1 50 2 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/dff9321e27199cf7398b613ea00b6f50.pdf 81567ee782ac6704782b4f856d85a81c PDF Text Text Daniel Hartsell Oral History Project U.S. Military History, MW 11-12:15 Interviewer: Daniel Hartsell Date: March 8, 2010 Interviewee: Nick Bailey DOB: 12/30/1977 Location: residence of both persons, 166 Carriage Lamp ct. Boone, NC Interview for Oral History Project, assigned by Dr. Judkin Browning, History Dept. Appalachian State University Boone, NC Which branch of service were you involved with? I was enlisted in the Marine Corps. What was your rank? When I ended my service I was a sergeant, or an E5. What is E5? My enlisted rank. Where did you serve? I served in a number of different countries. I lived in Japan for a little over a year. I hit every continent but Antarctica. I went to Australia, Vernais, Philippines, Thailand, Norway, Estonia; I made it to a couple different places in South America. It was fun; I got to do a lot of traveling. I got to see just about everywhere in the world. What types of duties did you have? I was in the logistics field. So I did a lot of things with deployable units. When we deployed I made sure we had all of our stuff and that it was loaded correctly. We put it on either a plane, boat, or a ship. Everybody got on, everybody had food, and everybody had vehicles when we landed. Pretty much the coordination of where we stayed. I just did all the logistics. As I got more senior I got to do a lot more stuff in coordinating. I flew into places before everybody got there in setting up all the vehicles. I would set it up ahead of time and then the whole unit would come in. You enlisted right after you got out of high school, right? I graduated in May of 1996 and I was in the Marine Corps in August of 1996 Where were you living at the time? I was living in Northern Virginia. Sterling, Virginia, right outside of Washington, D.C., about 20 minutes away. You may not know the exact reason you enlisted, but what was one of the main reasons? I think that's easy. I wasn't ready to do anything else. I was not ready for college yet. I was not ready to go find a real job. I needed some guidance and direction in my life. My dad was a former Marine; he was in the Marines during Vietnam. I had �Daniel Hartsell Oral History Project U.S. Military History, MW 11-12:15 some other relatives in the military too, my uncles were in the Army, my grandfather and brother was in the Air Force. My whole family has been military. I just chose the Marine Corps because I was always told it was the best. When you want to do something like that, I think you want to be the best. It was an easy pick for me. Do you still think it is the best? Definitely. There's no doubt in my mind. Do you recall your first days in the service? Definitely, I was this little naive 18-year-old kid. I had no idea. My dad was in Vietnam and he didn't talk about the war, he didn't talk about the Marine Corps, he didn't talk about what he did until after I went in. So 1 had no idea what I was getting myself into. I remember getting off the bus and getting yelled at. They shaved my head bald and took everything off my body that I had and gave me everything new. I remember lying in bed the first couple nights thinking what is going on, what did I do to myself. As the 13 weeks of boot camp went along, it just got better and better. I still talk to people from my platoon from boot camp, even 15 years later. It's amazing seeing that bond that they build. They really build that brotherhood and that team feeling that you want to support everyone else. Where were you stationed for boot camp? I was in Paris Island, SC, the best place to go in the Marine Corps. We don't like those "Hollywood" Marines, just kidding, but that's the joke we make about California Marines. The Marine Corps is one of those places where there's so much tradition and honor that you cannot help but feel that respect and tradition every time you put on that uniform and you're told to do something. It just builds up in you and you never forget. Estimate how many people made it to the end out of your enlistment class? We started with 82 in my platoon. I only know of 2 that didn't make it. One kid got hurt and the other quit early and he got dropped and moved. I don't know if he finished. You didn't want to get hurt at boot camp. I hurt my shoulder climbing the rope, and it still hurts me today. I never stopped; I never let them take me back to another platoon. They let you heal, then you go into another platoon and you're at Paris Island for four or five months and that's not something I was ready to do. You just take that little bit of extra pain and go with it. What sticks out the most about basic training to you? Leaving basic training. I felt like a totally different person. It's amazing how they break you down and then build you back up. It totally changes your perspective on what you can accomplish and what you can do. It made you feel apart of something. I think it was that whole atmosphere of graduating, seeing your parents for the first time. We didn't get to make phone calls, so I didn't talk to anybody from August 19 �Daniel Hartsell Oral History Project U.S. Military History, MW 11-12:15 until I graduated November 11. So I didn't talk to anybody until that weekend of graduation. Do you remember any instructors, and if so what sticks out the most about them? Senior Drill Instructor Sergeant Galloway, he was the