1 50 5 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/e209cd5a814dfd1a6a900dcb62260119.pdf 717a3959d8d75f9290520089849b1081 PDF Text Text Name: Branch: Years Served: Conflicts: Date of Interview: Doug Patton U.S. Army 2002-2006 Afghanistan October 15, 2012 Austin Getzelman: All right todays date is October 14th the time is 4:51 p.m. My name is Austin Getzelman with Appalachian State University and I am here with Doug Patton: Doug Patton Getzelman: And what is your birthdate Patton: December 19th 1980 Getzelman: All right, well I'm sitting here with Doug Patton and what made you want to join the military and how did you pick what branch you wanted to join? Patton: I ended up joining right after September 11th, I ended up doing all my paper work and submitting stuff because it takes, a lot of people don’t know, it takes a while to get in to the military. Once you say I want to go you see a recruiter and paperwork and all the hoops they make you jump through. It takes six months or so to get in but it was after September 11th and I finally got in, I went to basic training in 2002. So that's kinda the reason I joined and about the time that I joined so everything else kinda fell into place after that. Getzelman: Had you ever thought about joining before September 11th? Or was that kind of the big kick? Patton: Not really, I just kinda...it was motivational I guess at the time so I wanted to help out. Getzelman: Do you, when you first started up in training, do you remember any, a lot of guys who had just kinda really been hit by September 11th who were in there with you? Patton: Yeah, I would say just about all of them around that time were, and people its funny when you go to basic training you have just people from all walks of life ya know from foreign countries. I had a guy with me that was from Puerto Rico, people come in from everywhere and everybody was there kinda for the same reason. Getzelman: Do you have any particular like memorable experiences from basic training that you would want to share? Patton: There's all kinds of stuff but nothing really, you know, I guess story worthy. We went, my basic training was in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and you would think of Oklahoma as being kinda warm being the north part of Texas but we went in the winter and it got down 1 �to like two degrees I think when we did our field training so it was pretty cold. I just remember it being just unbearably cold sometimes. But ya know, it was fun, it was something you definitely when you get done you're proud of it and you enjoy looking back on it knowing you did it, went through it. Getzelman: Do you still have a lot of connection with the guys you were in basic training with? Patton: A few, not many, because everybody just kinda goes there own separate ways when they get out but I try and stay in touch with about four of them that I know Getzelman: Do you remember what were some more of the difficult parts of starting up basic training? Do you have any previous experience ya know doing some of the physical and what not? Patton: The physical was pretty hard but it ya know, you body kinda adapts, you don’t think it does but the more you do ya know its almost like it becomes less hard but your doing the same things you started out doing. Your body just kinda adapts and overcomes some of the injuries and the pain and stuff like that. Getzelman: And you said you were stationed out in Oklahoma? Patton: Yeah, for basic. Getzelman: Okay, where did they move you after that? Did you go straight overseas or anywhere after basic? Patton: No, I went to advanced individual training they call it AIT, and that was in Aberdeen Maryland so that was a pretty neat place, they did a lot of weapons testing out there. Shooting bombs and stuff all the time out there. So it was pretty great. Getzelman: Got any cool weapons stories from out there? Patton: Not from out there, all their stuff is pretty much classified; they do kinda like R&D (Research and Development) for new weapons and stuff. Stuff that they'll test out. They'll do it kinda behind closed doors, ya know they got their own secret test facility up there, but it's pretty cool. Getzelman: So from there, when did you actually get the word that you would be shipped out? Patton: From there I went to Fort Drum New York, and that was my duty station. I got assigned to Fort Drum Tenth Mountain Division, and first day I got there I found out I was getting deployed. They send you to a like a reception battalion when you check in and everybody goes there and then they find where they're going, which assignment and which company they're going to. By the end of the first day I had somebody sponsor, 2 �which is my platoon sergeant, he'd come up and say hey ya know you're going to 514 maintenance company and ya know they're already deployed. They were leaving at the time they left and I left a week after and met up with them over there. Getzelman: So pretty much the day you got there they let you know, you were going over. Patton: Yeah Getzelman: Now where exactly was it that you were sent out to? Patton: Our base was in Kuwait, we went, we actually stayed at three different bases. It was probably about ten miles south of the DMZ, ya know the line from Iraq. And we stayed at Camp Wolf, we stayed at Camp Arifjan, and we stayed at Camp Doha, and we'd run like wrecker missions stuff like that. We would pick up equipment and bring it back, damaged equipment, and we'd fix it and take it back out to ya know infantry guys. So, I was a mechanic in the Army. Getzelman: So you were more on the mechanical side than anything with on front lines or anything like that? Patton: Yeah, yeah more or less. We would do missions and stuff but it more along the lines of picking up equipment from those guys and meeting up with them, trading stuff out and stuff like that. Getzelman: Cool, Cool. Now when you were serving overseas did you find it difficult to kinda keep in touch with your friends and family back home? Patton: Not really, I mean it's obviously its different it’s a little harder. But I had bought a phone, an international cell phone from over there and I was able to put minutes on it and call. So I had it on me pretty much all the time, it just got expensive. We also had the Internet cafe where you could send emails and stuff like that so it wasn't too bad. But its just more inconvenient than here but its not, ya know, its what you expect when you're that far away from home. Getzelman: Now while you were serving, did you get to travel anywhere else overseas besides Kuwait? Patton: Yeah, got to go to Germany, we stopped in Italy; I actually spent a couple days in Germany. But we stopped in Italy, we stopped in Ireland. Ya know, on the flight over to the Middle East, that was pretty neat, seeing all the countryside that was pretty cool. Got to hang out in Germany for a few days that was pretty cool, that's a pretty country as well. 3 �Getzelman: Now how would you say your overall military experience has influenced or changed your thinking about conflicts in general? I know you said when you joined it had a lot to do with the events of September 11th. Patton: Once you join you kinda see, what’s the best way to put it...you kinda see things on a bigger picture. Until you put yourself in that position, ya know, it’s easy to watch something on TV and say, why aren't they doing this? Why is this happening? Why are we doing this? But then when you see how many different things how many different jobs people have, like in the military for example ya know there's, ya know the way the reason we do things isn't as cut and dry as black and white as we think it would be and once you go over to another country you see how other people live and you kind of figure out the militaries role in all this. Your like well okay, I kinda see why we couldn't just do this or couldn't just do that, ya know there's more involved but it kinda opens your eyes, ya know to everything. Getzelman: Being over in Kuwait, how did people kinda respond to you guys being over there when you first arrived? Did you have a lot of interactions? Patton: Yeah, it’s weird. Cause you'll go down the road over there and you're obviously in a military vehicle with weapons and you'll pass a car load of kids and they'll give you thumbs up and they'll smile at ya and then the next car will be middle aged man or something and they just look at ya like they wanna shoot ya. You know so it's a little weird, it puts you on edge, especially with some of the stuff that went on in Kuwait, there's different cells of these groups that they fight a little bit of everywhere so it's weird, it's different. Getzelman: Does that change your perspective a lot seeing kinda how, here like you said it's on a much smaller scale how we see things. Ya know people in over countries they see it completely different. So you definitely get ya know, a view of both worlds. Did that kind of change your opinions seeing how they see things opposed to us? Patton: Well as far as that goes you see kinda where they're coming from in a sense of how they were raised how they live, all their ya know...but its still some of the things ya know, some of the things they do. I still don’t understand why they do that. You kinda see where they're coming from but it doesn't make it right or wrong. It's just a difference of opinion. Getzelman: Was it a bit of a culture shock to kinda see there, what they think as norms opposed to us? Patton: Yeah, oh yeah. And just the country itself with regards to just the layout and the geography of the country is totally different. When you fly in, you just see sand, that's all you see. There's no, there's not a lot of trees just palm trees, there's no color, there's really no blue sky’s. There's sun, no clouds...so its just bright and sand all the time there's no real contrast...So and ya know at least over here you have rainy days and a difference of environment changes. It doesn't over there it's just the same thing. 4 �Getzelman: Was that a pretty easy adjustment to make, going from being on all these bases over in the states, and then immediately once you get to New York its like, hey you're going over to Kuwait. Patton: Yeah, it kinda puts things in perspective because you kinda plan and you train to deal with it and you're like alright well when this time comes, you in the mindset of when it comes...But now you're like, now I'm going so you kinda scale back and you're like alright well now what I really need to do is kinda start planning Getzelman: How do you mentally, how do you prepare yourself from going base to base and then you finally get to kinda to home base and what not and then as soon as you get there they say alright you're going overseas? Patton: It's...traveling around here, it goes back to kinda you're on edge in that country. I think its worse before you leave because you don’t know what to expect the kinda fear of the unknown to me was worse than when you're over there. When you're over there you're in a tense situation but at least you kind of know how to prepare for it. You know what’s going on, once you're there and you see what you're working with for lack of better words. But I was probably more nervous here leaving just because you don't know what part of the country you're going to, they don't tell you anything. They just tell you you're going to this country, so with that being said, you're like wow...I could be downtown Baghdad, I could be in ya know, Afghanistan...you don’t know yet, the orders are so general when you leave you get another set, when you get on the plane so we actually got orders for another country and that's why it was kinda weird for me...I was like wow! We’re going here and then they redirected us, which were kinda weird, but we ended up in Kuwait, we got orders for Afghanistan. So.... which isn't much better. Getzelman: Did you know anything specific about what your orders were supposed to be for Afghanistan? Patton: No, like I said they're really vague because they try to keep it as secretive as they can before you get in country. And then they'll say alright you're here because this is your mission and they give you basically a job description of what you're supposed to do and my company was like a mechanics a maintenance company and that was our job, our job was to basically take care of three maybe four infantry battalions that would bring their equipment to us and it was our job our goal. Getzelman: Did you ever have anything where the infantry companies would be on the front line and you guys would have to go in and do any sort of maintenance while they're... Patton: Not during any fighting, we would have to go up there and trade stuff out and see a lot of