1 50 1 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/743715ab18c5681888859a72b26a6ff1.pdf e7e50c5bb928a09ba1a8992c8c75a43d PDF Text Text Zachary Curtis American Military History Dr. Browning 10/17/201 1 MYSELF: I am here with Lieutenant Colonel David Cox, Professor of Military Science for Appalachian State University. Good afternoon sir how are you? COLONEL COX: I'm doing just fine thank you. MYSELF: Would you state your name and rank for the record please sir. COLONEL COX : David W. Cox. Lieutenant Colonel United States Army. MYSELF: And what branch are you sir? COLONEL COX: I'm Infantry. MYSELF: Alright. How long have you been in the service for sir? COLONEL COX : Right around 22 years. MYSELF: And the date and place of this interview is October 3rd and is in the office of Lieutenant Colonel. Sir what year did you get commissioned? COLONEL COX : 1989. MYSELF: And why did you choose to join the United States Army sir? COLONEL COX : Well growing up I always wanted to be in the military: Originally I wanted to go into the marines because a lot my cousins were in the marines. But I went to co llege instead of enlisting right out of high school and found out they had an army rote program up here so I guess that's why I ended up in the army instead of the marines. MYSELF : Hooah sir. Why did you pick the specific branch and service sir? COLONEL COX : Well like I said when I came up to Appalachian all they had was an army rote so that kind of narrowed my choices down to army. For the branch, just watched a lot of movies and heard war stories as a kid I guess and just infantry was what I always wanted to do and I was fortunate enough to get my first choice of branch. MYSELF: Hooah sir. What do you recall from your first days in the service being like? COLONEL COX : Well I guess my first real exposure to the service was leaders training course at Fort Knox because I came into the rote program late. I took one class as a sophomore and to become a junior I had to go to LTC and back then it was more like basic training and all the drill sergeants and everything yelling and screaming at you when you showed up. It was pretty intimidating but I knew millions of people before me had done it and figured if they could do it so could I so yea that was pretty much it. MYSELF : Did you go to LDAC like the rest of us sir? COLONEL COX: Yes after LTC I came back and went to my junior year here at Appalachian and then I went to what we use to call it advanced camp and it was down at Fort Bragg, North Carolina but it was very similar to what you guys do now MYSELF: And what was that like for you sir? COLONEL COX : Well, it was kind of interesting being in all the different leadership positions. Trying to be a good follower when you're not in a leadership position. Just it really helped being in a strong program here because I had the confidence to get up in front of my other peers and be in charge and do the th ings I needed to do. It was a pretty challeng ing experience, not challenging physically perse but just being in a leadership position and trying to make sure you did the right thing . �MYSELF: Do you have any moments or images that stand out from advanced camp sir? COLONEL COX : I guess one of the most difficult th ings that happened to me at advanced camp was the first week we were doing rifle marksmanship and I jumped down into the fighting position and rolled my ankle on a sand bag and it ballooned up and they were going to send me home and I told them no I wasn 't going to go home so I just had to do the road march and everything else with my ankle black and blue about the size of a cantaloupe but after a couple days it got back to normal. that's one of my biggest challenges was the fear of having to go home. MYSELF: Hooah sir. Did you find that that kind of prepared you for infantry life? The pushing through pain, pushing through or just in general did you find that that helped you sir? COLONEL COX: It did help me. There is a point where you have to push through discomfort and physical pain to some extent but its very important to know the difference between an injury and just being in discomfort I guess I should say. They said I couldn 't injure that ankle anymore by walking on It so it was already as sprained as it was going to be so I just kept going and that was about it on that topic. MYSELF: Yes sir. What was your BOLC like? Wh ich is Basic Officer Leadership Course. COLONEL COX : Yes and then it was just called Infantry Officer Basic Course or depending on wh ich branch you chose. You showed up you were treated like an officer which was a new experience. You were as far as the NCOs and everyone was saluting you and calling you sir, but it was a little bit similar to camp i guess you could say. One day you were in a leadership position the next day you were a follower but they really expected you to learn there was a lot of classroom stuff and then practical application of what you learned in the classroom and it came at you pretty fast and furtous and you had to study at night if you wanted to do well. I mean some of us did some guys were were just naturals i guess but most of us had to study at night and prepare ourself for the next days events so it was just i guess. The biggest thing for me was being called sir by all these NCOs who had been in the army five, six, seven years and they were calling