautifully on the night of an attack, remembers asking if that would be the last sound he hears.

Participants

  • Blake Curtis
  • Ryan Wing

Partnership Type

Outreach