times, what people don’t really realize I think is there’s, there really wasn't a whole bunch of fighting. It was more or less random firefights here and there. And that’s 5 �what a lot of those guys were dealing with, because you had no real army vs. army fighting it was just this group of ten people with rifles. Getzelman: So it was much more smaller conflicts than on a larger scale? Patton: Yeah, yeah...and like I said it just, you kinda get used to that after a while too...you can get into a situation and see things are about to happen. So you kinda prepare for it but like I said its totally different than being around here. Getzelman: How much has serving in the military affected your life since you've been out? What sort of positive things did you take away that maybe you could share with future generation who are looking to enlist? Patton: Positive things.... For me the positive would be, being able to say that you know you got the experience of being under pressure and having to make decisions that directly affect peoples lives, kinda like being here (Doug is a firefighter)...this is on a lot smaller scale, its kinda that scenario where I feel comfortable in a really rough situation know I can handle situations and my thought process sis pretty cleat...just the experience of having that and that and the discipline of things just being responsible for yourself just small stuff just taking acre of yourself just looking after your own finances your own everything. Your equipment your gear that kind of thing I see with other people ya know.... anybody that wasn’t in the military you can kinda pick up on little things like that...that and the physical end of it trying to stay in shape, stuff like that...there's a few positives a few negatives but I wouldn’t change it. That’s one of the things I kinda ask myself sometimes is would I change it if I could go back and ya know had the option to not go and I'd go because like I said there's so much you get from it ya know it ill make you a better person a stronger person Getzelman: Do you think if the events of September 11th had never happened do you think you still would have joined? Patton: I don’t know that’s hard to say, probably not there again that was a lot of the reason I joined. Some of the reason I joined was because I was 21 and I kinda wanted to get out get away for a little bit and I needed that, that kinda helped me...ya know everyone when they're younger they wanna get out wanna leave town, they don’t wanna be here but the more you see of the word the more you realize that wow, I had a really awesome deal there, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Kinda going back to third world country stuff its once you see how other people live you really appreciate what you have and it makes the problems that you have really not that big of a deal things that you usually stress about and that’s one of the things that I kinda well enjoy I guess is the ability to say wow I appreciate small things now that’s a good thing that’s positive Getzelman: If you could take one phrase from your entire service how would you describe it to someone else in just a few words. What was the best thing you took out of it? 6 �Patton: I would just say it's a wild ride cause you do so much stuff in such a small amount of time and you know be here one day here another doing this and that, and you got to be able to roll with it ya know be flexible. That’s another positive thing I can pull out of it too. 7 � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/c732483dd4af78ca58e8ba84a2cee9d4.mp3 35a9d983d7e335afdb2a7524c923805c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Appalachian State University American Military History Course Veterans Oral History Project Description An account of the resource Each semester, the students of the American Military History Course at Appalachian State University conduct interviews with military veterans and record their military experiences in order to create an archive of oral history interviews that are publicly accessible to researchers. The oral histories are permanently available in the Appalachian State University Special Collections. The project is supervised by Dr. Judkin Browning, Associate Professor of History at Appalachian State University and all interviews are transcribed by the student interviewers. Copyright Notice: Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project’s audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, University Archives and Records, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. File size 58.2 KB 41.4 MB Format, digital MP3 Military Branch military branch (U.S. Army, etc) U.S. Army Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Getzelman; Austin Patton; Doug Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Getzelman Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed. Patton, Doug Interview Date 10/15/2012 Number of pages 7 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:18:07 Date digitized 2/6/2015 Checksum alphanumeric code 1365302d69f6a0db2ee336b949752c1d 35a9d983d7e335afdb2a7524c923805c Scanned by Leah McManus Equipment Adobe Acrobat XI Pro Resolution 300 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal; non-commercial; and educational use; provided that proper citation is used. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived UA.5018. American Military History Course Records Recording rate A/V rate (48,000kzh x 16 bit) 48000kzh x 16 bit Format, original Electronic File Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 5018_Patton_Doug_20121015_transcript_M 5018_Patton_Doug_audio_A Title A name given to the resource Interview with Doug Patton [October 15, 2012 Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Language A language of the resource English English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Getzelman, Austin Patton, Doug Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a title="UA.5018. American Military History Course Records" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/167" target="_blank">UA.5018. American Military History Course Records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used. Description An account of the resource Doug Patton joined the military after September 11th and entered basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. After basic, he went to Advanced Individual Training (AIT) and shortly after was deployed to Kuwait. He says there wasn't much fighting there, only "random firefights." Subject The topic of the resource Patton, Doug Veterans Iraq War, 2003-2011 Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Afghanistan AIT Fort Sill Oklahoma Kuwait September 11th https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/f39e6d0f0798b12947d599a99323d3a5.pdf 3441a36ca56ec634e5c766d89afd1fe4 PDF Text Text Transcript of Oral History Interview with Staff Sergeant Randall "R. J." Bowers March 13, 2011 Boone, North Carolina Michael Braga: Alright, this is Michael Braga, here interviewing R. J. Bowers. Staff Sergeant R.J. Bowers. It is March thirteenth, Sunday, and we are at R.J.'s house. This is for the Oral History project for 3824, Military History. Um... so R.J. if you could just state your name and your date of birth. Randall "R.J." Bowers: Alright, I'm Randy Darrel Bowers Jr.; I'm called "R.J." My Birthday is July 27, 1985. Braga: Alright um... so, what was your rank and branch of the military? Bowers: Yeah I was in the Army, and I started out as a Private but I got out as a Staff Sergeant, which is an E-6. Braga: Alright, and I assume you enlisted, do you remember why you enlisted? Bowers: It was right after 9/11 and I was getting out of high school, my grandpa was in, my great grandpa was in and most of my family was in the military so I thought it was just the best thing to do Braga: Yeah, Alright. How about your training, where were you trained? Bowers: Actually, I joined at 17 and my parents had to sign release papers to release custody of me to the army and I left my junior year of high school I graduated that year left that summer for basic training in Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri and also, AIT which is your Army school in Fort Leonard Wood Missouri. T» 4 �Braga: Alright, Do you remember... Do you have any experiences that you remember from that or...? Bowers: Well it was... I just remember, like everybody does, I guess, sitting there your first week in thinking "oh," you know, "Jesus what did I sign up for?" Cause you know the Drill Sergeants are yelling and this that and the other, but you know you look back after its all over and it was kind of like a fun experience in your life. Braga: So, you served in the Iraqi war right? Or were you in Afghanistan or Iraq? Bowers: No, Afghanistan. Braga: Afghanistan, where exactly did you go? Bowers: Well I was in mostly the south east and south west, I never really went up north much. I was there between, I think, May of '04 to June of '06 And I was there it was a little either under or over two years I can't remember. But, I was part of a route clearance package which is... were 21 bravo was the nomenclature for... all we do is we go around and look for lEDs or roadside bombs. Braga: Alright, cool. So, did you see any combat? Bowers: Yeah I mean everybody sees a little bit especially where the combating was. We're looking, you know for... We're sent before most people because we have the equipment to locate the lEDs like we have special vehicles, like we have the RG-31, The Husky and the Meer Cat and the Buffalo These vehicles are Designed to locate lEDs You Know and find them and help us either blow them in place or disarm them. Braga: Alright, Cool Cool. So do you remember any particular experiences there that you want to share or anything like that? �Bowers: Oh yeah I... there's tons of things you remember, you know most people want to talk about the good things. Ah... you know the people I was... we were actually imbedded me and like, my squad which was only ten guys we were imbedded with about 150 Afghans. So, you know living with them and among them were definitely an experience or whatever. They were a trip... They would always... I don't know, I'm trying to think of the right word to say... they were kind of... stupid. (Laughter) They ah... one time, one thing I always tell people was how most of the time I was worried about getting shot by them more than the enemy. Cause you know one story comes to mind we were on a patrol and it was, like I said, my squad and two... I don't know it was like a company and like a couple other platoons out of another company and we had about 75 guys in front of us and about 100-150 behind us and one of the guys behind us tripped and shot himself in the leg. And when he shot himself the guys in front of us just heard gunshots and so they... you know just fell down and started shooting in all directions and so of course you know we fell... we jumped down cause we were trying to figure out what they were shooting at and the Afghans behind us heard them shooting and so they started shooting. So, we're in a (wadi?) which is like an old river bed or a cut out and we're seeing them shoot at each other even though they know they're there. And so once we got our terps to get on the radio and get the commanders of both elements to quit shooting at each other there were like seven dead and like 15 or 16 wounded or something like that I mean it was just ridiculous they... there was definitely took a long time for them to get the grasp of not trying to shoot each other (laughter) Braga: (Laughter) yeah, why do you think that was? Bowers: Aw they're just... I don't know their training I guess wasn't as... definitely not as extensive as the U.S. military, but they have I guess... Most of them are young. Like here, most �people are at least over 18, there you know it wasn't uncommon to see like a 16 year old kid or whatever, but you know it's only two years but it makes a big difference. Braga: You mentioned that they had about 150 people how many people did you guys have in your company? Bowers: Oh well see I mean in my company we had, you know about 150 but we were broken up into 10 man groups and sent all over the country. Braga: Oh yeah? Cool. Um... Well how about your life while you were there, I mean were you able to stay in touch with your family? Bowers: It was kind of tough because being part of an RCP you're always on the move cause that's your job, it's to travel, you know, travel the roads and look for the lEDs wherever you're needed at the time. EOD which is... they... At this point Mr. Bowers turned off the recording device to collect his thoughts. Bowers: Alright, EOD is an Unexploded... They deal with the ordinance like