you sir and I was getting a pay check wh ich is a pretty big deal I guess that was the biggest adjustment for me. MYSELF: What was it like transitioning from being a student and being involved in the army to being full time yo ur main focus was in the army sir? COLONEL COX : Well for me it was pretty easy I guess. You know went to school up here had a great time goofed off too much in some ways. But once it was time to go to work start getting the pay check I was able to fl ip that switch in my head and realize that I had signed up for something that was bigger than me and it was a tot of responsibility and I wanted to learn and become as proficient and competent as I could because I was going to be charge of 30 muldoons, or 30 plus in my first platoon that I was going to get and i knew that I was the guy that they were all going to be looking to for the answers and know what I was suppose to be doing and i didn't want to embarrass myself or ASU ROTC or the Army. I wanted to be competent and confident and do the right th ing for those troopers that I was going to be in charge of so I was able to flip that switch pretty easi ly. �MYSELF: Could you go into detail about what your first days actually getting to your first unit were like sir? The adrenalin rush; nerve of being an officer in front of leading men like that sir. COLONEL COX : Well to be perfectly honest I had really had some good instructors in my ROTC class and they went over some of their first experiences and especially first time they would lead their troops in a field training exercise or PT. And they told me stories about how CPT Nickson was and instructor while I was here. He's now retired and work ing a contracting job for the marine corps, but how he studied at night and go out into the training area on the weekends to try to learn the area so he was very confident and competent and could find his way around and wouldn 't get lost and did all those things on his own, on his own time. And I really took his advice and some other people gave me similar advice and I really took it to heart so anytime I knew I was going to be up in front of troops or be in charge of something particular that I could prepare myself for I would use the weekend or the afternoon to really I guess study, rehearse and get in front of the mirror at home by myself and try to prepare myself the best I could so that when I got up in front of the troops I wouldn 't be stumbling on my words or making mistakes. I mean everyone makes mistake occasionally but I always tried to prepare myself as in advance as much as possible so I could be, not make a lot of mistakes when I was out in front of the soldiers because they expect you to be competent and they expect you to have the answers and if you don't you lose their confidence so I'm not saying I never made mistakes, but I really prepared myself in my own time as much as I could. And I found by preparing myself it made me more confident so I was less nervous because I knew what i had to do because I had rehearsed it so much on my own time. And that really gave me confidence to stand up in front of them and give orders and directions and to be in charge and because I was confident it gave my troops, it made them believe in me and trust me so its kind of a reciprocal type relationship. So I hope I've answered that question. MYSELF : Yes sir. Moving on to some of possible combat you 've seen, what conflict or wars have you been involved in or seen action in sir? COLONEL COX : Okay the only conflict I have been directly involved in was I was deployed to Iraq first. First time in 2003 when the first invasion kicked off and then I went back in 2009 as a, actually 2010, as a transition team leader. So those were my two combat tours. MYSELF: What were yo ur specific assignments or jobs upon you r arrive for those deployments sir? COLONEL COX : Well for my first tour in Iraq I was assigned to the 101st and I was coming out of Korea and I got there just as the division was deploying so I really didn't get to meet anybody in the unit. I stayed back for about two weeks cause I got there as they were already flying out into theater and I had to go fort benning georgia to a rep lacement depot for lack of a better word . They gave us about a two week train up on the things they thought we needed to know . There was a list of tasks we be trained in or proficient in before we deployed. So when I got to theater in Kuwait about two weeks behind the rest of the division but the invasion had not kicked off yet so they were still behind the berms in Kuwait. And I was told I was going to be assigned as a battle major on the division headquarters, the TOC floor. So I was going to be one of the guys with �the twelve hour shift running the TOC there for the 101st. So that was my first assignment. MYSELF : And for your second assignment sir? COLONEL COX: I hadn't deployed in a while so I was due so I was told I would be a transition team leader or I could volunteer for several assignments but I volunteered for that one. So I was with an advise and assist brigade, actually the first advise and assist brigade that deployed ever to Iraq with 1st brigade of the 82nd and that was in 2010. Got back just. joined the unit when they were on block leave. They had just finished their mission rehearsal exercise at JRTC and we had about a month and half to get