1 50 1 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