you know if we find shells like any kind of unexploded ordinance, you know anything from mines to old claymores to... you know, anything just anything that needs to be blown up they're called to blow them up, but since like there's a scarcity of EOD guys in Afghanistan they'd call us which is the combat engineers. They'd call us because we had C-4 and TNT and stuff like that mostly just... mostly C-4 but you know they call us and we'd blow it. So we were always on the move we didn't really stay in one spot and most of the places we were there wasn't a lot of communication with the outside world. �Braga: Yeah, urn so, you didn't really... did you have like an operating base that you would go back to or...? Bowers: Uh, no the ah... we had FOBs which are forward operating bases... F-O-Bs you know? Braga: Yeah... Bowers: And ah... We... the most ones we left you know um FOB Solerno, FOB Ripley, FOB Pacemaker, FOB Vegas. You know those are some of the FOBs that we were on missions... missions out of. And they were all they were really for is so you can go like refuel and get, you know supplies, ammo whatever you needed and head back out Braga: So there weren't a lot in the way of amenities or anything like that? Bowers: No like we're getting... we pretty much lived out of our trucks or Humvees, our vehicles, you know we had all our stuff, it was always packed up. Slept on the ground under the trucks or in the trucks you know we didn't... Braga: So you were on the move a lot... Bowers: Oh yeah, we were on the move you know, 90% of the time Braga: Yeah? And you said earlier, you were usually operating ahead of... Bowers: Yeah Braga: Of everybody else...? Bowers: Yeah, the vehicles we were in, like this is... it was called a Rout Clearance Package because it was multiple vehicles lined up in the package in a convoy the first one would either be a Husky or a Meer Cat. And what this is it's a one man vehicle and it has... it has these plates that fold down and scan the road when you're driving and they're metal detectors. And when they scan over something metal they spray paint in that spot where they detected the metal, �there's a computer inside that tells the driver. It's a one manned vehicle and it looks kind of funny it's made by the same people that make like Indy Cars or whatever, it's made to... Braga: Really? Bowers: Yeah, it's made to be blown apart and actually, when it is blown apart it's not a big deal because the sections are made in such, where they're kind of like a big, giant Lego. You know you can just hook something on, take something off blow this off, blow that off. And stuff like that, so it makes it... a lot easier when they're like that. When that vehicle, say it detects metal on the ground it pulls forward and the next vehicle behind it's called an RG-31 it's like a... up armored SUV... you know it looks kind of like a big Tahoe on steroids it has like port holes and a turret on top, well it pulls up also with the, with the you know the Husky or Meer Cat to provide security to the front. Well, the Humvees and stuff they... provide rear security and then the Buffalo, what the Buffalo is it's like a $1.6 million truck, it's 26 tons it has three axels, it's actually a Mac truck with an independent axle on it and then the armor is built around it. It has a 30 foot arm with three cameras one of the cameras is in the arm. So what it does is it pulls up to the... place where the paint is sprayed on the ground and you just start digging, and then if you find something you try to dig it up, you know, you try to see what it is, you know if you can... in certain parts of Afghanistan they use certain methods to blow Americans up, I guess for lack of a better words you know, they use... maybe in southern Afghanistan they use A/T Mines that were pressure detonated and in eastern Afghanistan they used... they might use a A/T mines that is command detonated. There's different kinds of detonations they can use and if you can figure out what kind they're using and prevent them from blowing it up... it's even better for you. n f �But once you found out what kind it was and if it wasn't too dangerous you'd just, you know, dig it up, disarm it and then take it with you to wherever you're going or just blow it somewhere or just save it to blow it later, but if you were kind of unsure, thought there were like a secondary device. Cause towards the end there they were getting pretty smart, they'd ah leave an IED out or like one we could see, like trying to just hide it a little bit and so when we found it we were like "aw we found it!" and so we would go up to... you know, either disarm it or take it apart or do whatever, that that would be a dummy IED and they'd blow up other lEDs in the vicinity cause they knew our protocol. They knew that we were, you know, going to try to stay off the IED X amount of meters, or whatever so, you know... Braga: Yeah Bowers: They... they're a lot smarter than people give them credit for, that's for sure. Braga: Huh, yeah... So... How about your supplies, your supply lines and things like that? were you guys... you were operating ahead of everybody else, so were you kept up with MREs or did you have fresh food or... ? Bowers: Uh Actually it's kind of it's you know, I'm not looking for a pity party or anything, but there were a couple times where, you know we'd have trips that we'd have to go into villages and buy goats, buy local food and we would slaughter the goats or whatever we had to do. You know we had MREs but you know, two years on MREs could kind of turn your stomach. Braga: Yeah, I'll bet. Bowers: And you know it wasn't that bad you know there was a couple of times we had air drops, which was kind of cool, just to be a part of, you know... The C-130 would fly over us and drop you know, supplies out the back and we'd like, you know throw smoke. They'd drop it out and we'd go get the supplies and stuff. �Braga: Alright... So were there any... any events that were... particularly humorous or anything like that? Bowers: Oh, Oh yeah. Tons, tons, tons of... and that's what keeps you going too you know the funny stuff. All the Afghans they, you know... 90% of the country, well no I'm not going to say 90, like 85% probably don't really mind we're there and like us being there; they like that we overrun the Taliban (dog barks) and stuff like that.. .and so... (Dog barks again, Sergeant Bowers stops and says to dog) Jeb... So,... it's kind of cool and they're always doing... and I guess some of its kind of sick humor... the kids... you can get them to do anything for a piece of candy... we'd get them to box each other and stuff like that or... (As an aside to me) You know I could send you some of these pictures, that's an A/T mine, that's one we dug up. Braga: Oh, that'd be cool, yeah. Bowers: yeah and I'm going to try... here's a 105 shell, and this is what I was telling you about the thing that goes up front, this is a husky, see it? We hit an IED with it, see it's made to blow apart, so you can just take those two pieces off and put two new pieces on. Braga: Oh wow, that's cool. Bowers: So you know I can send you some pictures of like a route clearing package, if you'd like. You know the Afghans or even like, the even the Afghan Army guys... that have like scopes on their AKs but instead of it being like a cross like a normal scope would it'd be an X. And so they wouldn't have it lined up or anything it was just more for looks than anything. Or... You know, our sense of like being friends... we're like buddies, we might... hug or something, but the Afghans... they don't have like a personal bubble. Braga: Yeah �Bowers: Like... Kissing, holding hands, you know, a lot of stuff we would... consider homosexual they do and it's not homosexual at all it's just their culture. You know, there's tons of stuff they do, just, it definitely, it's like going back in time almost, going back to biblical days, cause you know I remember rolling into villages and the they thought we were the Russians... Braga: Really Bowers: Yeah, they thought we were the Russians, and you know the Russians hadn't been in Afghanistan in 15- 20 years or something like that, so... (Laughter) Braga: Yeah, 25-30 Bowers: Yeah, so I mean so to go into a village and someone like the village elder he'll come out and like he's pretty upset and stuff and we can't figure it out because you know, nine times out often when you went to a new village or something like that, especially, we spent a lot of time on the Pakistan border, you could tell if it was a friendly village or a not-so-friendly village and... with this one we just couldn't, we didn't know what was going on, we thought maybe something had just happened cause the guys was, you know, pretty upset and our terp was telling us that he thought we were the Russians and they had cut off all their beards and stuff like that and we were like, "Nah, tell them we're here... for helping, we're here as friends and once he found out we weren't the Russians, and you could tell these people were dirt poor any way like he was wearing literally rags like had, you know, had his best goat slaughtered and brought us goat milk and cheese and they eat like a big type of pita bread and rice and stuff and we, I mean we had a good time with them, we gave them like water and MRE stuff to compensate him for the goat even though, you know, we really didn't want him to kill his goat but, you know, It's just, you know... n n �One incident I remember we were refueling at a FOB Oregon E and over the radio the guys at the front gate said... there's six Afghans out here with a couple goats, they want to come in here and sacrifice them. And you know it took a minute or two before the company command to get back to them because they'd never run into that problem before. You know there, they were in a... it was kind of hostile out where Oregon E is and so... they ended up letting the guys in the base and slaughtering the goats for a sacrifice or whatever to try and you know keep the peace with everybody around us but (Showing me a picture) Right here's how far, that tire weighs 300 pounds. Braga: Good lord! Bowers: That's how far it was blown from the vehicle Braga: That's like 60 feet Bowers: Yeah, and no one was hurt in it, and this is another and like... when I told you They're really smart... like right here, this is a saw blade and like have you ever had the battery and you put a wire here and a wire here and you hit to the light and it turns the light on? Braga: Yeah Bowers: Well this is the same thing they're doing with an IED they got a battery source a wire going to it, going to the IED and they have this and they have this kind of hidden and so this is hooked to one wire and there's this metal piece hooked to another and when something rolls over it that saw blade bends and touches it, completes the circuit and blows up the IED Braga: Smart Bowers: Oh yeah, so I mean there definitely not stupid people, this is the Buffalo I was telling you the 1.6 million 26 ton... I did that, I got us stuck for two weeks (the Buffalo is stuck in very deep mud). But... here's us... I got tons of pictures for you. Page �Braga: So what were your dates of deployment? Bowers: Aww that's what I was trying to remember, I know I was there for 23 months and I was pretty sure I either left and it was either I left in May or I come back in May and I either left in June or come back in June I can't remember, you know, but we were only supposed to be there for like 15 months but the Route Clearance package was fairly new then and so... they ended up extending us. Braga: Yeah? And you're still in the military right? Bowers: Yeah I... well not, not really in I... they pay for my school and stuff and I plan to go to OCS I finish school this semester, so I'm going to go back to the army. Braga: Cool, Cool. So were there any... are there any final thoughts that you want us to know about your time in Afghanistan? Bowers: I don't know, just... It was definitely... life changing. Especially when we'd role up on old Russian bases and like actually see the entire base, and I know this is going to be cliche, but saying like you know, the old Rocky movies like seeing an old base that looked... I'll show I got a picture here real quick, that looked like that and see actually old MIG fighters, like graveyards of them. That were still there that are, no one flies them, you can't do anything with them there's just weeds growing around them and stuff like that, like it's like they just vanished they left, you know left whole bases intact. You know, when we have to pull out of a base or like a FOB or something where it's no longer necessary we'd blow everything or destruct, so no one can use it to their advantage