trained and get ready and deploy over there. As a transition team leader I was in charge of the border transition team so we advised a division. region headquarters of the 2nd region headquarters of the Iraqi border forces and actually 3 points of, actually 4 points of entry. I had 5 transitions teams that worked for me at the brigade level and the points of entry that were actually marine teams so it was actually pretty challenging I was on the road a lot. MYSELF : You said you got to choose between several possibilities for your 2010 deployment, what made you specifically pick that one sir? COLONEL COX: I don't know if it was a possibility for a deployment but it was just a list of jobs that were available for lieutenant colonels. And there was one advise and assist brigade that was with the big red one out at fort Riley kansas and one with the 82nd and the 82nd was just the unit I'd rather have served in so I volunteered to be a transition team leader with the 82nd. There were a couple other opportunities with rapid equipping force and some other things but I wanted to , I guess for lack of a better word get to a unit that may see some action have more direct involvement, there in theater so thats why volunteered to be a transition team leader and I just preferred the 82nd over the big red one so I choose that particular assignment. MYSELF: And just so we understand what exactly does a transition? COLONEL CO X: A transition team? There's a lot of different make ups of them the team I was on had 5 field grade officers myself and 4 majors and then we had a security element from an infantry unit that was attached to us to provide security and mobility and get us around the battlefield. And our job is to advise. train and sometimes go out with and actually do operations with the unit we 're assigned to. There were transition teams that dealt with the army, there were transition teams that dealt with the police and there were transition teams that dealt with the border forces and that happened the one I was selected for based on my background and experiences they decided that that job would be more possible combat and more deploying out to the field . A lot more convoys a lot more tactical movements and they wanted an infantry or a combat arms officer in charge of that team so thats how I was selected to be in charge of the border team. MYSELF : What do you remember upon your arriving on those deployments? What was it like? Your. what you thought it was going to be like verses what reality turned out to be like sir? COLONEL COX : I guess I didn't have any, too many preconceived notions. I had seen all the movies and talked to a lot of veterans. When I came in the army there were still a few vietnam veterans around and they shared some of their experiences especially at ranger school and some of the infantry units I was in and my first couple of tours with those veterans. there weren't many of those veterans around but there were a couple �and they shared their experiences. Obviously Iraq turned out to be very different from vietnam in many ways but it was very interesting. I joined the unit the first deployment with the 101 st and came in with the replacement batch they moved in to theater. We didn't know exactly what to expect they moved us into these basically called them circus tents but they were just big tents they housed people in with wooden floors and coots down there and you just were assigned a coot and a tent and and we stayed there for about a week and a half before we actually crossed the berm . I remember the night before, or the evening before we crossed the berm they had a big meal for us which I thought was pretty interesting actually. They had steak and lobster. Kind of like they didn't know what to expect so they wanted to make sure we had a good meal that could possibly be our last. So everyone had the steak and lobster meal and even though we were in the 101 st we didn't fly in or air assault in. We loaded on the trucks and moved behind the 3rd infantry division who was spearheading the efforts up to, moving up through, eventually up to Bagdad but you know moving north from kuwait up through Iraq . And we followed behind them , probably several hours behind them in trucks and basically we were just trying to keep up at that point because they didn't meet a whole lot of resistance and there was large masses of, large chu nks of unoccupied land just desert out there that we would just drive through but you know but we were in a tactical convoys and everybody is expecting to get hit so everybody is facing their weapons out and doing all the convoy battle drills but there wasn 't a lot of resistance. So we went all the way up to bagdad and occupied a big weapons factory which was pretty interesting. That we had been there and could see where the apache helicopters had came in and had whipped out all the tanks and BMPs and infantry vehicles that were in town. It was amazing to me that they were able to take out these tanks between buildings just very narrow alleys with the hellfire missiles and not even damage the buildings around them . You 'd just see a little hole in the tank where the missile had burned through the armor and had just burned up the inside of the tank. Without looking closely you would think it was still serviceable until you got close enough to see the little holes and