From PRX, this is the Moth Radio Hour.

I'm Meg Bowles.

Today we have stories from moth stages around the U.S. New York City, Cincinnati, Ohio, Kansas City,

Missouri, and Traverse City, Michigan. Each of the storytellers in this hour has their own unique

experience with various branches of the armed forces. Stories from the front lines, both at home

and abroad. Our first story comes from Jill Morgenthaller. Jill shared her story at an evening we produced

in Cincinnati at the Anderson Theater Memorial Hall. The theme of the night was intrepid.

I am a Marine brat. My father was a career Marine. I adored him. I wanted to be him when I grew up, which wasn't likely in the 1960s.

The women who served then, the wax and the waves, they were secretaries and nurses, they weren't allowed to command men.

They weren't even allowed to have weapons in Vietnam.

Well, in 1969, my father got orders for Vietnam,

and he sat me down in the living room,

and he told me I was gonna be in charge

of my younger brother and

sisters. I was not thrilled. My brother could be such a pest and my father

reminded me of the military code you leave no one behind. Even pesky little brothers.

Well fortunately he returned, and when I was 18 I was preparing to go to Penn State University.

My father came home from the Pentagon one evening, where he worked now,

and he told me that the Army

was going to try an experiment. They were going to actually train women with men. And the

experiment was going to take place at 10 universities, and Penn State was one of them. So I put

in my application, and I was one of 10 women to get a four-year

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