but us. You know the Russians just up and left. Braga: Yeah Bowers: And you know when I say 'up and left' I mean we'd, you'd find all kinds of crazy stuff and some... of it you just scratch your head like man I can't believe they just left all this, you Page �know old tanks and stuff like that and Afghan people if it's not bolted down or can be moved its.. They'll take it they're like the best scavengers in the world as far as I'm concerned I mean. We'd had a Humvee get blown up and... had to come back two days later to try to just retrieve the skeleton of it and whatever we could, and it wasn't that bad, it just blow off like the back end of it and when we got back there was nothing left but the actual frame of the Humvee. Braga: Wow Bowers: So they had taken the tires, all the metal, everything that was potentially... you could take off they took off. Braga: Impressive. Bowers: You know... when I got... you know I went to drill sergeant school and stuff like that so I wanted to you know... Braga: Yeah, well tell us about that; tell us about drill sergeant school. Bowers: Uh, Drill sergeant school is about four months long or whatever or no it's about three months long or two months long actually. It's... yeah, it's a two and a half months long and... it's just like going through basic it's just basic training all over again. You go through basic training except... once you go through the phase like the phases in basic training, you have like, you know, red phase... blue phase... (To himself) red, white, blue... No, red phase, white phase, blue phase, and then you have your like gold and black phase or something like that. Braga: What... what's the difference between those? Bowers: Well the phases like the first; red phase is like... the kind of like shock and awe. You know when you're coming in and you're getting yelled at and if one of y'all screw up the group screws up, you know if you mess up then everybody pays for it. They're trying to get you to work number one as a team and also get you to realize, you know the whole break you down and Page �build you up thing, that happens in red phase, you know they make it where you're tired they keep you, you know, you keep them awake, work them out a whole lot they'll do stuff like that. And then... then it's kind of also like a think of pride you know, if you give them something to work towards, like you know, they're in red phase which would be the hardest phase they'll have no... they can't even use the bathroom without asking permission. You know if you give them.. .you tell them 'hey ya'll have done good for two weeks, two or three weeks, you know and they graduate to blue phase then they know they've got to step up. They get just a little bit more responsibility, you know they get a little bit more freedom, not a whole lot more, just a little bit more and each phase they... they turn more and more into a soldier. Braga: Cool... um so, in your drill sergeant training was it more difficult than basic training...? Bowers: Um see and that's... that's the thing and people when you talk to them they'll talk about the game... and that's all it is, it's a game you know, when I was in basic training I didn't realize it until later, until we were about to graduate and everybody does, that it's a game to the drill sergeants, you know, you'll catch them... if you really pay attention, you'll catch them snickering, or laughing at some of the stuff that... you know that some of... y'all are doing and some of it might be to teach y'all a lesson or something like that... or you know just... whatever, what have you. you know they're not... in your eyes they're like a super human when you're in basic training, but once you complete basic training, towards the end you start realizing that they're normal too, that they're just like you.. That they're... It's kind of like you know when you're younger you thought your dad was, you know, superman... Braga: Yeah Bowers: And as you got older you realize he's just, you know he's still superman to you but he's just a regular guy, you know he can get hurt just as well as the next guy. It's the same thing with Page �your drill sergeants and you learn the game, you know, you learn how to take orders and not take it personally and that, I guess that's... especially for young guys, you know me being one of them with authority, you know I had a whole lot of problems with it, and... that's one thing that basic training taught me to do was you know respect authority and... just, even if you don't agree with it or whatever, drive on and do it, do whatever you have to do and so when you go back for, especially as a drill sergeant, you know the game, and it's kind of like a you know a lose-lose situation for them because they know you know the game. You know when in basic training when a drill sergeant is yelling at you or like busting your balls or something and tells you to get down and do pushups you get down and start cranking out pushups till you can't move until you know, you're shaking and convulsing. Well, He can't... physically make you do a push up so if you just get down and crank out one or two pushups and then just stay in the push up position as long as it's the correct position you're in the right, you know. And this is something you don't know, or don't think of when you're younger either, you just want to... you're thinking 'do what he said by what he said' so you're push... you know when you're in drill sergeant school as long as you're making an effort to do a push up you don't have to kill yourself you just have to do the right dorm, stay in the right position and stuff like that and they know you know the game, and once... you know they're senior drill sergeants training the drill sergeants, you know they... once they know you know the game they're not... it's not... going to be worth their time to fu... screw with you. You know so... it's once you know the game it's really hard but you know you just got to play the game and know... and be good at it. There's a method to all the madness, or whatever, you know, the things you didn't understand in basic training... you're like 'why did he make us do it?' 'Why do we have to do that?' 'That's so stupid' they Page �teach you actually some psychology behind it and you know the reason... there's a reason for everything. Braga: Well cool... so now... you said you're kind of still in the army are you training new recruits or...? Bowers: Oh no no no, when I... I said... kinda... they pay for my school. They pay for my school and they pay me to go to school, so I'm not really even in the army right now, but... Braga: But you are going back? Bowers: Yeah, I'm definitely going back. I went last week to talk to... my buddy, he's actually a recruiter. He's a guy I spent... the two years in Afghanistan with, he's a recruiter in Hickory now, and my brother just signed up for the army about a week ago so... and I went with him, and then I'm getting my OCS packet which is officer's candidate school packet ready. Braga: Great. Well I really appreciate you doing this man and... thank you so much, any final thoughts? Bowers: I'm trying to think and make sure I got everything for you, basic training, I was at Ft. Bragg before... from Ft. Leonard Wood, after I got through with my basic training, my AIT which is my... job school I was at Ft. Bragg before I went to Afghanistan Braga: Okay. Bowers: And... Braga: What other forts have you been to? Was it just Bragg? Bowers: Oh you pretty much you travel to all of them, you now I've been (Cell phone beeping) to Ft. Jackson, Ft. Bragg, Ft. Knox, Ft. Campbell... and yeah that's it... Germany. I was in Germany for a little bit but not, not very long. But, I'm trying to make sure I got everything for Page �you like (Shows a picture) There's an old Russian base, tell me that doesn't look like something out of Rocky. Braga: It kind of does (laughs) Bowers: And look they built like dams and all kinds of stuff and there's like street posts I mean it looks like they put a lot of time info this stuff. There's our pet hawk. Braga: Alright well... I guess that's it for the interview... So once again thank you. Bowers: Not a problem Braga: And... that's about it. Page � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/4ebf16f3440f9ea527b20f273d99cd36.mp3 e990ce35e7b0cdc4c5d02d0a1c2e4016 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Appalachian State University American Military History Course Veterans Oral History Project Description An account of the resource Each semester, the students of the American Military History Course at Appalachian State University conduct interviews with military veterans and record their military experiences in order to create an archive of oral history interviews that are publicly accessible to researchers. The oral histories are permanently available in the Appalachian State University Special Collections. The project is supervised by Dr. Judkin Browning, Associate Professor of History at Appalachian State University and all interviews are transcribed by the student interviewers. Copyright Notice: Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project’s audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, University Archives and Records, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed. Bowers, Randall "R.J." Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Braga, Michael Interview Date 3/13/11 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:25:13 File name 2013_063_Bowers_Randall_interview 2013_063_Bowers_RandallJ_transcript Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with Randall "R.J." Bowers, 13 March 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Braga, Michael Bowers, Randall "R.J." Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a title="UA.5018. American Military History Course Records" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/167" target="_blank">UA.5018. American Military History Course Records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 16 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Subject The topic of the resource Bowers, Randy Darrel, Jr. Veterans United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Randall Bowers joined the military when he was 17 and still in high school shortly after the Iraq War began. He went to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri and then Afghanistan where he searched for and dismantle IEDs. He later went on to become a drill sergeant and plans to return to the army after he finishes school. Afghanistan Army Staff Sergeant Fort Leonard Wood Missouri IED MRE Route Clearance Package https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/cf0b855fd30544341a060fd0242a5502.pdf 8ce621536de54bd1671bd959296a299f PDF Text Text Oral History Interview with David Owen Me?? DO: David Owen Me: Alright, so what's your name? DO: David Owen Me: What rank were you? DO: Lance corporal, Marine Corps Me: And how old are you? DO: 22 years old Me: So when did you first enlist? DO: I was 20 years old Me: So you got out of high school? DO: When to work for a while, just noticed things that with my job and everything weren't that happy and everything, kind of got in with the wrong crowd. I just knew if I kept going the way I was I wouldn't have a very bright future so, one of the guys I worked with had been in the Marines for seven years at that time and just the way he carried himself and the way he acted around all of us influenced me to join. Me: Alright, so that was a big influence on. DO: Yeah he was my main boos at work so, it kind of, you know being around him all the time made it easier for him to influence and always be there and stuff and just the way he carried himself, and solved all the problems and stuff we had. Me: Did you have anybody in your family that was in the service? DO: No, nobody in my immediate family or like great grandparents or grandparents or anything. Everybody we have is like one or two cousins, nothing real, real, close. Me: So how long were you in? DO: I'm still in, I've been in for three years now. Me: What unit and battalion were you? 1 �DO: I deployed with CLR-15, out of camp Pendleton, CA. My unit is out of Greenville, SC. But we attached with CLR-15, originally it was Ammo Company then deployed and went to Security Company CLR-17 of camp Pendleton and did some security with them. Me: How many times did you deploy? DO: Just one time so far. Me: Where were you at? DO: We were in the Helmand province of Afghanistan for most of my deployment it was mostly the southern region of Afghanistan. Me: So what was that like, what was Afghanistan like? DO: It was pretty hot. Me: Really DO: The hottest day of the year for us was July 14th, it got to 146 degrees. And it's a real dry heat, if it was around here it would be worse feeling that hot with the moister in the air, but with that heat your sweat is evaporating as soon as it appears, so it’s easy to get dehydrated. If you're out doing anything you got 80 pounds of gear on you, you're wearing the camo, which is long sleeve, long pants, Kevlar helmet, the big MTV or the military tactical vest which has the sappy plates in it, you carrying a rifle, it’s real heavy. Me: So are you carrying that kind of weight every time you go out? DO: anytime you leave the base you got 80 something pounds strapped to you with armor. Me: God, so where you in a pretty well built fire base or was it something you constructed when you got there? DO: The main base we went into was camp leatherneck, which has been there since the initial push back in 01 after September 11th, which has been the biggest base, longest base that's been in Afghanistan. It was pretty well, like built, I mean it's over three square miles, it’s pretty caught up on times, like it’s not like, you got like two or three different chow halls, you got a PX to go shop and buy little things you need.' But for us doing security we were jumping base to base, taking convoys from one base to another and doing security for them so some of the bases we went to wouldn’t be but 500 yards of base and just always taking fire and getting mortared, always have a full alert on those little bases but the bigger bases you weren't always full alert it was more secure. Me: So you were running security on convoys? 