where the hellfire missiles had went in. But then we went up after about two weeks in Bagdad we went north towards Mosul and one of the infantry battalions actually had a pretty, brigade actually, employed a battalion and a half into a pretty decent engagement in Najaf. And I wasn 't directly involved in that being involved with battalion headquarters but that, was pretty interesting to listen to over the rad io. MYSELF: So when you, could you talk about compari ng those two deployments? What w similar? What you found the differences between the two of them were? COLONEL COX : The first deployment, basically after the initial invasion the Iraqi army pretty much disintegrated and went away. There were pockets of resistance a lot of them were militias and re ligious fanatics and different things. You know we would catch some mortars and some rockets occasionally on our FOBs but most of the resistance , there wasn 't really an Iraqi force we just started standing them up. The new Iraqi police force and the new army and all those types of things. When I went back several years later they had made a lot of progress and had stood up the actual Iraqi police force and the Iraqi army and there was an Iraqi coast guard and air force and those types of things and we were working with them instead of us. That was the biggest difference to me working hand in hand side by side with the Iraqi security forces to help them get better and help them do their jobs and try to push them out front so that we weren 't �necessarily taking a leading role we were taking a supporting role and I guess the Iraqi security forces were basically non existent in my first deployment and during the second deployment it was all about getting them prepared to take over when we left. MYSELF: Did you find that hard to reel in that pack of wolves? You know, you're leading a group of men who are alpha personalities and to have them . COLONEL COX: Oh it was extremely challenging . Some of the transition teams saw very, a lot of the infantry soldiers were just securing bases and weren't really going out and doing many missions and that lead to a lot of issues. Not issues but just these men were trained for combat, expected to go to combat and they were on edge and a lot of them were confined to camps and you always had to be alert and visual and we still took rockets and mortars and those types of things but they didn't have a direct combat role in many cases. The unit I was with the border forces we on the road you know about two to five days a week every week almost and we were doing a lot of convoys and we had to stay vigilant and we actually were never hit with any IEDs or any direct fire but a lot of other convoys in adjacent areas and before and after us on the roads were hit so we couldn't let our guard down. And we actually stayed on the Iraqi compound and they had a little safe house basically that they gave to the american forces that the transition team before me had used and we had hesko barriers around it, big sand filled wire cages for lack of a better word if you don't know what hesko, is with constantine wire and we had to maintain a guard. We felt pretty secure inside the Iraqi compound. We were pretty confident that most of these guys were on the up and up and didn't wish us any harm but we could never truly let our guard completely down. That was my biggest fear was my guys were going to get complacent so I had to keep hammering home security and discipline and staying ready for anything at any time cause even though we didn't have any incidents there we re, we had a couple times where we thought we were going to have an incident and turned out not to I don't know if it was because we were alert and they didn't see a weakness they could come after or just because they didn't intend to do us any harm we don't know but we didn 't want to give anybody the opportunity to do us any harm . MYSELF: What were some methods you employed to keep your men from becoming stagnant or co mplacent? COLONEL COX : Myself and the sergeant first class who were in charge I made them stand watches at night and augment some of the patrols just so, and I preached to them hey don't let your guard down. We had SOPs that we were very rigorous myself and sergeant first class not to let our standards go lax. We didn't care how calm things seemed , we would enforce the standard you know hey before we get off the tracks you gotta have somebody on security before we get off the MRAPs and before we occupy the house and start moving our stuff in we were going to stay for a couple nights that we occupy the strong points and the gates to make sure it was secure. Everybody carried loaded weapons, locked and loaded the entire time so you know even on the Iraqi compound just so you know just to maintain that combat vigilance and alertness and just continue to hammering home making everybody when they went out one of my officers wanted to go do a KLE with their particular counterpart made them take security with them at least one soldier who was always to remain vigilant and to keep his weapon with him , we all kept our weapons with us but while the officer or senior NCO was doing their key leader engagement or having an interaction with their counterpart �you know there was always one person designated to just be security to just keep watching and looking and keep