1 50 3 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 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/f510a890e73e5b7de45451d89c9b252d.pdf ff82f45aa6f924112e9ff84c352eb8bc PDF Text Text Military Oral History Interview Transcript Captain Richard Meyers Boone, North Carolina 11 October 2011 DJ: Daniel Johnson RM: Richard Meyers, Captain DJ: My name is Daniel Johnson. I'm conducting this interview on 12th October, 2011 in the ROTC Department at Appalachian State University. I am interviewing Captain Richard Meyers of the United States Army, whose current position is.... RM: Recruiting Operations Officer. DJ: Recruiting Operations Officer for Appalachian State ROTC. Ok, let's get the questions started. When were you born? RM: When? DJ: Yes. RM: October 2nd 1980. DJ: When did you enlist? RM: I enlisted in the Army in March; I think it was 14th 2003. DJ: Okay. RM: And that was into the Reserves? DJ: In the Reserves. Were you trying to participate in the SMP program? RM: I was at Clemson University. DJ: So you were in ROTC before you joined...? RM: Yes, I completed my first semester my freshman year and enlisted there in the second semester of there my freshman year of college. DJ: Did you go to basic training in the summer of 2003? RM: I did, yes, in the summer of 2003. 1 �DJ: Where did you train? RM: Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. DJ: And your MOS was? RM: 21 Bravo at the time. It's now 12 Bravo, which are combat engineers. DJ: Combat engineers. What interested you in the combat engineers more so then any other branch at first? RM: Well, I had a short AIT, which was good for doing while I'm in college, and also...wanted to do something combat related. And went ahead and did combat engineers. DJ: Combat engineers. Why did you, what made you interested in ROTC, the Army in the first place? RM: Well, when I was high school, I had a young lady who sat in front of me in English class. My senior year and she asked me what I was going to do after high school and I said that I was thinking about going to college. And she said, “Were you thinking about doing a ROTC scholarship?” And I was like, 'What's that?' So one thing led to another with that and I found it what it was. Went ahead and applied for one. Had never done any JROTC. No one in my immediate family was in the military. They all had mixed feelings about it. I did not get a scholarship, but decided I would still do ROTC while I was in college. DJ: Were you always interested in the Army branch of ROTC? Army branch more so then any other branch? RM: Yes, yes, always interested in the Anny branch. DJ: Let’s go back to boot camp. Do you remember anything about boot camp, first arriving there, the drill sergeants? RM: Yes, I can't remember any of the drill sergeants' names, but I would know their faces if I ever saw them again. I have seen one of them before at Fort Riley before I went to Iraq. I remember being on the cattle car, going to where basic training was going to start for us. After we did all the in processing, I remember getting off and getting yelled out. We had to unload our duffle bags and get everything inspected. But it was pretty fun looking back at it, though wasn't fun at the time. DJ: Through 72-days, you would never want to do it again, but you didn’t mind doing it. RM: Yes. 2 �DJ: Did you have any people to help you get through it or… RM: Just some other people that were there. I really didn’t need too much help getting through it. It really wasn’t that difficult compared to other things I have done. But, it's always nice to have other people to talk to, to vent after the days over with. DJ: The random people, the battle buddies? RM: Yes. DJ: When I went there, I was ok with most of the guys. RM: Yes. DJ: Did you ever serve in any conflicts? RM: I was deployed to Iraq. Left in October 2008, and spent a few weeks in Kuwait doing more training there. Then went up into Iraq. I think it was early November 2008 when we arrived. DJ: So you were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom? RM: Yes. DJ: Was there a different name for it by then? RM: No, it was Operation Iraqi Freedom. But it was just for a year. DJ: A yearlong deployment? RM: Y e s . DJ: What part of lraq were you in during that time? RM: Well we flew up; when we left Kuwait we went up to Camp Tahji, which is in Baghdad. And got a bunch of briefings there for a week or two. Then we flew to...think it was FOB or Camp Spiker, and we stayed there for a few days. That was part of our movement up north; we were just waiting for our helicopter ride. Then we finally got one and went to Mosul, and landed in FOB Marez via Chinook helicopter. And spent the night there and then the next day, and we left the following night to go up to where. We spent most of our time, which was in Erbil Iraq, with- in the Kurdish region. DJ: Do you remember when you first arrive what it was like, or? RM: Yes. I do so...it was hot. It has a totally different smell, especially up in FOB Marez. 3 �It’s kind of hazy there all the time that I noticed. Throughout the whole deployment every time we went there it always seemed like it had a haze over it. Not a very friendly city. I remember the first night going outside the wire there when we went up to Erbil. I was supposed to be riding in the back of one of the MRAPs that we had on our transition team, because we still had the old team there showing us how they did things. And our combat medic was going to be driving in the 1114, which is the HMMV. But compared to the MRAPs the armor is not as great. So I switched out with him and drove. And I remember driving through Mosul at night following the other MRAPs and that HMMV it just struggled keeping up. It's not made for all the armor it was carrying. But it was a little; I don't know if it was scary, but it was a good bit of an adrenaline rush at first, because all of the training