2 �DO: Yeah I was the Mark-19 gunner on a MRAP and a, what was the other one called, we had MRAPs and, I can't remember what they're called now. But it was the two new vehicles that replaced the Humvees, I was a gunner for most of it on a Mark-19, which is a belt fed grenade launcher, so it was uh, I had the big gun. We'd take the supply convoys from the bigger base, everything comes into leather neck and gets dispersed out from there, and you got to take you know, for the enemy, like if they see nothing but the MRAPs and stuff coming through their not going to really mess with them because that's just recon and all the bigger like, all the infantry battalions just pushing through doing patrols trying to find people. What they would do is attack the supply convoys, they knew if they could cut off our supply's it would hurt us more than anything, so that and it's a longer chain of vehicles so there's more chances of hitting something, weather it was one of the bigger, like the 18 wheeler looking trucks we have, where it was something like that or the security trucks, they knew they had better chances of hitting something in a supply convoy than anything else. Me: Did you all have a lot of routinely heavy fighting, or was it in spurts? DO: It was in spurts, the first couple of months I was there it was pretty calm, I deployed from March till October and it didn't really pick up till late April. In late April and May is when it really started to pick up and everything then by the time it was early July and August it was staring to calm down a little bit, but then after, after August for some reason it picked back up again pretty good. I don't know why it happened in spurts but it was different areas we were going to and everything else so it might have just been the area we were at. Me: So what was the first fire fight you got in, like I sure that was a pretty hectic crazy experience? DO: First one we had, we had took like we had been out of the wire and had taken just a couple small ambushes and our command told us just to push through so we didn't return fire, the gunners just get down inside the truck where their protected by the armor of the truck too, but we just pushed through. But then, the first one we were stopped because we had a truck problem and it was right before an area they were already going to attack us probably, and we were down for a truck having a flat tire, and the security, we left out from where the convoy was and pushed out a little ways to where we could see more of an open range around us. So one of the trucks, I think was west facing took an RPG round, it didn't hurt anybody but that's whenever we knew things were serious now. So we had to just light up the mountain side because we couldn't see anything that was going on or where anybody was really at we couldn't see any actual personal or people so we just go the word to aim at the mountain side and light it up. Me: So a lot of their stuff is small ambushes that you encounter? DO: Yeah, we had a couple that was caused by the IED's, the explosive devices that take out a vehicle. And right when we're down because they blew the axel or tire of a vehicle or something, 3 �we'd be down for that reason and then, when the place an IED they'll watch it, watch that are and wait for you to get hit with it and while your down and they sense your vulnerable that's whenever they would attack. Because they know you can't leave that area. Me: So being over in Afghanistan, what was the main thing you missed, what were some of the main things that, I don't know, you're not use to being without? DO: Well like while your over there it really bugs you not to get to talk to everybody that much and everything, I missed the simple things like being able to go out and do whatever on the weekends, like go out and just work your normal work day as a civilian and then go out in the evening and drink beer or go to a nice restraint or go to a movie theater, you know hang out with your other friends but like when your over there everybody's going through the same thing and you know you're stuck there for the time your deployed so you like start to adjust to it and you start to miss your family a lot because you don't get to talk to them a whole, whole bunch. Just moving from different bases and different things that go on, you go two or three weeks without talking to anybody so. Me: So like when you’re deployed with this group of guys you all train together, have been together for a while right? DO: Yeah, some of the best friends that you'll ever make is the guys you know are stuck in the same situation you are over there and you knows no matter what happens they got your back. I mean I'm not saying that normal civilian friends won't have your back if something goes down but like the military guys that are there when it does come down to people shooting at you and everything and knowing you have to trust them to have your back and they have to trust you too, It's a totally different friendship than anything else. Me: So the bonds that came out, the friends you made there... DO: Oh yeah Me: That's pretty important stuff? DO: Yeah through the military you meet people from all over the place, I got friends that I still talk to today that were with the British Marines and stuff, that we had to do convoys and stuff with them, and like just the difference in the world that they grew up in and you grew up in, not to mention just different Marines from like Texas or California or up north compared to just the people you knew from just being raised and not being that far away from the place you've lived your whole life. Me: So you still keep up with a lot of those guys? DO: Yeah, I talk to an awful lot of them on Facebook or e-mail or stuff like that, just different Marine buddies and different British Marine guys I met. Me: So are you still in that same unit or... 4 �DO: Yeah I'm with the same unit. Me: So in the Marine Corps will you stay with that same unit or will you get transferred out? DO: You can get transferred out with any branch, like4 my unit in Greenville isn't going to change because I'm with the reserves and everything now but like as an active duty personal, it’s hard to be active duty and stay on the same base, or same unit, you'll have orders come in from like Camp Lejeune, NC and they'll move you from there to Camp Pendleton, they'll move you to Japan and the bases there, just where ever the military sees that it needs you or your rank. Because they look at you as an individual but over all they look at everyone as, ok we need two or three lance corporals or two or three sergeants or something, we need them to be in Japan so, they'll be like well we have more than what we need at Pendleton so we'll just take a couple from there, I mean when you sign up for the military you sign your life away for that contract and where they need you they'll put you. Me: So what kind of lessons, did you have any lessons that came out of your time overseas or any kind of long lasting change? I know that's not a very well worded question... DO: You learn more about yourself in an environment like that, like not like your alone by yourself or anything like that, but just knowing what you can mentally handle in life, I mean a lot of people without joining the military or anything like that don't really know how stressed out they can be, I mean I'm not saying that any other job should be that stressful compared to the military but the life on the line situation and then someone at a base is telling you orders to do when they aren't even out there in the trucks with you to see what the really situation going on is, and like us getting shot at and them telling us to duck in the truck and run off and not fight back, then two weeks later in that same area the same ones that were shooting at you end up hurting somebody or killing two or three people because they got a bigger ambush that time or just being able to pass up the opportunity to take out the enemy now to do it later on and maybe they end up hurting more people between now and then. Me: So how did you feel about the officers in your... DO: You'll like some of them, some of them you won't agree with their decisions but over all you do what your told and if, you can lose your rank and all kind of stuff if you disobey a direct order from an officer, I mean it's better to so what they say right then and if it's wrong their the one that takes the fall for giving you the order, it's better to do what's said then to think for yourself and do something that's wrong in the long run and lose everything you have for a small decision. Me: So what was the thing you hated most about being overseas? DO: It's hard being over there, I mean I was over there for 8 months straight pretty much, missing your family is tough, and like at the time I was deployed I had a girlfriend over here, just missing her and not just seeing people and not having the real ability to touch people while 5 �you're talking to them, you know using Skype if you have a web cam you can use to actually see them the rest of the time it's just Facebook chat of phone calls home, you know not being able to see them or actually be with them when you're talking to them being 13 or 14 hours ahead of their schedule make it hard to line up a time to communicate with someone back home. So mainly just like the small things about communication and not being with the ones you care about the most. Me: Other than missing people or not getting to see friends and family were there any day to day things that drove you nuts over there? DO: Foods not very good because it's the cheapest food there is and it's made for a thousand or so people at once. So it's not like, every now and then we'd get something decent to eat but if you out on convoy its nothing but the MREs which will stuff you up and they're not very delicious either and in the chow halls its eggs that are made out of, powdered eggs and stuff like that, just small things like that not nothing horrible to deal with. Me: Were there a lot of political feelings in your unit, did you all talk politics or where the officers political or any sense of political allegiances or was it just kind of doing your job? DO: We didn't really talk politics we'd see it on the news and we'd get news updates if it was something that was happing back home, if it was something happing with the president or something bad or weather a certain governor was pushing for this, but mainly over there it was just focusing on what we needed to do there not about anything going on back home unless it was directly going to affect me. But like I had been deployed during the pay stop for two weeks, when that happened I'm sure that everyone that was deployed when that happened changed a lot of stuff over there, being something political that happened here, I mean that would have been something weird to deal with. Knowing you're going out to put your life on the line for the government and your country and everything you believe in, and all the sudden they stop paying you while your over there fighting for their rights and freedom. Me: So what was the thing you enjoyed most about your deployment? DO: It would be the bond that I made with some of the guys and other friends over there, one of my buddies from South Carolina Randy, me and him didn't even know each other before the deployment and now we're like best friends. One of the other guys I deployed with he was from Boston and he'd always pick on me for being a country boy and I'd pick on him for being a Yankee and just like the bond you make with different people that you would have never met any way in the world except for being in the military with them. Just like the friendship you've made with other people. 