their eyes open and not give anybody the opportunity to catch us with our guard down. MYSELF: So did you see any direct combat or did your unit take any casualties on either of your deployments? COLONEL COX: The division when I was with the 101st on my first deployment took eighty, I think eighty eight casualties. Eighty eight killed actually, casualties was quiet a few more. I didn't ever have to pull the trigger. There were a lot of times where we took rockets or mortars you know on our positions but not sustain, usually just a few rounds here or there. RPGs fired at some of our sleeping quarters from vehicles going down the road but me personally I never pulled the trigger. The closest I came to combat in that particular situation working in a division headquarters was rockets and mortars and RPGs fired indiscriminately into our perimeter and standing in the chow line one day we waiting to eat at the defact or mess hall and we started taking mortar rounds and one guy, everybody else laid on the ground and one guy just took off running and just, fate I don't know what it was but he ran right into a mortar it landed right on top of him and exploded and he was about 50 yards from us when he took off running . We don't know what possessed him to take off running he should have just hit the ground but he was pretty much killed instantly on the spot and so thats probably the closest I came to combat in the first deployment. Second deployment once again mostly indirect fire . Couple times some rockets impacted in some fields close to where I was walking and a couple of times I was, during convoys, we were always vigilant for IEDs we spotted a couple but none ever exploded on us. We marked them and sealed them off and waited until the EOD got there and provided security for them until we moved on. And then I guess probably the only time closest i came to combat was or even being felt threatened was in the Iraqi compound we were staying in. They there during the heat of the summer they basically worked early in the morning then would sleep or rest or do whatever for four or five hours and start working again that evening and work until late in the night. They had a really strange reverse cycle but I guess it was due to the climatic conditions and the extreme 120, 130 degree temperatures and lack of air conditioning that there was a cultural thing that they got up early, worked in the morning , basically slept rested did their own thing in the afternoon during the middle of the day and then later that afternoon in the early evening they came back to work and worked until midnight or one or two in the morning sometimes. But my interpreter and I, I was bored I wasn't use to that routine during the day I wanted something to do so my interpreter and I were walking around the compound and we were invited into one of the houses by some off duty soldiers. They were enlisted soldiers and they invited me in for tea and my interpreter said sir you don't have to go but it would really honor them if you went in for tea, that would be a big deal to them they don't get to interact with officers very often, its a little more, its a lot more segregated in their army than it is in ours. So my interpreter and I went in and picked a good seat with our back against the wall just didn't want to let our guard down but we felt pretty comfortable, but they said ah the suns in your eyes so they closed the door and then a couple more came out of the back rooms and came into this room and kind of surrounded us and sitting around us and I just started getting a bad feeling . And I didn't know if these guys were just being friendly or i could see myself on Aljezzera in some video getting my head chopped or �something , so I started undoing the release on my holster for my pistol trying to figure out which door was the best exit and trying to figure out which one I was going to have to shot first if it came to a gun battle and adjust my position where I could easily reach for my pistol my side arm and start shooting kind of like the old clint Eastwood movie, which one are you going to shot first I was trying to figure out which one is the biggest threat and how I was going to get myself and my interpreter out of there but fortunately nothing happened . I don't know if it was because of we didn't let our guard down or because they didn't intend to do anything to start with but yea thats the closest to direct combat that I came MYSELF: Did you find it frustrating to not be able directly engage the enemy and did you find that affected the morale of your men never to have an actual enemy to engage? COLONEL COX: Well some of the soldiers especially had been on the previous deployments where they had seen direct combat, they were more on guard but most of them weren 't too anxious to see it again. It didn't bother them that we didn't have direct combat perse. You know there were a couple that it did. I found that the new guys who had never deployed again they were the ones who were most disappointed in not getting to see any action. And they were very frustrated but that was a lack of experience that they hadn't been there and done that and they felt like it was part of their I guess their manly duties and they had trained for it and the train up they had been with guys who had deployed before when it was really bad over there in 2005, 6 and 7 and