you get is, you know, “Hey! Watch out for piles of rocks. Watch out for trash.” Well on the sides of the streets in Mosul are all those things. So, you’re trying to look for IEDs...and it just gets to a point where it's like, you know what, whatever. I'm just going to drive now. I'm the rear vehicle. Just going to keep up with everyone else. So that was a little nerve racking, but looking back at it, it was good times, nothing happened. DJ: (Laughing) When you first arrived there. What was your assignment while you were in Iraq? RM: We were part of a fire support officer for a border transition team. Never had to call for artillery or air support while I was up there because we were with the Kurds. Very pro American, willing to help us. Heck I mean when we drove around they were providing security for us, you know? A good group of people. But we were just training them on how to better secure their borders up there. Their regional headquarters was in Erbil, and it had control over three provinces. Dahouk, Erbil Province, and Sulaymaniyyah province which, that encompasses a few kilometers of the Syrian border, all the Turkish border, and then a good bit of the Iranian border. So, we did a lot of driving while we were up there. DJ: My dad's unit during the Gulf War, their furthest advance was actually Dahouk in 1991. The 82nd. RM: Yes. DJ: That's where they stopped and then had to start going backwards. Because they were going too deep into Iraq and then the war was over back then...Did you take any contact while you were in Iraq? RM: No one ever shot at us that I know of. We never shot at anybody while we were over there that I do know for a fact. The only incident we had a night when we were going into Mosul. We were following another convoy that was taking supplies into FOB Marez. And we got held up by a route clearance unit that had found an IED on the route that we were taking. So we had to wait for them to do a controlled detonation on it before we could move on. So we were supposed to get there at midnight and I think we got in probably one or two o clock in the morning. So... 4 �DJ: Did anything really stick out to you from your deployment? Like your most memorable experience? RM: Most memorable experience...nothing really stands out. We helped with some of the schools getting repairs done on them. That was a pretty good experience. You know, doing patrols with the Iraqis, especially along the Turkish border, whi ch for the most part wasn't too threatening. But there was intelligence that there was a lot of drugs flowing into Turkey from that area because it’s an easier way to get into Europe, corning from Iran and places like that. So I just remember walking along and....with my pistol drawn through the tall grass and trees along a river that borders Turkey looking for people with the Iraqi border police. You know I take it back, one event that really stands out, we were up...I'm trying to think the name of the city I can't remember it now. We were on the Iranian border and we were investigating some incidences where the Iranians were shooting some artillery into Iraq. They said they were targeting P-jact, which is a separatist organized group that fights with Iran for Kurdish independence. When we went there we talked to a gentleman whose son was killed by Iranian artillery. And he still had damage on his house like there was still hole in the roof on it. And he was showing us his hot water heater, w h i c h was riddle with shrapnel. We walked around there for a while. Pulled some evidence out of some of the craters that were there. Found pieces of rockets that the Iranians had fired into Iraq. And then when we left we were back at one of the Iraqi border forts, probably about 10 miles away. And they carne in running...running into the room while we were talking to the commander through our interpreters, pretty excited about something. And the Iraqi commander got up and was telling us to come with him. And he ran up- went up to the roof of the border fort. And Iran was shelling the same area we were just at again. So that event really sticks out to me. I don’t think a lot of people know there are instances on a regular basis between those two countries that isn’t mentioned in the media here in the U.S. DJ: Pretty interesting. RM: Yes. DJ: Were you awarded any citations for your action in Iraq? RM: I was awarded a Bronze Star for the work we did up there up north. I was a unit administrative officer since I didn't really have to deal with calling in artillery for anything. And I advised the Iraqi border police headquarters on how to better keep track of their personnel. Make sure people that were injured or killed patrolling the border received- their family received the benefits that they were entitled to. Just keeping up with that stuff. And then, also did a little bit of training too with the Iraqis. So... 5 �DJ: Did you...how did you stay in touch while you were over there? Was there Internet video or.... RM: In the later stages I was able to use video Skype. The bandwidth we had over there wasn't the greatest so a lot of times, I just used video audio Skype. And it worked just like a regular phone. Set a phone number up before I left to go to Iraq while I was visiting my parents in Maryland. They got a phone number so they could call me in Iraq, and if I was in my “ choo,” which is where we lived, our little housing unit.... And my computer was on hooked the internet the phone would ring. Very rarely did that happen but I could always call them if we weren’t out on missions. DJ: Did you feel any pressure while you were over there being in command or was it pretty laid back considering the area you were in? RM: I wasn't the highest ranking officer on our team. We had a lieutenant colonel and a major who got promoted to lieutenant colonel while we were there. One other major who was our intelligence