6 � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/8e06d26fe4ae33b93a8b58977204206a.mp3 9805ab753d494dd85aec321e3b0f735c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Appalachian State University American Military History Course Veterans Oral History Project Description An account of the resource Each semester, the students of the American Military History Course at Appalachian State University conduct interviews with military veterans and record their military experiences in order to create an archive of oral history interviews that are publicly accessible to researchers. The oral histories are permanently available in the Appalachian State University Special Collections. The project is supervised by Dr. Judkin Browning, Associate Professor of History at Appalachian State University and all interviews are transcribed by the student interviewers. Copyright Notice: Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project’s audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, University Archives and Records, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Interviewer unknown Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:21:14 Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound. 6 pages Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with David Owen, undated Description An account of the resource David Owen, Marines, Lance corporal, 22 years old. In this interview David Owen talks about how his boss at work influenced him to join the military. He goes on to discuss his deployment to Afghanistan and some of his experiences there. Some of his experiences include; dealing with the heat and environment, combat, the things he missed, and the bonds that were created with other soldiers. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Undated Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Subject The topic of the resource Owen, David Veterans United States Interviews Language A language of the resource English Afghanistan David Owen Marines https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/cbfbdc96490e0b287e0a539efb15751b.pdf 5e4d961e229175a12c27c00e02c7e081 PDF Text Text Davis William Craig interviews Former Marine Corporal William Chris Ray Chapel Hill, NC 13 October 2011 DC: Davis W. Craig CR: W. Chris Ray DC: Today is October 13, 2011. We are in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Chris Ray, birth date... CR: December 10, 1988. DC: This is being recorded for Appalachian State University. Mr. Ray served in operation... CR: Enduring Freedom. DC: Enduring Freedom, with the Marines. Chris, were you drafted or did you enlist? CR: I enlisted my senior year of high school, 2007, in January, and shipped off to boot camp July 1, 2007. DC: What made you want to join the military? CR: I think I knew I was going to join the military...when I was in seventh grade, after seeing 9/11, it was one of those things that was in the back of my mind I was exploring other options, then if came time to...apply to colleges and whatnot...the only school I applied to was Appalachian State, and got in there but didn't really want to go to school so I chose to go into the corps, it was something different. DC: Why did you pick the Marines? CR: Well, the reputation they have is a overall little better than the other branches and I wanted to be in the infantry, and the Marine Corps infantry is probably the most prestigious out of all the branches, as well. So that's probably why I chose that. DC: Do you recall your first days in service? What do you remember about when you first...got in? CR: Like in boot camp? DC: Yeah. CR: It was pretty hot, pretty miserable, you know, being like 18 and...you know getting thrown into something like that, I think everyone kind of questions themselves, like "What did I get into?" And then, after I went to boot camp, that lasted thirteen weeks, about three months...[I] 1 �Went to School of Infantry, which lasted about two months, and then went to my deploying unit, which was seventh battalion, sixth Marines. It was...a tough experience. You learn a lot. It's certainly not for everyone; there were times when I was hating life. DC: How did you get through it? CR: I set out to accomplish something; I'm not really one to quit on anything so...relying on myself, relying on the guys around me because we were all going through the same thing. DC: Do you remember any specific instructors? CR: Yeah, I remember all of them. I didn't really like my boot camp instructors; I didn’t really have too much respect for them just because, in the Marine Corps there is a big rift between the infantry guys and the non-infantry guys. At the time, of course, you fear them, you respect them, but looking back on them...they're jokes. And actually, my School of Infantry main instructor actually deployed with me to Afghanistan, last summer. DC: Where exactly did you go on you first deployment? CR: My first deployment, it was called the twenty-sixth Marine Expeditionary Unit, and I went to Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Bahrain, Kuwait, Croatia, Egypt, and Greece. DC: What do you remember about your first deployment, specifically? CR: I hated it, honestly, because the only thing we did was, we were deployed as, it's called a Force In Readiness, our whole job is to basically float around the Mediterranean and the Arabian Gulf...Persian Gulf, just to see if anything, in case anything, pops up in any other country, we are supposed to be there to take care of it...we trained other militaries, we trained the U.A.E.'s first mortar platoon ever, which was pretty cool, but overall that deployment wasn't really what I'd joined to do. DC: What was your job? CR: I was a mortar man, so we were part of the Eighty-One Millimeter Mortar platoon. So basically, our job was the first, indirect support of the riflemen and the standard grunts. DC: Did you see any combat? CR: On the first deployment? DC: Yeah. CR: No. DC: Let’s talk about some other deployments, where else have you been stationed? 2 �CR: I've only been stationed in Camp Lejeune, but I went to Marjah in Helmahn Province, Afghanistan last summer...my second and last deployment. DC: Did you see combat there? CR: Yes...my second patrol ever...actually my first patrol ever we were indirectly involved in a firefight then my seconds patrol ever we got in a firefight and three of my buddies ended up getting shot, two of them went home...one of them shattered...his femur in one of his legs and just really messed up the other one and another one got shot in the back of the head and actually survived. DC: What did that...what did the first combat that you were involved in...what was going through your head once you realized that you were actually in a war, fighting? CR: It was pretty surreal...it was one of those things where as a kid you see all these movies and stuff and war is so glorified and all that...I guess people see it as cool and awesome until people start getting hurt, but...at the time I think it was a really big wakeup call seeing as the first couple of patrols, that really set the tone for the rest of deployment. We had a couple of guys that were really freaked out after that but I think that just really made us more aware of...what could happen at any second, at any time. DC: Now, this hasn't been addressed yet, what ranks did you hold in your time with the U.S. Marines? CR: I came in as a Private and was meritoriously promoted to Private, First-Class after boot camp, and then about eight months later I was promoted to Lance Corporal, and then after that I was meritoriously promoted to Corporal and that's the rank that I held until I got out. DC: Were you awarded any medals or citations or any sort of decorations? CR: Yes. Obviously...they give out a lot of medals, a lot of them don't matter, but the only ones that people really care about are the Combat Action Ribbon saying you've been in combat, received fire, exchanged fire...I was awarded the Purple Heart, which is not a medal that anyone wants but... you're more proud of that than anything else...I got a Purple Heart for...in October of [2010] I got blown up by a DFC, which is a Directionally Fragmented Charge, which is a type of IED, so it's basically a shotgun out of the ground ... I ended up breaking my shoulder, pretty much got peppered all over the front of my body...I got medi-evaced to Germany and then to Maryland and then finally went back home. DC: What circumstances led to that? CR: I was a Squad Leader, so I had about ten Marines under me, eight Afghan National Army soldiers, we had to do a vehicle checkpoint that morning at an Afghan police station...We were doing checkpoints and the Taliban obviously watched us go down there and they knew we had to head back to our main patrol base, eventually. They'd been watching us for a couple of weeks...So I split my squad up, I sent one of my team leaders on the East side of the road and I 3 �went on the West side, we never take the road because of the risk of IEDs, and they set up, I can't remember exactly it's kind of hazy, but they set up a fake IED that I went to go check out...and it wasn't really anything, and then I decided to cross the road and it was a remote controlled IED. They basically waited for me to cross then the next thing I remember was waking up...I really couldn't hear anything, my ears were ringing, I looked down and there was blood all over my legs, my face, my shoulder, my chest, so I was kind of a little freaked out, but I couldn't really move, I was in the middle of the road so I basically called over my radio, let everyone know that I was hit and as soon as I did that, when [the enemy] opened up with some small fire so that no one could come out and get me on the road. Since my legs weren't really working, I kind of crawled down into a ditch and fired blindly, suppressing so someone could at least come over to me and render me aide, applied tunicates and whatnot and everyone came to support. [I] Went on a helicopter to a hospital and just dealt with recovery in the hospital and physical therapy after that. DC: [mutters, pause] When you were overseas how did you stay in touch with your family? CR: [We] had a satellite phone that we were able to call every once in a while. I got to talk to my family, I'd say once or twice a week. They would cut off our limitation, we weren't allowed to use the phone if people were severely injured or if we had guys killed in action, which was fairly frequent...so that was the only way, was through satellite phone. DC: Was the food any good? CR: No, the food was horrible. I ate spaghetti and meatballs for...three months. Now, if I see spaghetti and meatballs I’m going to throw up, but the actual Afghan food was really good. What it was, they eat a lot of flatbread, rice, and chicken. DC: Did you do anything special for good luck? CR: We kind of all had a routine...certain things that we liked to do...but I don't think I had anything for good luck. DC: What sort of culture...cultural experiences did you experience in Afghanistan? CR: It's completely different; I don't really understand it still, but just the way that the women are treated. We would ask a lot of the ANA, the Afghan soldiers, if they even knew why were in Afghanistan, and most of them had no clue. And just dealing with the people...it was...especially with the men...sexual relations with women was taboo but it was frequent for...they wouldn't call themselves gay but...they were more affectionate to men than women. DC: How did you guys entertain yourselves while you were over there? CR: Well, I read a ton of books but that was pretty much it, other than that we didn't have much, a couple of people had some laptops, but we had a generator so our power was limited...other than that we talked a lot about everything. 