1 50 1 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/8333634f29bed049b0c80d06b1a20a1a.pdf c138b1bf9b11de1297abbba3856263ad PDF Text Text Transcript of Oral History Interview with Medical SFC James Farley March 9, 2011. Boone, NC Anna Tyor: Well my name is Anna Tyor .. and I will be interviewing Mr. Farley. It is March ... Medical SFC James Farley: .. the 9th .. Tyor: the 9th! For my Military History Class. So first of all I just wanted to ask you, where were you born and when? Farley: I was born in Newark, NewYork. .. 19 ... June 7th, 1966. Tyor: Alrighty, and uh ... why did you first join the military? Farley: (pause) I was raised one county over from here .. course during that time ... Tyor: (interrupts) I'm sorry, I don't know if I can hear you ... Farley: ok. .. (moves forward in his chair) I joined the military in June of 1984 upon graduating high school. I started out in the United States Marine Core. Basically because ... there was not a whole lot of employment opportunities during that time frame in the Appalachians. Tyor: Alright. And .. why did you pick the service branch that you joined? Farley: Wel 've been in two services. I picked, the Marin Core ecause it was the Marin Core ya know? ..1 was in the infantry for my f st to . ater on .. .l chose to finish m areer in the Army-Because ... the Marine or didn't have medics and I wanted to be a medic. So .. Tyor: Oh, well that's interesting. So how long were you in the opposed to the Army? Marine~e s Farley: 3 years Tyor: And did you like either service better than the other? Farley: ... Not really? I liked each about the same. I liked my job in the Army better. Tyor: oh ok, as the medic? Farley: Right. Tyor: So where did you get your medical training? �Farley: At Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Tyor: OH ok, my dad had his medical training in Texas. Urn, so what was ... basic training like? Farley: Basic training, I did with the Marine Core on Paris Island, South Carolina. That's uh, probably the toughest 13 weeks of my life .. .l was glad I'd done it 'cause of course the Army didn't make me do it again (laughs). Tyor: Definitely. So did you serve in any wars? Farley: I did. Tyor: Which ones? Farley: .. .I'm a Desert Storm, Desert Shield veteran, Gulf War in 1991. I have ... served in the Balkans and I served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Tyor: Ok, and were you a Marine, or Army? Farley: Army. Tyor: Army, ok. And what was your particular job .. .l guess in each war? Farley: I was a combat medic. Tyor: Combat medic, ok. And did you ...were you awarded any medals during your time? Farley: I've been awarded the bronze star ... the combat medical badge ... 2 awards. And an ARCOM. Tyor: And how did you win these medals? If you don't mind. Farley: (pause) Oh, serving a company in the ground forces of the United States in combat. Tyor: Alright. So when you saw combat, what was your most memorable experience during this time? Farley: Oh! That's a tough one! Tyor: (laughs) yes, it's a heavy question! Farley: yeah, that's a tough one ... �Tyor: or a couple Farley: (pause) I would just say, just normal, you know Medevac flights coming in and having to set up landing ... zones to receive the patients. And .. .it was ... not a whole lot really specifics ... I do ... have a memory. I guess my most vivid memory, we had a, I won't really call it a direct, combat for medics are a little bit different, ok. .. during OFl. .. we had a school out in the town ofTikrit. I think the insurgence had it, but, they put land mines on the playground. And when they let out for their kids or whatever, to call recess or whatever, a lot of them got ... set off the mines and all of those got brought to my aid station. Tyor: Oh gosh, that's terrible. Farley: So it was about a 24-hour period of working on kids which I wasn't used to. Tyor: Yeah, you wouldn't think ... going in for the Army. Well ... that's very sad ... And definitely a memorable experience. So I guess, what factors kept you going through experiences like that? Just like a bond with your soldiers, fellow soldiers, or your family, like letters? Farley: My soldiers. You know ... as you get ... progress through the system, you know I was a E7, which was a Sergeant First Class, my last combat tour in Iraq ... and given the opportunity to leave I wouldn't have, to be with my soldiers, you know? Tyor: Definitely. I've been reading a lot of books for ... my different military history classes and it seems that that's the general bonding. That's an amazing thing ... So when you were serving, how, how did you guys entertain yourselves just on the down time? Farley: (laughs) Oh! A lot, a lot of rooks and spades. Yeah. Tyor: (laughs) Well, that's a good way to do it ... did you look forward to mail and things like that? Farley: Yes ... unfortunately I was always ... with the Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom I've done, number one, the initial push in, and so mail really wasn't established during my combat. It was for follow on troops, later but ... I was on my, on my actions