1 50 7 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/b8f89507e064a025be2474b9356bea19.pdf 9e0ba619f66ff2f7acac2b096bca332a PDF Text Text Nate McQueen Military History Interview: 05 OCT Appalachian State University, Boone NC ME: We r in Boone North Carolina at Appalachian state university my name is Nathan McQueen and I will be interviewing SFC bush for American military history oral history project ME: So sgt bush where were u raised SFC BUSH: I was rais~d in Germany, and Mississippi ME: and how did that affect your interest in the military at all? SFC BUSH: Well my father served 29 years in the army and I grew up a broad all over the world in military bases so that kinda influenced me in the fact that was the kind of life style I wanted to me a part of. ME: And when did you choose that you wanted to join the military? SFC BUSH : Early part of 1990, January bout January February 1990 ME: And have you been in continuously since then? SFC BUSH: I have, 22 years of total since ME: wow .... And which branch were u initially serving in? SFC BUSH: National Guard complete ME: Ok, So you have been in the National Guard the entire 22 years SFC BUSH: Yea, I enlisted as an m-day solider traditional. And then in 1993 I went active duty for the National Guard ME: Can you define m-day solider? SFC BUSH: m-day soldier is a traditional soldier; they perform duties part time for the National Guard. T~1ey serve one weekend a month and two weekends during the summer serve part time and that was my initial assignment and then in 1993 I had the opportunity to go active duty full time for the guard. ME: What made you want to pick this branch of service? �SFC BUSH: It just happened that way ...... there was no I mean there was no, it was just what was the most accessible at the time. ME: alright sounds good, sou mentioned that your father was ~!ready in the military. Was that one of the main factors for you wanting to join the military, or was it more for school? SFC BUSH: A lot of it had to do with my father, but some of it had to do with my current situation within the community. I wasn't headed in the so called right direction so it was basically I needed to do something to get out of town. And in the sense but I knew the military was something that would come in my path sooner or later and it did and I'm thankful for it now. ME: so when did you first go to basic training? SFC BUSH: 13 February 1990 ME: Can you describe some of your experiences while you were there? SFC BUSH: it was pretty good. I mean it's still basically the same concept as it is today. It was 8 weeks back then. I went to ft sill Oklahoma, so it was all male, we didn't have any females there. Strategically it was all combat arms so was no female recruits with us, it was all guys. It was a good times. Met a lot of cool guys, still talk to one of them. As a matter of fact, but overall it was a good experience, it gave me some motivation and direction and ... good foundation. ME: Are there any outstanding memories you have from there or is it just all pretty much a blur? SFC BUSH: No I remember a lot of it, 1 mean still today I can basically take you through basic training. But uh.. probably the most memorable would be the confidence course, it was rainy muddy and it was just a lot of fun we came in and we were just packed full of mud it took us 4-5 days to get everything clean. It was just a really really good time. ME: Can you describe what the confidence course was like SFC BUSH: It is an obstacle course basically it was what civilians would know as an obstacle course. Some of it requires team effort some of its individual part, but its different obstacles you had to maneuver. In a certain period of time, and it was just a lot of fun. Like I said the trenches under some of the obstacles were full of mud and water and it just made for a really really good time ME: I had similar experiences like that from basic training and its definitely memorable. SFC Bush: Those are the ones ... ME: Have you ever been deployed in your military career? SFC BUSH: I have, I have been deployed three different times. �ME: Where to during those ... ? SFC BUSH: I was deployed in 1990 to Desert Storm. I did most of my duty at Fort Hood because by the time we got ramped up and were certified to go across the water things had ended. It was basically a 100 hours war. We remained on active duty for about 7 months so that we could get our VA benefits and finish out training at NTC and places like that. Then in 2001 , 1 mobilized and when to Bosnia Herzegovina for a peace keeping mission, and spent 7 months there. And then in '05 I ramped up and when to Iraq in support of operation Iraqi freedom. ME: What was your initial MOS when you enlisted? SFC BUSH: Initially I was a 13F forward observer, basically I was the eyes on target, enemy target to call in artillery and destroy those targets . .ME: and have you changed MOSs or have you remained the same SFC BUSH: I am a 13 F ultimately but right now as a recruiter I'm a 79T which is recruiting duty ME: What kinds of duties did you perform while overseas? SFC BUSH: In desert stonn I was basically a pvt so it was whatever I was told to do. Worked in the artillery there as well I mean as a forward observer world I was a pion I was nobody as far as rank went. In 0 l I was a platoon sgt for an artillery cell that was in support of an infantry battalion and basically our duties there was to manage 28 weapons storage sites there in country. We keep track of the weapon·s whether or not they were moving them, when they needed to move then for training. All that had to go t through our cell. And we would do