War on Terror Records
War on Terror Records
William “Bill” Conner (Air Force/Air Guard/ Broadcast Media) Video
Conner has served with the United States Air Force and the Air Guard, with a career focused on broadcast media. He has worked in Iceland, the Azores, and San Antonio, Texas in radio, Air Force recruiting, and the their Christmas “The Gift” special with country music stars. He now works for the Air Guard base and training center at McGhee-Tyson in Knoxville, TN.
Chad Faulkner (Army) Video Documents
Chad Faulkner is a retired Army veteran who lives in Knoxville who served from 1997-2017. In his twenty years of service, he served as an infantryman and later in special operations. As an infantryman, he served with the 82nd Airborne Division. He was deployed to Haiti, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait. He was deployed twice to Afghanistan, and he also served as part of the Hurricane Katrina recovery operations. He was an instructor at the US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, and he worked in science and technology for Army Special Operations Command. After his military career, he trained security guards in Oak Ridge. He is currently getting his certification to be a professional helicopter pilot in Alabama.
Joseph Heredia (Marines) Audio | Documents
Joseph Heredia was born November 17, 1981, in Knoxville, Tennessee. During his youth, Joseph lived briefly in Chicago, Illinois until he was six years old, then moved home to grow up within North Knoxville communities. Joseph attended Fulton High School where he joined the ROTC program and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in April of 2000 at eighteen years old. In June of 2000, Joseph attended recruit training at Parris Island, South Carolina. Following graduation, Joseph arrived at his first duty station at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, assigned to the 3rd Marines Regiment, and trained as a motor transport operator. After leaving Hawaii, Joseph spent two years serving at Headquarters Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia. Upon his first reenlistment, Joseph was assigned to Camp Pendleton, California, as part of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. During Joseph’s first deployment to Al Anbar Province as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom from March to September of 2007, he served as Sergeant E5 and Assistant Convoy Commander performing combat resupply and security missions. Joseph was deployed on a second tour to Iraq between September 2008 and April 2009, at this point holding the rank of Staff Sergeant E6 and operating as Convoy Commander. Upon his second reenlistment in the Marine Corps, Joseph returned to Camp Pendleton in 2010, assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 5, and later Combat Logistics Regiment 1 in 2011. Between 2011-2012, Joseph served within CLB15 as part of the Marine Expeditionary Unit until he was transferred to Wounded Warrior Battalion West in 2012. Joseph accepted retirement upon beginning his third reenlistment and received an honorable discharge. In November 2013, Staff Sergeant Joseph Heredia retired from the United States Marine Corps after thirteen years of dedicated service.
Lieutenant Colonel Damien Theodore Johnson (Air Force) Documents
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Damien Theodore Johnson was born on April 20, 1983 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Growing up poor in Knoxville, he attended the University of Tennessee and graduated with a commission from the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program as a Second Lieutenant. After being selected as a Weapons Systems Officer, he attended his designated flight and WSO training and earned his wings, after which he was selected for the B-1 bomber. A distinguished combat veteran, Lt Colonel Johnson has accumulated over 2,000 flight hours, over 1,000 of which were combat hours. Lt Col Johnson has served multiple combat tours to the Middle East, and served with distinction to earn multiple awards, including an Air Medal and an Air Commendation Medal. Colonel Johnson has also served as a WSO instructor and an operations planner, and has served in multiple Major Commands. He currently serves as the commander of Detachment 800, the same AFROTC Detachment.
William Kent Maddox (Army) Documents
William Kent Maddox was born on January 12th, 1969, in Paris, Tennessee, to parents Homer and Diana Maddox. He enlisted in the United States Army upon graduating high school in 1987 as a Vulcan Air Defense Artillery Cannon Crew Member in the 2nd Armored Division. He married his high school sweetheart Kelli, and has 2 children, Paige and Brock. During his military service he traveled the world, visiting South Korea, Iraq, and various states within the United States. He went to Airborne School, is a qualified Jumpmaster, is Air Assault and Jungle Warfare qualified, and went to the Sergeants Major Academy. He retired as the installation Command Sergeant Major at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in 2017. He is the recipient of 2 Legions of Merit, 2 Bronze Stars, 5 Army Commendation Medals, 7 Army Achievement Medals and 7 Good Conduct medals, among other numerous awards. He is currently the Scholarship and Recruiting Officer at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Army ROTC program, since 2020.
Leo Patrick Quesinberry (Marines, Iraq/Afghanistan) Documents | Video
Born in Newport News, Virginia, Quesinberry is from an Air Force family and lived in Virginia, Washington, South Dakota, and Texas before they settled in Johnson City, Tennessee. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and was trained as a Heavy Machine Operator. He served in deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He lives in Gray, Tennessee and works for Homestead Materials Handling Company.