there was so much going on and so much combat and they had been their training had revolved around kicking in doors and directly engaging the enemy and direct fire so I found the new guys were the ones who hadn't seen any combat were the ones who were most disappointed by not having done it and we just tried to temper their expectations and tell them look you 'll get another deployment. Go to afghanistan next time around and maybe you 'll get an opportunity to see direct action its not a bad thing you're not seeing direct action so try not to be too disappointed. MYSELF: Yes sir. Shifting fields for a little bit, what are some of the places that the army has taken you or you've traveled in your service time? COLONEL COX: I've been pretty fortunate I've been a lot of different places my first duty station was Hawaii which was over there so I really enjoyed that it was a lot of good training had some commanders and good leaders that I worked for it was a good unit with the 25th infantry division and 114 infantry. The battalion commander was Lieutenant Colonel Kazlan who is now Major General Kalzan who just recently came out of command of the 25th infantry division and the S-3 was Major Jim Hug ans who is now Major General Hugans who is in charge of the division commander for the 82nd so that chain of command over there was pretty stacked had some good quality officers and NCOs and it was a good experience. Boy from a very mediocre middle class up bringing in North Carolina going to Hawaii was pretty exciting. Then I went back to fort Benning georgia for my advanced course now its called, I'm not even sure what its called now but it used to be called the advanced course now its called the career course and then I went to fort Lewis Washington which is up near Seattle which is in the north west and got the opportunity to go to Alaska and different th ings and from there bel ieve it or not I went back to an ROTC assignment at Appalachian State University and then I went to fort Bragg and then spent some time there at fort Bragg and then after Bragg went to �Korea which everybody to ld me don't go its a horrible place terrible time but I actually enjoyed it I had a good time over there and I found it best to try to immerse yourself in the culture and the people and the country or the location your at instead of always going to eat in Korea and most of the soldiers when they were off duty would go to the burger king or the KFC instead of going to the local korean restaurant .Its not necessarily a bad thing but I found it better to try to immerse yourself in the culture of basically the country that you're in. So that you have a better time. after korea i went to fort Campbell which I really enjoyed it was still in the south but it was near Nashville a very nice place then I got fortunate enough to be basically an opportunity to do an exchange officer job in Australia so I spent a little over 2 years in Australia working the 1st infantry division in Australia actually the only active duty division and then from there I went basically to fort Bragg for a coupl e of months and then deployed to Iraq for the second time and after the second rotation I came back to Bragg for a couple months and after that I came up here to appalachian so I've been to some pretty choice assignments and some good locations I've really enjoyed it. MYSELF: As an officer men look up to you. What kind of pressures and stress do you find in your everyday interactions? COLONEL COX : Basically they expect you to be a little different than them as in upholding the standard . Strong ethically and morally and the leaders that make mistakes that you know do stupid things especially that get them in trouble that their soldiers see or let the standards down once you basically let the standards down or the soldiers see you with a DUI or getting drunk and stupid or those types of things you lose their trust and faith because they see you basically i hate to say this on a pedestal. If they see you cheating or lying or stealing or doing something its very hard to come down on them you know for doing the same thing so you're being observed 24f7 even off duty. So the things you do you just have to conscious of your environment and who's around but you can't let your guard down they expect you to be professional and mature and in charge basically all the time. I mean yes you can make mistakes, everybody does but you have to be conscious of being observed at all times and always try to be on your best, on your A game. MYSELF: What do you, what are some things to you do to help relieve stress or try and get away from the normal routine? COLONEL COX : Well everybody's got different things, I like physical activities running biking those types of things, competitive events are good and like spending time with peers and friends that are kind of low key that way you can talk without your subordinates necessarily hearing your complain or grip so you just gotta be careful who's around when you do that but thats kinda been my technique for re lieving stress either physical activity or competition or just hanging around with peers people the same rank as you or higher rank than you and that way you can talk honestly and freely without wo rrying about looking bad or complaining in front of your troops. MYSELF : What was that adjustment like to learn the social code