surprised inspections on those weapons storage sites it was probably one of the better deployments I've ever had because of the weapons systems I got to see and track and it was pretty cool. 05 I went back as a fire support guy, fires support NCO for the task force I was involved with. And basically our function was to acquire High Value Targets or high value target area. And provide artillery support for our forces on the ground ME: Did your unit suffer any casualties while you were deployed SFC BUSH: Yes ...... (long awkward pause) ME: Have you been a 13F the entire time? SFC BUSH: Well with the exception ofrecruiting duty I'm not a 13f per say now it's my secondary MOS but once I leave recruiting and go back to the field I'm always a 13 F ME: Have you been in the North Carolina National Guard the entire time, or. .. ? �SFC BUSH: Negative, I stated my guard career in Mississippi and then in 2008 I moved to North Carolina. ME: Have you been awarded any medals or citations in your service? SFC BUSH: A few, I cwn a ... I own 6 AAM and 5 RCOMs, overseas service ribbons, NATO service medal. Oh my gosh .. . ME: Can you define the first medal you said AAM? SFC BUSH: AAM, Army Achievement Medal it's for doing stuff that's above and beyond. Your normal duties, the RCOM is another one it's a little bit higher it's the same. Its going above and beyond the what your are required to do, setting the standard exceeding the standard and performing the duties above what is required of me and you get acknowledged for that and so I've strived myself to do that in my career. ME: You mentioned that your first deployment was mostly stateside how long were your overseas deployments. SFC BUSH: again I spent 7 months in Bosnia and I spent 5 months in Iraq so 12 months a year total time overseas ME: And what were your barracks and living conditions like overseas? SFC BUSH: In Bosnia it was nice we lived in a base camp that had what we call .... "Huds" they were wooden barracks, 4 men to a room, 4 men to a building and you know shower facilities everything was there mess hall, very nice, comfortable living. 05 in Iraq started out down south for about a month in what we call 2 man little uh .... Cans is what we called them. Basically 2 men in a little building looks like a conex it's been refurbished has air conditioning in the window wall locker, two beds, shower facility it was ok. But Then we moved up north we occupied a bombed out facility. Sand bags no shower facility no mess hall we basically ate "T rats" and MREs for four months and basically lived in a shit hole ME: And how did your morale differ between you and your troop between the two different. .. SFC BUSH: areas? ME: areas SFC BUSH: Down south we were really relaxed wasn't as stressful of an environment we weren't shot at. When we went up north and basically got into the so called fight in support of the 2°d Marine division up there it took a toll on you, I mean you were getting shot at almost daily you were constantly in firefights and we were losing guys and you know the stress level was heightened and we were we were, ya know basically fighting for our lives up there �ME: It must have been rough ME: And then you have the weather to deal with on top of that. I understand it really hot but can you just in some way describe the level of heat? SFC BUSH: Its difficult you know its 112-120 something during the day in a matter of an hour or 2 hours it drops down to 80 something degrees at night. But people think that 80 is not that cold but when you drop 40 something degrees in an hour's time it takes a toll on your body it's a shock so you have to be prepared for both. I mean again 80 degrees doesn't seem that cold night but when you drop that drastically that fast in temperature and your body has been hot all day you have to be prepared for that. ME: I'm sure it would be a shock for your system there ME: When you were deployed how did you keep up with your family? SFC BUSH : The most recent deployment in OS technology has caught up with to so Skyping and email and things like that are very accessible, in certain areas. We had one small computer lab that eventually got established up there where we were so it was 4 computes and you kinda basically rotated in when you could. But always back to the good ole pen and ink, You know, paper and a pen and writing letters, care packages and things like that. M E: So what kind oflasting relationships have you developed with people that you've been in the military with? SFC BUSH: I have I got some good lifelong friends. I have one in individual we have been serving with since we both joined. He's actually in active regular army now. He is a recruiter out in Arizona but he's basically what I would call a life friend. I could pick up the phone any day of the week and he would be there, same for him. Kids I've put in the guard I've kept up with to see them graduate college and move on into the real world or to out to active duty. It's been for me to its been good for me to know that I helped them accomplished that. It's been a good expenence ME: What has your interaction been like with the officers in your unit? Good, bad or all the above? SFC BUSH: For the most part pretty good you know every now and then and I'm sure it goes for us as well it is what you make of it, for the most part most of my leadership has been pretty good throughout out my care rive only had maybe one or two officer that I just couldn't get along with. Or just didn ' t fit with so to speak, for the most part most of my leadership has been pretty good ME: Would you say the same about your subordinates or has that been more of a