1 50 1 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/72738ed39724bfa07650a6f9b4e5ce5c.pdf 94d71c3c7ef3553b285167cb222e62a6 PDF Text Text Transcript of oral history interview with Spc. Nathan Hester by Mark Vanburen March 13, 2011 Boone,NC Mark Vanburen: Hi this is mark vanburen and we are going to doing an interview today with Specialist Nathan Hester. It is March the 13th at 6:46 pm we are located at my house in Boone .. . So Nathan tell us a little bit about why joined the military? Nathan : I joined the military because I felt that it was my duty as an American to help my country and there pursuit... in the war on terror Mark: ok, well what exactly do you do in the military? What is your military occupation specialty? Nathan : My military occupation specialty is a 19 delta, cavalry scout. We specialize in reconnaissance of the enemy as far as collecting intell on where high value target are were they operate the trafficking of weapons and also explosive materials Mark: ok, are you National Guard, Active duty or Reserves Nathan : I'm part of the north Carolina national guard I'm in the 30th heavy brigade combat team, part of the 1-1 oth combined arms battalion headquarter and headquarters company .. Scout platoon Mark: roger that... what... excuse me .. have you ever been deployed to a combat zone? Nathan : yes I have ... I was deployed to FOB ST. Michaels in Maumudiyah Iraq about fifteen miles southwest of Baghdad from 2009-2010 Mark: and what exactly was mission when you were overseas? Nathan : our mission specialized in counter lED missions and observation posts on where high value targets were and a lot of.. activity were lED's were placed that were .. that we got from intel gathered by our company Mark: now what is an lED? Nathan : an lED is an improvised explosive device usually made .. put together from .. anything from a small home made explosive .. consisting of C4 or other chemicals ... mixed with things around the house as far as marbles and nails, rocks up to ... artillery rounds wired together in order to detonate and explode and inflict causalities on whom ever the terrorist decide to . Mark: now did .. when you were over in Iraq did you ever see an lED come across one did did any of them ever explode while you around it Nathan : I personally never came in contact with an lED I was actually in my home in Shelby, Norh Carolina on R&R from my deployment for two weeks when my platoon was hit by an lED �Mark: and in any of the missions you did looking for IEDS you never ... yall your platoon never found them you, never answered any calls to have them exploded or anything like that? Nathan :... yeah we did ... we ... we worked with a lot with the air force EOO attachment to our FOB and we ... were called out multiple times in order to investigate possible lED and .. sightings of lEOs Mark: ... could you explain for everybody exactly what EOO stands for? Nathan : EOO stands for Explosive ordnance disposal and its ... part of the military that specializes in.. explosives and the disposal of them . As far as using they have a lot of ... technology that they use a lot .. of infrar.~ d ... technology ,robotics and stuff in order to gather .. intell on possible lEOS and IEDS like when there called out they'll usually send the robot forward and check out the lED and .. place .. C4 near the lED in order to detonate it and so nobody has to physically get close the lED . Mark: ok .. so ... how was everyday living like overseas? Would you say it was good or bad? Nathan : it was actually ... not that bad . I didn't think it was as bad as it was going to be . We actually ... we were in tents that were covered with ... insulated type of foam and that allowed our tents to have electricity wired to them to give them ... air condition ing and stuff like that .. we had bathroom trailers and shower tra ile rs. Our chow hall wasn't that good, the food wasn't that great but we were on a smaller FOB and most of the cooks we had in our chow hall didn't really ... weren't really the best at there jo b but you know we got a lot of care packages from our families and friends and the USO and other organizations that like to help out solders during deployment so we were able to have our own food and stuff like that. We ... as far as we had electricity you know so we were able to you know ... buy a couple of TVs from ... off the internet or from the PX on base and hook them up in our tent so we can watch movies and play games and stuff like that there in our downtime when we weren't outside the wire running missions. Mark: So what would you say would be one of you' re the best experience you had in your ... tour of combat? Nathan: I' d say the best experience I had was ... doing some OPs, observation posts, along the ... Route Jackson which is one of the main alternate supply routes in through Mahmudiyah and Iraq and we actually leading up the OPs we had to dismount our humvees and walk into our position and I was ... assigned the position of point