officer and then myself. And then we had two senior non commissioned officers, two E-7s, and a staff sergeant who was our mechanic. I wouldn’t say it was laid back, definitely had plenty of work to do while I was over there, but I didn't feel any pressure really, that you know worried about someone getting hurt. Mainly because of the area we were in. And I knew, I mean I was a gunner on one of the MRAPs while we had them. And we had one of the senior non commissioned officers and our mechanic was the other gunner. And you know I knew had my back and I had theirs. But I wasn’t really worried about anything happening where we were. DJ: Were other parts of lraq hot at that time? RM: They were. When we would go into FOB Marez in Mosul we would definitely be packing everything we could. Didn’t mess around in that city. You know I never really got scared while I was over there; it was more of like a, kind of an adrenaline rush. I mean when you’re going through those city streets in Mosul, knowing that city is probably the second worst in Iraq outside of Baghdad. It's pretty real. And you know you’re always scanning the buildings around you because you don’t want someone shooting down on you, from you a multi story building. So that keeps it pretty real keeps the adrenaline going, but never really afraid though while we were going through all that. Looking back on it, it was kind of crazy, but I wasn’t too concerned while I was over there though. DJ: Did anything funny a lot of funny events that happened over there? RM: Funny events? DJ: Or something goofy? RM: We had a bunch of cats on our FOB. Not really sure how they got there but they would 6 �eat the trash. They were kind of nasty, like alley cats. They were like rats when it came to trash. You know they would always be around it. We had a small dining facility that some foreigners worked in. I think they were from Bangladesh. But they had a little dumpsite for all the trash and stuff, and the cats would always be going through there. And I was going to work in our headquarters one morning; I think it was probably a Saturday. We norn1ally didn't work on Saturdays because the Iraqis didn't meaning we didn’t go outside the wire. But I went to the headquarters to do some administrative stuff and I heard this noise outside, and I was like, “What is that?” I opened the door and it was these two male cats, I mean just fighting. Clawing each other, biting. They were rolled up in one ball. And there was fur flying through the air. So I had tossed some rocks at them to break them up. And they got off each other and they were looking at me. They had fur hanging out of their mouths, they were dripping with blood and stuff, and I was like, “Oh my goodness.” I ran them off. But, that was probably, I don't know if it was the funniest thing, but it was definitely one of the craziest things I saw while I was over there. But, I mean we had quite a few things. When the Iraqis would get ammunition we would have shooting competitions with some of the border police out on the areas where no one was living. We pretty much set up range and we just had shooting competitions with them. So that was pretty fun. DJ: Once you got back, what did you do? Did you do a deployment drawdown with your unit or… RM: When we got back, we went back to Fort Riley where we did our initial training for the transition team. And we spent I don’t think it was quite a week while we there doing all of our redeployment stuff. All of our medical and some of our other administrative paperwork so we could go home. The cool thing about it was that we were put in the front of the line anytime we were doing redeployment stuff if there was another unit coming back because we hadn’t seen our families yet. We flew straight back to Fort Riley and our families were scattered all over the-really all over the world. So we were waiting to get back with them. So they jumped us to the front of the line. We were able to out process after we turned in our weapons and everything...in a few days, and then got us on aircraft to go home or to our next assignments. So that was a pretty interesting time. I didn't know it at the time when I was going to airport from Fort Riley to fly back home, my grandmother had passed away that morning. So that was a little tough to deal with, coming back to that. And it delayed me getting to my next assignment. I spent a little more time home then I was planning on. DJ: So after deployment did you automatically get sent to another station or... RM: They go to their next assignment or go home if they’re taking leave first. It really varied depending on the individual. 7 �DJ: So you were part of the 1st Armored or 1st Infantry Division? RM: I did all the training at Fort Riley through the 1st Infantry Division, 1st Brigade. When we got over to Iraq we were attached to 3rd ACR at first but they were leaving. They left pretty much a month after we got there. And then we were attached to 2-1 Cav the rest of the time. DJ: What unit were you part of during this time? RM: More so 2-1 Cav. I mean, because they were the ones that had all the logistical support for us and the administrative stuff too. DJ: That's interesting. So what was your next assignment after? RM: It was here at Appalachian State University ROTC. DJ: Did you choose to come here? RM: I did. I was dating a woman at the time who lived in South Carolina before I went to Iraq. And my plan was try to get an assignment to the Southeast, even if that meant Fort Stewart, Fort Benning, or Fort Bragg. And then someone mentioned, “Hey you could also do ROTC?” So I sent an email to my branch manager saying, “Hey look if there's an ROTC that has an opening anywhere in the Southeast, I'd like to go there. My first choice is Clemson because I'm a alumni b u t if that doesn't work out I'm open to pretty much anything.” A few months into the deployment