4 �DC: Do you recall any instances of something goofy you all did for camaraderie? CR: Yeah...lots of times. We had to do these vehicle checkpoints all the time so to mess with the locals we'd sometimes tell them to get off their motorcycles and we'd go do donuts on them, or we'd pretend we were pissed at them and pretty much hold them down and just tickle them, you know, just stuff like that. Some of them liked us and some of them got pretty annoyed or offended by it but we'd do stuff like that for laughs. DC: Were there any other pranks or shenanigans going on? CR: I mean, yeah there were lots of things we would do that we weren't exactly supposed to with the motorcycles and stuff, but elders had beards and you're supposed to be really respectful toward the elders. Some of my younger guys would go up there and tell the elders they needed to search for IEDs in their beards...stuff like that. [They] messed with the Afghan soldiers a lot, the kids we got them to...we'd teach them rap songs and stuff like that. DC: Did you keep a diary or take any pictures? CR: I did, I kept a diary and then it got ruined. I took a decent amount of pictures. Also, I think my camera got messed up somehow so I wasn't able to get all of them but, yeah, I was able to record some stuff. DC: Do you recall the day that your service ended? CR: Yes. DC: Where were you? CR: I ended up that morning, in Lejeune, checking out was just...the greatest feeling in the world. I was waking up, I was about to be free. I ended up packing up all my stuff, picked up my final papers, drove to Wilmington [North Carolina], where I lived at for the summer. DC: What did you do in the days and weeks following your [completion] of your enlistment? CR: I was just a beach bum; I did whatever, a whole lot of nothing, really. DC: Did you work or go back to school? CR: I'm back in school now and I'm working...I'm at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and working a part-time job, too. DC: Is you education being paid for by the G.I. Bill? CR: Yes, by the post-9/11 G.I. Bill. 5 �DC: I know you've had to take a forty-hour a week job; can you explain the complications behind the tardiness of your government payments? CR: Yeah, I finally started getting my G.I. payments now. I could live off that now if I wanted to but working pretty much a full time job gives me more money, more experience. It'd be nice to have some time off but it's kind of weird going from the past four years with not that much downtime to go on with too much free time. I think I do better when everything a little busier, a little more efficient. DC: Would you say that the military made you a scheduled person? CR: Yeah, yeah, in a lot of ways and in some ways I kind of despise the habits and things the Marine Corps has kind of drilled into me, but for the most part, I think I'm pretty close to full adjustment back to civilian life. DC: What sort of things do you catch yourself doing? CR: Some stupid things...For some reason the Marine Corps...they don't like us to use blue pens for anything...I don’t have any blue pens, it's pretty stupid, but...[Chuckles] for some reason I don't use blue pens. DC: Did you make any close friends while you were in the service? CR: Yeah, certainly, certainly. One of my best friends he was actually one of my team leaders, he's going to school as University of Alabama...another one of my really good friends, who's actually from Raleigh, he's back in Raleigh going to school there...But certainly the guys that I've met there I'll keep in touch with for the rest of my life. DC: Have you had any thoughts about joining a veterans' organization? CR: Yeah, I probably should. UNC doesn’t have a veterans' organization, which is actually something that I've talk to a couple other veterans with at the university, trying to start one. And there's also, local VFW and American Legion and stuff like that which...if I had more free time I would do something like that but I guess I just haven't gotten around to it yet. DC: Did your military experience change your feelings about the war, or war in general, or the military? CR: Certainly. Before I went in, I was pretty naive and I actually supported the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, then you start investigating things on your own and reading...more things come to light. I ended up being definitely being against the war in Iraq and still support the war in Afghanistan but I'm completely against the way that we are going about it. After seeing, out of my squad, four out of ten of us have Purple Hearts, two of my guys got shot, one of them has to walk with a cane for the rest of his life, and another one of my guys got blown up by a smaller IED than what I got hit by and he ended up losing both legs and three fingers. So 6 �stuff like that makes you certainly way more critical of politicians and anyone who says they support the war when they haven’t been over there...something along those lines. There's certainly nothing glorified about war at all. DC: Well, I think that is about all we need, thank you very much, Chris. CR: [I] appreciate it. END OF INTERVIEW 7 � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/ab25383043a4994e0db5593ce2941b2c.mp3 b7c9b096d43eb66de3fe3b2b82319fc3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Appalachian State University American Military History Course Veterans Oral History Project Description An account of the resource Each semester, the students of the American Military History Course at Appalachian State University conduct interviews with military veterans and record their military experiences in order to create an archive of oral history interviews that are publicly accessible to researchers. The oral histories are permanently available in the Appalachian State University Special Collections. The project is supervised by Dr. Judkin Browning, Associate Professor of History at Appalachian State University and all interviews are transcribed by the student interviewers. Copyright Notice: Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project’s audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, University Archives and Records, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Craig, Davis W. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:09:50 Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound. 7 pages Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with William Chris Ray, 13 October 2011 Subject The topic of the resource Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001- Ray, William Chris Veterans United States Interviews Description An account of the resource William Chris Ray, Marine Corporal, was born on December 10, 1988. In this interview he discusses how 9/11 impacted his decision to join the military. He goes on to discuss his experiences in boot camp and his time while being deployed. He also talks about his job as a mortor man and specifically dicusses his time in Afghanistan and how he stayed in touch with his family. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-10-13 9/11 Afghanistan Davis W. Craig Marines military experiences mortor man William Chris Ray https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/ecdae20bf5062ecd0c3c8868c5dce225.pdf 58f1db7ff2d742b01a96adfad47a8b41 PDF Text Text Transcript of Oral History Interview with MSG Chalk Wetmore. October 12, 2011. Boone, NC EF: Evan Freemyer CW: Master Sergeant Chalk Wetmore EF: It is October 12, 2011. We are in Boone, NC, on the campus of Appalachian State University. I am interviewing Mast Sergeant Chalk Wetmore Senior Military Science Instructor and Battalion Sergeant Major of the Mountaineer Battalion Appalachian State University. I am Evan Freemyer cadet and student in US Military History class at Appalachian State University, and we will begin the oral history now. EF: First off can we begin with when you were born and where you grew up? CW: Born in Valdese, North Carolina, August 17, 1972. I spent most of my childhood living in Mountain Creek attending Burke County schools graduating East Burke High School in 1990. EF: And when did you join the Army and why did you decide to join the army. CW: My senior year of high school, April of 1990. I did delayed entry split op. with the US Army Reserves as a combat engineer. And I joined the Army because I wanted to serve something higher than just a paycheck, I wanted my job and my life to have meaning and with the influence of comic books and knights of the round table stories and Conan the military seemed the place that still had that code of conduct, a sense of duty, a sense of honor. EF: And was there military family, like history of military in the family? CW: My grandfathers both served, but otherwise no. EF: What was Basic Training and AIT like for you? CW: It was fun, I enjoyed the physical challenge, I enjoyed the camaraderie, and I enjoyed just the suck of it, the grit and the sweat. EF: And where did you do your training? CW: Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri. EF: And what was your, well I guess you said you went to in-between this, how did that effect kind of your college life? CW: Yeah, I attend Campbell University while I was in the reserves for three years or two years. I wasn’t focused on college I was focused on being a soldier. The only class I focused on was ROTC, I wasn’t disciplined enough, I focused on the things I enjoyed and ignored the things I �didn’t. Which cost me, at least it cost my parents, financially, but I wasn’t focused or ready for college. EF: So when you decided to go active Army what kind of support did you have at home, I guess your parents supported you in that decision? CW: I was married at the time; I got married while I was in school. They did support me in the decision but the biggest thing I needed became no longer about the duty and serving I needed the paycheck, so. EF: And where was your first duty assignment? CW: Ft. Carson Colorado in the 299th Engineer Battalion part of the 4th Infantry Division. EF: At that time what was your ambition for your Army career? CW: I determined in the 6th grade I was going to be in the Army, in the 9th grade I was going to be at least a Sergeant First Class in the Special Forces, and by my junior year of high school I determined I was going to have the SMI, Senior Military Instructor position at Appalachian State University. Those views didn’t change and now, I am, I did the E-7 Special Forces in under 10 years and I am currently the SMI at Appalachian State University. EF: How did you go about accomplishing those goals? CW: First off identify where you want to get to and what it takes to qualify for that. As the simple answer it really came down to just doing focusing on not just the evaluation but focusing on the mission focusing on the job do the best you can. That enabled me to get the assignments that I wanted to include this one because of a good reputation, work ethic. EF: So when was the first time you were deployed? CW: To a combat zone or just anywhere? EF: I guess both. CW: First time I deployed anywhere overseas would be in 2000 I went to Thailand for the first time with the 1st Special Forces group. And combat would have been in fall of ’04 with 1st group I went to Afghanistan. EF: How many times since those instances have you been deployed? Obviously as Special Forces you probably have a long list. CW: I guess about 16 - 17 times. EF: Now you said you’re with Special Forces when did you decide or when in your career did you put for Special Forces? How was that a change from your other active duty lifestyle? �CW: I had made the decision while I was still down at Ft. Benning Georgia as an E5, I had been in about four years. I had always wanted to be SF but because I was married it was not a single decision, my wife had to agree. I was so miserable with the current assignment that’s when she agreed then at Ft. Brag I was in the 37th Engineer Battalion Combat Airborne and that’s when the final put in the packet went in and that was in ‘97or ’98 something like that when I went to selection. As far as what was the second part of the question? EF: How has that been different from your other active duty? CW: The level of individual responsibility is much higher. You’re surrounded by professionals even though in the Army there are professionals everywhere the metrics wise when you look at IQ, test scores, PT scores are all high in SF. And so that was what drew me to it, the family support is much better as well. The trips usually have meaning, a lot more meaning to it, at least I think all the trips have meaning for everybody it’s just I was more aware and had more influence into how we conducted our business down range, how we conducted our training on a day to day basis. The amount of influence I had in that was much more than we had in conventional units. And the missions are not just your typical wartime mission kick in the door shoot someone in the face kind of stuff. It’s more of a, you know I’ve built school, medical treatment, pulled teeth in Mongolia, teaching working with the border police in Thailand, or developing a recondo unit