man for those missions so it was pretty much my job to navigate the squad through the terrain in order to get to our observation post so we could hunker down and begin to ... gather intel on the enemy. Mark: So what about that experiences with observation ... posts was so rewarding? Anything in particular? Nathan : Well again the ... experience as far as ... and a little bit of leadership not as far as leading the entire movement from the officer's standpoint of the squad. But as far as being the pointman and having to call out ... you know having the responsib ility of calling out anything you see and taking it upon yourself to ... keep the people behind you safe you pretty much have to be on your toes at all times and �make sure that you accomplish your mission ... as far as being in the OPs and ... gathering intel on the enemy is that' s the job I signed up to do so I get a great sense of pride from it so ... being out there at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning for several hours at a time ... looking through infrared sights ... watching for movement and people trafficking anything in or trying to plant lEOs is ... very rewarding. Mark: Now if you don't mind explain to us what was one of the worst days you had in Iraq or worst experiences? Nathan : I have to say the worst experience was ... when my platoon got hit by an lED and I was actually not in Iraq. So I wasn't there to be able to be there for support for my platoon during that time. Luckily, nobody got hurt and ... that's a blessing to our platoon and the people other part of our platoon . That really hit me hard when I couldn't be there ... for my brothers when ... something like that happens. Mark: how did it feel when you returned back to the United States after ... what was it, ten month deployment? Nathan : yea, right about ... a little over ten months. Yea, it felt great. It was great, came back with ... great sense of pride in yourself and your ... your unit and your country and helping fight the War on Terrorism and going over there and working hard day in and day out to do the best you can . It felt great coming back and having all the ... gratitude from people and respect from people. Having people come up to you and say thank you ... thank you for your service and ... it felt really good . It gives you a lot of confidence and it really it's really a great self esteem boost when you come back. Mark: Now that you're back what are your current goals and ambitions with the military and how would you have described your experience in the military so far? Nathan : my current goals in the military are to finish school ... stay in the national guard and finish college and get my four year degree and then apply to officer candidate school for active duty and graduate from officer candidate school and get my commission as an officer and go onto be an officer in the military and have a long rewarding career. As far as ... my experience in the military so far ... it's been up and down there' s always down times and good times. As far as the training you get and ... sometimes the training you gets great and sometimes you don't understand why you're having to do what you do but it all has a purpose even if the purpose isn't seen right then and there at all. It's all positive and sometimes you don't feel like you have the best leadership and that might be the case sometimes but that's when you just have to ... band together with your ... your brothers and keep working ... and accomplish a mission. So I' d have to say that my experience so far in the military has been very rewarding and positive . Mark: is there anything else that you'd like to say about your military experiences ... before we end this interview? Nathan : No, I think I pretty much said alii needed to say. Mark: Ok well once again this is Mark VanBuren interviewing SPC Nathan Hester on March 13. Thank you. � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/6f265216dbe2f6b677471131b022553c.mp3 7698ca83cef3f44d7380954eecce5d35 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. Hester, Nathan Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Vanburen, Mark Interview Date 3/13/11 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:12:35 File name 2013_063_Hester_Charles_interview 2013_063_Hester_Nathan_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 Nathan Hester, 13 March 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vanburen, Mark Hester, Nathan 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. 3 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Subject The topic of the resource Hester, Nathan Veterans Iraq War, 2003-2011 Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Nathan Hester joined the military to serve his country and fight in the War on Terrorism. He was a cavalry scout serving in the National Guard and was deployed for ten months in Iraq. His primary job there was counter IED missions. Cavalry Scout IED Maumudiyah Iraq National Guard War on Terrorism