man. He was young; he was the youngest drill instructor. I went back to Paris Island. I was lucky enough to be stationed there. So I went back after I finished up all my boot camp and got to finish up all my school. When I went back, I talked to Staff Sergeant Galloway. There was Sergeant Nash, Sergeant Williams and Sergeant Kottner. They all had different roles. Senior Drill Instructor was supposed to be the good guy, but he's still the headman. He's in charge and he's accountable. Sergeant Kottner was the one that was going to put you through the most pain. He was there to pretty much yell at you. Sergeant Nash did a lot of the education stuff with history and drill. He was not light at all about yelling or killing you. Staff Sergeant Williams was just everywhere. He was about 5-4'. Because he was so short, he'd hop up on the footlockers and he'd just yell at you. He'd hop up and point at the bigger guys. He was kind of funny because he was so short, but he didn't care. Sergeant Galloway had a spider web tattoo on his left arm. It went from halfway up his forearm to halfway up his bicep, and it was sweet. If I had to draw it today from memory I probably could. I don't think I'll ever forget those guys. So you were in the Marine Corps from 1996 to 2004. Obviously there weren't any big declarations of war during that time. Do you remember any big military operations? Obviously there was 9/11/01, were there any other events that stick out to you? Two in a way. I did a joint service operation in Haiti in 1998. We went down and it was all five branches. We were doing humanitarian operations for them. The Haitians did not like us down there. We got combat pay even though we weren't engaged in combat because we had to carry around loaded weapons at all times to protect us from the Haitians that didn't want us down there. I'd go shopping with a 9mm on my chest and my M16 on my other arm. It was funny to have more weapons on me when I was walking around Haiti while we were building a school for them. The next thing would be 9/11. We were doing a training exercise at Anderson Air Force Base in Florida. I remember the morning in the mess hall. We did 24- hour alerts for about two months. We stayed there for about two months doing different operations. Our squadron did different operations. That squadron is no longer in the Marine Corps, so it's kind of cool to be in a disbanded unit. We did a lot of traveling around with them. I went on a bunch of different operations, but when it comes to ones that have merit, those stick out. On a Scale of 1-10 how would you rate the food? It could go anywhere from 1 to 10... One would be MREs for lunch, dinner, and sometimes occasionally getting a hot breakfast that would consist of dry eggs and old ham. When I lived in Estonia, I was there for six months and we lived on the beach. We were doing beach operations kind of like how we would attack a beach �Daniel Hartsell Oral History Project U.S. Military History, MW 11-12:15 and off load it. I was with a squadron that was doing that at the time and we had maybe one hot meal a day and that sucks. The MREs that we had were old, they are not like the ones they have today. It's different situations where we would have the same thing over and over. When we were in Vernais we stayed at the Emperor's Place Hotel for two weeks and we ate like kings. Some of the buffet meals we had there, I don't think I'll ever beat anywhere in the world. I've had things that you were lucky to heat up the certain meal you had in your MRE. Most of the MREs were cold and you added your little Tabasco packet to everything just to give it a little flavor. How did you and other soldiers entertain yourselves? Goodness. I guess that matters where you are. I guess the number one thing we did was drinking whether that's smart or not. In Guam, when we were off, we were drinking. In Japan when we were off, we were drinking. IN the US when we were off we were drinking. I remember getting up in Guam to watch the Super Bowl at 6 in the morning. We had about 20 Marines at my house in Guam. We were in these little, old houses with cots, but being the logistics chief, I got two couches and a TV. We split and stole the cable from a box out front. I had a couple sergeants in my house that were good electricians that were living with me. Everybody ended up at our house to watch the Super Bowl. It's like 6 in the morning and I remember the CO walking in and we all pop up to attention with beer in our hands at 6am. He just looks around and starts smiling and laughing because he had given us the day off to watch the game. It was early in the morning and we started drinking as soon as we got up. But we also got to see the world. When I was in Hawaii we went to Pearl Harbor. When I was in Iowa Jima I got to go down into the caves that the Japanese lived in. There's certain things in certain places that you get to go to. You get to see the coolest stuff. We jumped off the bridge at Wake Island. Some of those things we did to entertain ourselves was going to see stuff like golden temples and ruins in Thailand that I'll never be able to see again. What personal artifacts and photographs do you keep? Probably my favorite artifact from the military is this old glass bottle I found on the beach in Iwo Jima. I filled it halfway up with sand from "A" beach and the other half with sand from "B" beach. That's what they called the beaches on either side of Mount Suribachi. Finding