of how to conduct yourself in front of your subordinates and what you could or could not do? COLONEL COX : Well i guess it kind of starts here in your ROTC experience, you know I wouldn't want the MS4s to be gripping or complaining in front of the 1s. 2s, or 3s or to be laughing and joking when they're suppose to be serious and competent I think it began here in my ROTC career as you know you have to be conscious of who's around �when you're, you want to say something that may not be considered appropriate as far as maybe complaining about the way things were done or those types of things so I think it began here it just continues through out your time as an officer. MYSELF: How has the time in the service affected your relationships with friends and family ? COLONEL COX: Well I had a lot of great friends in college I'm still friends with some of them and high school but I've lost contact with many of them because I travel so much and over seas and all over the world so you lose touch with a lot of friends except fo r the ones who you're really close to you know its a struggle you have to make an effort to remain friends with the people because you do move every couple of years. I don't want to get too personal but my first wife we were married for 1O years but after I was in fort Bragg i was in some special ops where I was gone pretty much a year then I went to korea unaccompanied for a year then I came back and about 2 weeks later was in iraq for a year after 3 years of being gone my wife decided she'd had enough so I can say the military probably cost me my first marriage but I still don't have any regrets i didn't want to be divorced never planned on getting divorced but once it happens you can't change it but I guess thats the biggest adjustment and family just a lot of long distance phone calls and emails and letters and those types of things to keep the family connections going . MYSELF: Thank you for that sir. Moving on to the closing, what would be some of your best advice to anybody looking to join the military or put their service in? COLONEL COX : To me its been a great experience and it still continues today. You get to travel , you get be in charge, you get a lot of leadership experience and you're only limited by the effort you put into it in most cases, I mean Its hard work, Its a lot of separation. you're away from family and friends many times. But theres a lot of satisfaction in working with folks and seeing them get better and improve and knowing you had a role in it. and accomplishing something that you didn't necessarily know you that you could accomplish. But the biggest advice I would be if you want it you have to go for it and if you commit to it you got to commit 100% and prepare yourself you know every way you can yes theres time to relax and have fun and its been a lot of fun but you got to always if you're going to be in front of troops or bee in charge of something prepare yourself the best you can before the time comes so that you're confident and competent when you're up there in front of troops or in charge so that'd be my best advice to prepare yourself as fully as possible. MYSELF: When you look back at your time serving and leading your men what do you feel is one of, some of the most, some of the actions that have most positively affected them? COLONEL COX : For my soldiers? MYSELF: Yes sir. COLONEL COX: I guess to me it is being fair and the same, upholding standards and not making exceptions yes a lot of soldiers don 't appreciate that initially but when they see you're fair across the board with everybody and you're not making an exception coming down on them they understand and getting to know them taking a personal interest in when they have problems, there are some problems that a low ranking soldier or NCO necessarily doesn't get the attention they deserve in many cases from your personal office or in different things or the chain of command but you as an officer �can intervene and make sure their problems get fixed and really make a difference and try to encourage and motivate the younger soldiers and the young NCOs and learn from the ones who are more experienced than you and see how they do things and I guess my biggest feeling of accomplishment was actually getting to know all my soldiers as best i could taking a personal interest in their welfare and actually helping them when they had problems with pay maybe a for instance one guy had a pay problem he goes into the PAC office and they kind we don't have time for you right now go away you know they don't realize how important it is for a young soldier who's not getting his proper pay so either my NCOs and I've had a lot of good ones or myself would hand walk this soldier down to the PAC and not leave until that soldier got some service, you know not saying your PAC is always bad or wrong but just giving an example but personally intervening and taking a personal interest and taking the time to get to know your soldiers and helping them to grow and develop. MYSELF: Before entering the service and through your experience what would yo u say, how would you say your view of the military has changed? COLONEL COX : Hmm, I'm not sure that its changed a whole lot really cause my father had been in the military and a lot of my family had been in the military so I kind of knew what to expect, umm , I guess the biggest