Connor Pearce (Army, Afghanistan) Video | Transcript
Captain Connor Pearce’s story is one of a winding road and personal persistence. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina and is a native of Nashville, TN. He graduated from the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga and was commissioned through ROTC as a Second Lieutenant in the United States’ Army Chemical Corps in 2016. He has served as a Dismounted Reconnaissance Platoon Leader in the 101st Airborne Division. He served as the Deputy Regimental CBRN Officer with the 75th Ranger Regiment. He deployed to Afghanistan as the Chief of Operations for a Joint Special Operations Task Force. He has worked in Nuclear Planning and attended the USMC Expeditionary Warfare School in Quantico, VA. He served on Task Force COVID. He continues to serve to this day.
Tammy Silvers-Haller (Marines/National Guard/Air Force) Video | Transcript
Master Sergeant Tammy Silvers-Haller was raised in Poughkeepsie, New York. She was recruited into the Marine Corps in 1987 and trained as a musician, playing the flute, for the Marine Corps Band at the Naval School of Music in Norfolk, Virginia. Silvers-Haller was stationed during her four years with the Marine Corps at Quantico in Virginia. After four years with the Marines, she got her education in Music Therapy and Music Education and taught music in places like Texas. She also dedicated time to serve her local communities, particularly in VA hospitals and with youth programs. She started returned to the military service with the Army National Guard in New York playing with the Army National Guard Band around 2003 to 2005. She transferred to the Air National Guard Band before returning to active duty with the Air Force. She went into the Chapel Corps as a chaplain assistant with the Air Force. She was deployed to Jordan in 2017 and is now stationed as an instructor for Leadership and Development at the Non-Commissioned Officer School at McGhee Tyson in Knoxville.
April Thomas (Air Force) Documents
Senior Airman April Thomas (She/Her) was born on March 27th, 1984 to mother, Lieutenant Colonel Christina Moore, and father, Staff Sergeant John Diller, at US Army Base Fort Bragg in North Carolina. In the fourth grade she moved to her dad’s hometown of Pekin, IL, which is a small town just outside of Peoria, IL. While in middle school at Washington Intermediate School she came out as queer when she realized that she had a crush on one of her friends and was forming crushes on females in general. She would sign up for the Air Force National Guard on September 7, 2001 at the age of 17 where she worked around the recruiting office, learned about basic training, and the 182nd Airlift Wing part time on the weekends. She would graduate from Pekin Community High School in 2002 and would go to basic training where she played the middle bass drum at graduation due to her experience in high school marching band. She went to the 182nd Airlift Wing of Peoria IL, where she worked as a Command Post Controller. While in the service she would be awarded the the Air Force Achievement Medal and the Airman Leadership Award her last year in. She would leave the military in 2007 to see more of the world and would move to Chicago where she worked as a professional photographer. After being offered a job by one of her photographer friends, she would move to Knoxville where she continued work as a photographer. She would later open up Born This Way Body Arts (BTW), a tattoo and piercing shop on Kingston Pike. She also became a realtor. As of writing this she still owns BTW, still is a photographer, and she is still a realtor. She is also an active donor of Knox Pride, an activist, and runs a women’s retreat that focuses on female empowerment and confidence. She is also one of the top business leaders in Knoxville, winning the 40 under 40 award in 2023.
Kelly Waugh (Marines/National Guard) Video | Transcript Documents
Major Kelly Grant Waugh was born on October 25th, 1972 at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock, NC. He was raised in Abingdon, Virginia by his parents, Edward Waugh and Eula Grant, both Marines themselves. He enlisted after his high school graduation in 1991 and attended boot camp at Parris Island. Waugh attended C-school (AIT) for a year and a half and then was assigned to duty in California. He married his high school sweetheart Amanda in 1994, and they had their first two children while he was still in the Marines in 1995 and 1996, respectively. He was honorably discharged shortly after the birth of his second son in order to be around his family. He worked in the home improvement industry while continuing to grow his family with two more children until the tragedy of 9/11, after which he reenlisted in the Tennessee National Guard. He was deployed to Iraq from 2004-2005. Upon his return he earned a degree in Business Management from King university in Bristol, TN, at which point he received a commission from the Direct Commission program. He was assigned as a platoon leader in Marion, VA and deployed to Afghanistan in 2011. He commanded a rear detachment in Texas until 2019, at which point he received orders to teach at the University of Tennessee as an Assistant Professor of Military Science.
Commander Robert S. Workman (Army and Coast Guard) Documents
Robert Workman was born in Greenwood, South Carolina in December of 1969. He attended what was formally known as the University of South Carolina – Spartanburg and was a part of the Army ROTC at Wofford College because USC-Spartanburg did not have a program. After college he joined the U.S. Army as a 2nd Lieutenant and started flight training at Fort Novosel (formally Fort Rucker) and became a helicopter pilot. After eight years in the Army, Robert branch swapped and became a helicopter pilot for the U.S. Coast Guard in 2000. He joined the branch as a LTJG. During his time in the Coast Guard, he participated in search & rescue missions and maritime counter narcotics operations. Robert retired from the military in 2018 as Commander and moved to East Tennessee with his family. He now is a pilot for a local businessman.