in Nepal, or dealing with stuff in Cambodia, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, wherever it seems to have more relevance, whether that’s true or not you would have to ask someone else. It seemed to me that we had a lot more relevance and impact on how we implemented our foreign policy. EF: Kind of going off that, what can you tell me about the different times that you’ve that you have deployed some of the different things you have experienced in those situations. CW: The bulk of the time has been in the role as teacher, with different skill sets, not teaching English, but teaching small unit tactics, marksmanship, first aide, staff organization, planning is the bulk of it. And the second part? EF: Just what can you tell me about your different deployments and... CW: The coolest part is living and working with the people your training in the different culture. I was inducted as a member of a tribe and lived out in the jungle for a while in a place and then eating their food, immersing yourself in their culture. Whether that’s dealing with the different tribal conflicts in Afghanistan or the social inequity that some tribes have in Thailand and Cambodia or seeing the perspective of the insurgency going on in Nepal from the viewpoint of a Nepalese soldier. That interest me and I really enjoyed that part, those type missions and how they train, how they live, what they eat, what they wear that’s always been the big thing, the big take back from those trips whether we’re working for the DEA or some other government agency. �EF: Has there ever been a time that you’ve feared you weren’t going to make it home and how have you overcome those situations. CW: Faith is how you overcome, yes lots of times; you know the big concern was not with me coming home just because before you leave you have to make sure everything is straight that way you don’t have to worry about it. My biggest concern was with my soldiers not coming home. As far as every time I’ve been in a situation where it’s pretty likely that I was going to be dead or die it never really affected me a whole lot, a lot of that is based on my faith. I know, I am a Christian, I know what is going to happen when I die, I understand the procedures that are involved with that and the accountability I’ll have to have, and I accept it. And the big concern is with, with your soldiers. Have you trained them hard enough? Are you giving them correct guidance? Are you making the right call at the time? Now whenever it’s actually in the midst of combat you’re not thinking through, you’re concerned with that, but that’s not what’s in the forefront, you focus on the mission, what’s going on at the time. Because it’s too late to worry about it then, you worry about it ahead of time and you worry about it afterwards, but when you’re in those situations you’re just focused on what’s going on. EF: And talking about the current conflict that we’re in... CW: Which one? EF: In the Middle East. CW: Okay, which one? EF: (laughs) I guess the one that’s at the forefront, or two, the ones that are at the forefront of the civilian world’s mind I guess, would be like Iraq and Afghanistan. How do you see the military’s, or how, from your perspective how are the military operations there going and kind of what can you tell us about what is going on over there? CW: Okay. I think the military has fairly well identified that this is a long-term fight. As far as the conflicts in relation to the legitimacy of the government of Iraq or the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan it’s in a transition mode between being a military operation and being a state department operation. There is always going to be some push, pull there as you have differing viewpoints, but from a military stand point I think they have conceptually a good plan. But that really depends on how that is facilitated by the government, our government, as well as the governments of the host countries. And then if we’re able to follow through then great; however, that is dependent upon Commander in Chief and a lot of that comes down to the will of the people. Their view points as expressed in the vote, as expressed by their chosen representatives in Congress, to whether we follow through with the long term plan or not. As far as the War on Terrorism I think we’ve been very successful, worldwide terrorism has gone down by 98% since we’ve invaded Afghanistan and Iraq which shows a direct correlation between those two events �and when those terrorist activities fell off. So as far as keeping the fight over there I think we’ve been very effective denying them safe haven and disrupting their command and control system. EF: So I guess, I’m sure you’ve changed since the years when you first enlisted so if you could, like if you could see your 18 year old self who just enlisted in the Army, what are some of the changes you would notice right off the bat and what’s some advice you give somebody who is think about enlisting or just enlisted? How has the army shaped your worldview I guess? CW: Well, a couple, as far as personal changes patience, I’m much more patient now. Everything had to happen right then or I would get upset. Self-discipline has greatly increased, self-accountability has greatly increased, and part of that is the burden of leadership but a lot of it is due to maturity, holding myself accountable for what I do or fail to do. I realize now that thick skin as far as, should only apply outwardly, we should be thin skinned when it comes to our job, our performance and the example we set. I understand now much better that it’s not just me, everything I do represents something bigger, represents my family, my faith, my job, the US Army. Part of that came from being the only American in an area during my time. That, being accountable to others, holding myself accountable is one of the big changes. As far as how, the world is much smaller now for me, I keep a much broader view. The number one thing that’s changed, the biggest thing that’s changed is I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore. Those little things that get, tend to get people all worked up, I appreciate simple things. Being able to lay down in my own bed, having a warm meal, not having people try to kill you (laughs). So if the weather is a little bad or I get a flat tire I don’t get near as upset anymore cause those are minor things, the important things are God, family, and country and anything else is an enhancement to that. EF: I guess as part of our, you know we’re talking about military history, we talk a lot about battles and historical battles, can you, I guess as much as you can, can you talk to me about some of the combat situations that you’ve been in? Would there be too much sensor...? CW: No, I think one of the big, everybody always asks about the combat piece and it seems to ignore a lot of the, the majority of your time is not spent in combat; you’re in a combat area. I’ve probably been exposed more than most in the actual; you know, kill or be killed side of it. So on that, I don’t know, it seems it’s just another mission that bad things happened. It’s a, you just see some horrible stuff that you can’t see; you can’t unsmell like people burning, it’s just a smell unlike anything else. But that’s, the bulk of the time though like we’re living with the tribes to try and get them to take control of their own lives. Seeing, I was thankful once for saving a soldier, he had his wife make me something to give to me and I’ve had that happen several times, and that’s the kind of stuff you really, really means something cause once you get out there as Special Forces you work with indigenous personnel. So it’s not necessarily working with US soldiers all the time and developing that trust, that brotherhood, that camaraderie means a lot and a lot of that is tempered by, by combat. �Everybody seems to react to it a little different, some people get amped up like they’re going to power life or get in a boxing ring or something like that. Fortunately most the time I’ve seen it been on the planning side, we intended to go in there and do something, but there were many times where you know it just started happening around you. Me personally I tend to get real, I’ve been told, I’m real calm. Whatever it is seems like everything moves real slow, I'm able to communicate what I need done and maintain the big picture; then afterwards is kind of when you get the jumps from the adrenaline. And, I, I’m not the best guy to ask on that, I’ve had the honor of serving with heroes who do amazing things on the battlefield, some of them will never come home. And those are the kind of people you should probably ask those kind of questions. For me it was do the mission, I just happened to be with some outstanding soldiers and some American heroes and that’s why I’m here. That’s combat, being able to serve with those and doing my best to do my part. EF: Thank you for sharing that. I guess the last kind of final, I’ll try to be on a lighter note, what has been the most fun thing you’ve done in the Army or your favorite thing you’ve done in the Army? Then what has been your most rewarding thing you’ve done in the Army? CW: The training is the most fun, the jumping out of airplanes, the swimming in from over the horizon, finning in, the skiing the snowmobiling, the four-wheeling, the driving schools, the shooting, the blowing stuff up that’s all fun stuff. Training with the team down range in different countries, Nepal, had a blast there, except for the chow, chow sucked. And then the most rewarding is, we set up or we were approached by some of the elders in Chamkani, Afghanistan, they wanted to set up a school for girls. And the bulk of the people supported it; however, it was strongly opposed by the Taliban. We didn’t dictate it or delegate it or any of those things or even suggest it was coming up for them, but we did decide to aide them, so we pulled, we got it to where the locals agreed to let the girls stay in school, they weren’t allowed to have a building, but they were allowed to have a tent. And once they hit twelve they could no longer attend because then they would be the age of marrying, they would be married soon thereafter. But, during that brief time they were allowed to be educated so we pulled security cause they threatened to kill all of the girls as well as the families of the men who sent the girls there. So enabling that school to get going was one of the most rewarding. EF: Well thank you for your time and consent to this interview, I do appreciate it. CW: Ride on. � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/8af5bb49a351a4eb3045a862318a74a4.mp3 fd892772f424b4ccd37bec95267ee362 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Appalachian State University American Military History Course Veterans Oral History Project Description An account of the resource Each semester, the students of the American Military History Course at Appalachian State University conduct interviews with military veterans and record their military experiences in order to create an archive of oral history interviews that are publicly accessible to researchers. The oral histories are permanently available in the Appalachian State University Special Collections. The project is supervised by Dr. Judkin Browning, Associate Professor of History at Appalachian State University and all interviews are transcribed by the student interviewers. Copyright Notice: Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project’s audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, University Archives and Records, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Freemyer, Evan Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:12:40 Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound. 6 pages Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with Chalk Wetmore, 12 October 2011 Subject The topic of the resource Veterans Wetmore, Chalk United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Chalk Wetmore, Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, was born on August 17, 1972. In this interview, Chalk Wetmore says that his reasons for joining the military were because he wanted his job and life to have meaning. He goes on to discuss his experience at basic training as well as his experience in active duty. His deployments overseas include time in Cambodia, Afghanistan, Thailand, and other areas as well. Wetmore also gives his take on the War in Iraq and Afghanistan. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10/12/11 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Language A language of the resource English Afghanistan Chalk Westmore Evan Freemyer US Army War in Afghanistan War in Iraq