but I was kind of in with the first ground forces Tyor: So it was harder to get it in? Farley: Yeah, couldn't get much mail. Tyor: Well, urn, how do you feel...how did you feel when your service ended? or .. .in each war? �Farley: Well, of course I was glad to be coming home to my wife and children. You know ... I was happy ... I was happy to go ... to return home. Tyor: And where did you return to? To Boone? L.eoMII wo Farley: No ... actually I was still in the Army ... After Desert Storm I returned to Fort Lindenwood where I was stationed ... and OIF ... and returned to Fort Hood, Texas. ~ Tyor: Oh ok, so how did you make it up to Boone? Farley: I'm from Johnson County, Tennessee. I retired, I'm retired. I retired in 2006 from the Army ... now I work here as a Department of the Army civilian employee. I'm a civil servant. But I was raised in Mountain City, Tennessee. Just one county over ... Tyor: Oh yeah, I've been over to Mountain City, it's a good place. Well this is a good place to retire then? Farley: Oh yeah. I've been blessed to be ... to still get to play with the Army too ... yeah. Tyor: Definitely, definitely .... so actually when you first got back from your service ... did you go back to school...or did you immediately start up a new job in the Army or what exactly did you do? Farley: Are you talking about (cough) when I retired or when I returned from overseas combat? Tyor: When you returned from overseas, sorry. Farley: Oh I would normally PCS to a new job. After my last combat tour I got promoted to ES, and l...once I got back to Fort Hood I received orders to be a First Sergeant in Sol).th Korea. And I moved to Korea for a year. ~ou( Tyor: Wow, what did you think of Korea? Farley: Oh I liked it. I've done three tours in Korea, I liked it. Tyor: Yeah? What did you like about it? Farley: (pause) I liked the culture, I mean the people are are great. There's almost no crime. Tyor: Yeah, I've heard that... �Farley: It's a really educated population there, you know ... ! like everything about Korea! I mean, if I didn't have family here I would probably move to Korea. (laughs). Tyor: I've heard that about Korea! I've actually looked into Korea, teaching English there, through like the TEFL program. Farley: Oh yeah, very great experience ... again I can't say enough good things about Korea. Tyor: Well, that's a good thing to hear ... well, have you kept up with the people that you've met while you were serving? Or your fellow soldiers? Farley: I keep a couple ... ! keep in touch with a couple of them, of course everybody's got face book these days so it didn't take them long to find me when I created an account! (laughs). Tyor: (laughs) Oh yeah, I made my dad do that too ... well I guess, is there anything else you like to add that we didn't cover? Any last words? Farley: (pause) Well ...not really. If this is going to go to a Jot of young people .. .! mean I would highly encourage a career in the military, you know, it teaches citizenship ... responsibility ... you know and ... ! mean honestly ... we wouldn't be sitting here doing this interview of course because you needed to do it on a veteran ... ! mean it opens up so many windows for you ... you know there's a ... there's a lot of negative in our country right now ... ! won't say people looking negative on the military but if you realize only one percent of Americans ever serve. Tyor: That's a small percentage. Farley: ... so our story isn't heard a Jot. Tyor: Well there is a lot of respect, I know, that goes towards the military. I think it's extremely important so I want to thank you so much for having this interview with me! Farley: Your welcome. (shake hands). Tyor: And thank you for taking the time out of your day to do it. � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/a37bce8f0201f6e5c21032635fd0c251.mp3 ad280983d098c75aaca2b906c4e533f4 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. Farley, James Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Tyor, Anna Interview Date 3/9/11 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:09:44 File name 2013_063_Farley_JamesA_interview 2013_063_Farley_James_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 James Farley, 9 March 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tyor, Anna Farley, James 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. 5 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Subject The topic of the resource Farley, James Persian Gulf War, 1991 Iraq War, 2003-2011 Veterans Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Army Medical Personnel Description An account of the resource James Farley served as a Medical SFC in the army for several years. He is a veteran of the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He began in the Marine Corps, but decided he wanted to become a combat medic and did his medical training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He continued to serve the army in the States until his retirement. army Desert Storm Fort Sam Houston Gulf War Medical SFC Operation Iraqi Freedom US Marine Corps