thing I didn't know was the amount of time and effort the good officers and NCOs have to put in to be good, it takes a lot of time to take personal interest in your soldiers and try to get to know them and help them and prepare yourself for when you're in charge always make sure that you're upholding the standards and values and ethics. its a lot of pressure and responsibility probably a little more than I thought but its really not that different from what I expected. MYSELF : Yes sir. You have some distinguished decorations on your uniform : Ranger tab, combat infantry badge, your wings and your parachute. Which one wou ld you say you take most pride in sir? COLONEL COX : Well actually this is not the combat infantry badge , its the expert infantry badge. MYSELF: Excuse me sir. COLONEL COX : No its no problem when I went through iraq the first time I was a division headquarters level you had to be a brigade level to get a CAB and then the second time when i deployed as a transition team leader they had determined Iraq was no longer a combat zone it was a stability or civil operation so troops over there were not qualified for the CAB but i guess all of these are very important to me. the airborne school i went to when i was a cadet rig ht after advanced camp or LDAC and that was a very challenging and fun experience I had a great time first real army school I've been to. thrown in with a bunch of NCOs and enlisted soldiers and basically was treated as an equal we all went through it together except they had to call me sir when i was a lieutenant but i was a cadet then so they didn't have to call me sir air assault was pretty tough in hawaii it was hard to get a slot once you got a slot you just didn't want to come back to your platoon having been to that school as a platoon leader and not get your tab so a little bit of pressure there not to fail but the EIB I guess the most important to me of course the ranger tab but the EIB is me going through it with all my troops as a platoon leader going through the train up out there in the field with them helping each other and getting through all the stations first time go on all stations and earning my EIB and my ranger tab. �MYSELF: Yes sir. How do you feel the experience in the military has altered or helped the way yo u approach life? COLONEL COX : Well fortunately i had a pretty good up bringing mom and dad raised me right and i had good friends and but basically i never quit always give it your best effort and do the best you can and if you do fail or things go wro ng try to learn from it and do better the next time do let it get you, don't stay down for too long life keeps rolling and in the big scheme of th ings people aren't that concerned with in general over whether you fail or succeed but just keep going never quit and if you do fail at something learn from it doing it again and do it right the next time MYSELF : Yes sir. when you get out of the service or looking back what do you hope that the people and have lead say about you? COLONEL COX : Basically that I cared about the soldiers and that I was good at what I did and that I upheld the standards as far as values and ethics and that I was a good soldier. MYSELF : Hooah sir. Is there anything you would like to add that we didn't cover in the interview? COLONEL COX : No I think that just about covers it all . probably a little bit more than you wanted but yea that's all I have. MYSELF: Wonderful, thank you so much for taking the time to see me sir. COLONEL COX : Yep no problem. . MYSELF: This has been interview with Lieutenant Colonel David Cox Professor of Military Science Appalachian State University. � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/b7c77ee258366b151c345bda7634f5b5.wma 16245c34b1bf7f59850053f2c27af04e 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 607 KB 42.4 MB Format, digital MP3 Military Branch military branch (U.S. Army, etc) U.S. Army Officer Rank Officer rank (major, private, etc) Lieutenant Colonel Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Curtis; Zachary Cox; David W. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Curtis, Zachary Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed. Cox, David W. Interview Date 10/17/2011 Number of pages 12 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:46:03 Date digitized 2/10/2015 Checksum alphanumeric code de75dafebd74ef31445b0e07b477f915 16245c34b1bf7f59850053f2c27af04e Scanned by Leah McManus Equipment Epson Perfection V600 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 Document 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_Cox_David_20111017_transcript_M 5018_Cox_David_2011_1017_audio_A Title A name given to the resource Interview with Lieutenant Colonel David Cox [October 17, 2011] 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 Curtis, Zachary Cox, David W. 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 Colonel Cox served in the US Army after going to college and went to advanced camp at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in order to become a commissioned officer. He served in the infantry branch and was deployed to Iraq twice, once in 2003 and another time in 2009. Subject The topic of the resource Cox, David Veterans Iraq War, 2003-2011 United States Interviews Personal narratives, American advanced camp BOLC Colonel Cox infantry Iraq US Army