he sent a message to me saying, “Hey would you want to go to Appalachian State University.” And I was like, “Yes, that's fine.” So I already knew about it, or knew about the university because Clemson would compete with them in Ranger challenge and I knew it was a good ROTC program b e f o r e I got here. DJ: And Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore and Sergeant Major Arbogast were here at the time? RM: Correct. Yes. DJ: That’s pretty interesting...What did you think when you first met them when you first came here? RM: I thought they were pretty high speed. Obviously the program, the cadets that we were commissioning were solid, especially tactically. So, I think they were great people. DJ: Because I know that’s like way before my time, those early years. Because I really didn’t start getting involved until they were on their way out. RM: Yes. 8 �DJ: So...this is your last year and then you move on to another assignment. RM: Right. After this I go to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for my Captain's career course. Really I'm behind right now. Had I not gotten an ROTC assignment they were going to send me to the Captain's Career Course right after I got back from Iraq. DJ: And the Captain's Career Course is the next step to be appointed to major? RM: Well, you need to have it for theory you need to have it before you do a command. DJ: A company command? RM: Correct. Or in my case a battery command. And it also gives you training in how to be a staff officer as well. DJ: That's pretty interesting. So after that, you complete that you find out what your next unit is? RM: Correct. I don't know what my next assignment is yet. I've tried looking into that, but my understanding is when I get to Fort Sill the branch managers will come and figure out who’s going where at that point in time DJ: Is there any other places you would like to go, any stations in particular? RM: I would love to get back to a line unit, even one that’s deploying. My request that I sent it before being told, “Hey look just wait until you get to the Career Course.” Fort Stewart down in Georgia, Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and if I had to do an overseas one I put Hawaii. I've already been to South Korea. I wouldn’t mind going to Germany, but for right now I want to hold on because I just got married. So, trying to stay in the United States for a little bit. DJ: So you chose artillery? Was that your first choice? RM: Yes, artillery was my first branch choice. DJ: Was there anything that really interested you about it? RM: Just that it was a combat arms branch. Infantry, I didn’t necessarily want to do that. I don’t know why now, but I think my second choice was armor. So I was just looking to get another job like combat engineers. DJ: Something.... RM: Just had a lot of firepower. DJ: You could be out there doing the combat job? 9 �RM: Yes. DJ: That makes sense. So did your service in Iraq affect your life any? Give you more perspective? RM: It gave me more perspective. When I watch the news now, especially with the Arab Spring going on, from what it's called anyway. My perspective on the Muslim religion is a little different. There are definitely Muslims out there who are pro United States in the Kurds. I still debate whether there are any pro Americans in the Southern parts of Iraq. But I wasn’t there, I don’t really know. So it gives more perspective when I listen to the news. I understand the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslim. And why they fight with each other all the time. I understand that region is very unstable having been there. Probably the direct effect on coming back was probably my driving habits. Took me a while to slow down, because I was used to driving pretty while I was in Iraq. DJ: Habit always checking the trash and stuff like that? RM: Well, not so much, but looking for stuff that was going to blow up. We didn't have too many issues with that but you know the way we drove in Iraq, we just drove fast. DJ: Fast but safe. RM: Yes. DJ: That makes sense. All right. I think that covers just about all the questions Captain Meyers. RM: All right DJ: Thank you for your time. RM: Yes, not a problem. 10 � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/9ea04fe2cc6a8a07e749db88b752f1ce.mp3 1d86179bcce70d65f2766ff1b1b58afa 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. Meyers, Richard Allen Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Johnson, Daniel Interview Date 10/12/11 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 29:10 min Copyright 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. Tag Army, officer, recruiting operations officer, ROTC, ASU, Appalachian State University, Clemson University, Army Reserves, Fort Leonard Wood, combat engineer, Fort Riley, Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Baghdad, Kuwait, IED, Bronze Star, Fort Riley, 1st Infantry Division, artillery 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 Richard Allen Meyers, 12 October 2011 Subject The topic of the resource Iraq War, 2003-2011 Meyers, Richard, 1960- Veterans Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Richard Meyers, born October 2, 1980, enlisted into the Army in 2003. Current position as of 2011--Recruiting Operations Officer for Appalachian State ROTC. Served in Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq War) for one year, 2008-2009. In this interview, he discusses his experiences doing patrols and advising Iraqi border police in Erbil, a Kurdish region of Iraq. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Meyers, Richard Allen Johnson, Daniel 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> Extent The size or duration of the resource. 10 pages Language A language of the resource English combat engineer IED Kurds Mosul Operation Iraqi Freedom Recruiting Operations Officer reserves ROTC