that bottle is probably my favorite thing I have from the military. I still have it in my room; I've given some sand to my father, some to my grandfather. It's not as full as it was when I left, but I think that's one of the great things about doing the things that I did. I don't need things to know what the things that I see or do. Going to Iwo Jima was one of the coolest and most historic things that I'll do. I got to go during the 55th anniversary ceremony. I got to see these veterans walk with medals of honors around their necks. They would tell stories about the exact place they were when their best friends died at Mount Suribachi. They could point to that spot and they could tell you where they went up the �Daniel Hartsell Oral History Project U.S. Military History, MW 11-12:15 mountain. It was a neat to hear them tell that story and see it while I was actually on the island. Why did you decide to reenlist in 2000? That's a good question. I was in Japan when I reenlisted. I was living there and I knew I wasn't ready to go to school yet. I promised myself when I went in during 1996 that I would use my GI bill to go to school. Four years passed and I still had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I didn't know where I wanted to go, if I could get into school, what I wanted to do. I thought the best thing for me was to reenlist for four more years. I think it was the best decision I ever made because at that point I hadn't done as much traveling. I had been to Europe a couple times. I had been to Haiti and Japan, but I hadn't done as much. I was pretty much gone my last four years. I got to see the world a lot more my last four years. It was cool getting to where I was from when I came in. I had more control over my job and what we did as I got older and was there longer. It was a lot of fun being the boss. Do you recall the day your service ended? Yeah. It was July 8, 2004. I remember pulling off base and they scraped the sticker off the front of my car. It used to just be that sticker; they had gotten stricter after 9/11. I remember pulling up to that gate my last day and they scraped it off. That's where it hit me that I was out and I was done. I remember signing my DU214 forms and having those. I did my eight years. They couldn't even call me back. I did my four years active and during my four years of inactive, I did active. I had already done my 8 years that I had originally signed up for, so I was out. They couldn't even draft me really. So you knew you didn't want to be a "lifer"? It's funny because I talked to the guys that I went in with and that I had been in with. Some of them are still in and are more senior than I was. I remember them coming in. One of the PFCs that worked for me is now a gunnery sergeant. It's a cool thing talking to him. He's one of the few people that says how much he's learned from working for me and how to do it a little differently. I wasn't as hard ass as most Marines when it came to my Marines. My Marines always came first, and that's one thing he liked to learn and still talks to me about. Did you have any immediate plans or goals coming out of the service? My immediate plan was to go home and live with my brother. My brother lived in Boone, NC, so I decided to move to Boone with him. He wanted me to come live with him to cut his rent down. I knew the school was right here, so I decided to see if I could get in. I did; it took me a year after moving up here to get into ASU. It's been the greatest thing. I'll graduate in May. I've really enjoyed my time here after getting out...knowing what I know, having the experience that I've had, and being able to enjoy it a little bit more I think knowing that I've earned everything that I've got. �Daniel Hartsell Oral History Project U.S. Military History, MW 11-12:15 something out of it. 1 got school and traveling the world but I also got to do something for my country. It's not something everybody gets to say. Getting to tell someone that you were a part of the military is the part that is the best. � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/3a12ca0029b76da3d92b22e96cc6e5ca.mp3 32ec9ec0d67e710d1889bdc815ef91d8 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. Bailey, Nicholas D. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Hartsell, Daniel Interview Date 3/8/10 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:29:57 File name 2013_063_Bailey_NicholasD_interview 2013_063_Bailey_NicholasD_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 Nicholas D. Bailey, 8 March 2012 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hartsell, Daniel Bailey, Nicholas D. 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. 6 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Subject The topic of the resource Bailey, Nicholas D. Veterans United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Nick Bailey enlisted in the Marine Corps directly after high school and went to basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina. He worked as a logician for 8 years and was able to travel to every continent save Antarctica. The closest thing he saw to combat was in Haiti, where they had to walk around armed because many Haitians did not want them there. He came back to the States and enrolled at ASU after his service and says the military was a very good choice for him because it gave him direction in his life. GI Bill Haiti logistics Marine Corps MRE Nick Bailey Parris Island