challenge dealing with them? �SFC BUSH: I would hope that my example in leading by example I would hope that they could say the same about me, that you know having watched SGT Bush and learned from him I was influential or played a significant part of their lives as well and that's what I strive to do to lead by example. ME: As an ROTC cadet I will be a future officer here what kind of advice would you have for me progressing through my career as an officer? SFC BUSH: Take care of your people. I can't stress that enough it's probably the most important. Get to know your people. Understand the way they think so u can know them and learn how to plug them into critical tasks. Utilize their skills and assets, is probably the most important thing as a leader, first line leader especially, Is knowing your individuals and what they are capable of and learning how to utilize them, but definitely take care of them is the ultimate. ME: That's definitely good; do you have anything else you would like to add in closing? SFC BUSH: No, it's just. ... Proud of what I've done, I Jack a little bit for retirement so I'm very proud of my career and consider it to be pretty accomplished in my yes anyway and that's what matters to me, but just thankful for the opportunity of serving my country. ME: Well we definitely all appreciate it too thank you for your time, this concludes the interview. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Appalachian State University American Military History Course Veterans Oral History Project Description An account of the resource Each semester, the students of the American Military History Course at Appalachian State University conduct interviews with military veterans and record their military experiences in order to create an archive of oral history interviews that are publicly accessible to researchers. The oral histories are permanently available in the Appalachian State University Special Collections. The project is supervised by Dr. Judkin Browning, Associate Professor of History at Appalachian State University and all interviews are transcribed by the student interviewers. Copyright Notice: Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project’s audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, University Archives and Records, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. File size 986 KB Military Branch military branch (U.S. Army, etc) U.S. National Guard Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McQueen; Nate Bush; Steven H. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. McQueen, Nate Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed. Bush, Steven H. Interview Date 10/5/2011 Number of pages 6 Date digitized 2/10/2015 Checksum alphanumeric code 9d16ba4b649902009058fb35e92128e3 Scanned by Leah McManus Equipment Epson Perfection V600 Resolution 300 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal; non-commercial; and educational use; provided that proper citation is used. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived UA.5018. American Military History Course Records Recording rate A/V rate (48,000kzh x 16 bit) 48000kzh x 16 bit Format, original Document Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 5018_Bush_Steven_20111005_transcript_M Title A name given to the resource Interview with Steven H. Bush [October 5, 2011] Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Language A language of the resource English English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McQueen, Nate Bush, Steven H. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a title="UA.5018. American Military History Course Records" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/167" target="_blank">UA.5018. American Military History Course Records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used. Description An account of the resource Steven Bush, raised partly in Germany and partly in the United States, grew up in a military family. In the early 1990s he enlisted as an m-day soldier, and then he decided to go for full active duty in the National Guard. He did his basic training in Fort Sill and was deployed three times to Desert Storm, Bosnia, and Iraq. Subject The topic of the resource Bush, Steven Veterans Iraq War, 2003-2011 Persian Gulf War, 1991 United States Interviews Personal narratives, American Bosnia Desert Storm Fort Sill Germany m-day soldier National Guard Operation Iraqi Freedom https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/0ccb842014d24bfa48e576888d65f28c.pdf 9ebe8f31c5ccaeeecb9a7f422eaf0eb4 PDF Text Text Transcript of Oral History Interview with Cadet Jacob Smith. October 10, 2012 Boone, NC Holly Sovine: I’m Holly Sovine and I’m here with Jacob Smith, former enlisted infantry soldier, conducting an oral history project for military history. Let’s get started. Where were you born and raised? Jacob Smith: I was born right here in North Carolina, in High Point, North Carolina, raised in the Triad area. Sovine: And when is your birthday? Smith: Born June 12, 1987. Sovine: When and why did you choose to join the military? Smith: Joining the military was something I always wanted to do since I was a kid. I kind of flip flopped of course, as kids do, about what branch I wanted to do, there were times I wanted to be in the Marines or in the Navy. I know, even in the navy or be in the air force. [Laughter] But ultimately, as I grew up and matured and everything and it really started to come in that seriously I could do this if I wanted the Army is what best suited me. So that’s why I did that. Sovine: Okay. Is there any kind of family history of military service? Smith: No, not that I know of. I think my grandfather was in the navy for a short time when he was a younger man but other than that there’s no long family history of that’s the tradition or anything, no. Sovine: What are some memorable basic training experiences you had? Smith: Memorable basic training. I would say one would probably be when we used to do the bayonet course. We did that fairly early in our training and I remember that was the first time I felt like “wow” I’m really doing this I’m really becoming a soldier. Everything up to that point had been filling out papers and learning how to march. It just kind of…small things…it was the first time I was just like “wow” I’m going be an inftantryman and I’m going to do this and it was a big eye opening moment I had. Sovine: Okay, what are some other duty stations you had? Smith: After basic training I was stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington as part of the first brigade 25th infantry. I wasn’t there very long though because at the time first brigade 25th was a striker brigade and the Army wanted a striker brigade to be permanently stationed in Europe so they chose our brigade and what we did was, over the course of a year, our brigade picked up personnel and equipment and moved across, pretty much across the �whole globe and were re-stationed to Vilseck, Germany and were re-flagged the second cavalry. The second cavalry’s history had always been in the European theater and the 25th has always been in the Pacific so they wanted to keep that kind of in that direction. Sovine: What does re-flagged mean? Smith: Re-flagged basically means they moved us and then they said “Ok, you are no longer the 25th infantry, you no longer wear the patch, you no longer have those unit designators, instead you are the second cavalry.” Sovine: Okay. Smith: It’s like when a football team moves and they change the name. Sovine: Oh, okay. [Laughter] Have you ever been deployed in a combat situation? Smith: Yes, I have been deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom in August of 2007 to November of 2008. I was one of the first people that was part of the troop surge that President Bush enacted with more boots on the ground and longer deployments to bring stability to the country. I was one of the lucky few to be considered a part of that. In fact, he was giving a speech the day we got into Kuwait, we were kind of curious as to whether that was us or not. Sovine: And what was your whole deployment experience? Smith: Deployment is an experience all in its own; it’s hard to kind of compare it to anything else. At first we were deployed to Iraq and we were on victory based complex on camp striker and our main operation area was the Hadar area. While in Baghdad, it was troops in contact just about everyday. Everyday something happens somewhere. It was in Hadar that we lost the first six guys from our deployment. The first two died just from simple ricochets, bullets that bounce off something and just happen to catch them in the wrong place. The next three died from what we call HBeds which are basically house born IEDs. Booby-trapped houses, they rigged the buildings themselves to actually blow up if somebody walked in them. And then the last, Geiger, was on one of the main routes they had emplaced an EFP or energy focus propellant. Basically it’s using copper to penetrate through the slat armor of the striker and that’s when Geiger died. So then our total was up to six at the time. Then we moved as part of an operation to push Al Qaeda out of a certain area in the Diyala providence that coalition forces really hadn’t had a big presence in so it was kind of a safe haven for them. So our battalion who dove into the Diyala providence to meet up with the second infantry division that was already there and move with them to push Al Qaeda out of that particular area. And so, the beginning of the operation it was kind of like Iraq. There was somebody in contact everyday. But that’s where we lost the last six guys while on our deployment. The Recon platoon before, on the way, in the transition had struck an IED. No deaths. A few injuries and a vehicle was decommissioned because it was flatlined and it had to be majorly repaired before it could ever roll again so the Recon platoon was already down men and equipment and when they walked into a building Al �Qaeda had already had all four corners of the structure and the roof of first floor, the floor of the second floor, basically laid down with explosives. So when they walked in the entire structure blew up. Killed the platoon sergeant, two squad leaders, two team leaders, and a grenadier and injured a bunch of other guys. It basically combat ineffected that entire platoon with al the casualties and everything. [Sovine: Yeah] After that though, gloves came off. If we though that Al Qaeda was using any building at all for storage of equipment or using it as a hideout or anything like that, if we suspected that we made sure no one was around the immediate area and we’d drop 500 pound JM bombs off of an F15 on top of it. [Laughter] And so once we started blowing up houses Al Qaeda kind of backed off and we drove them out. And the rest of the deployment was…I don’t want to use the phrase “smooth sailing” but it was not constant contact everyday. Sovine: So did you or any other soldiers in your platoon receive any kind of awards? Smith: I personally didn’t, other than just an end of tour award that kind of everybody gets it. Kind of congratulations thank you for, you know the end of the deployment and everything. But a few of the guys did. A lot of Army Accommodation medals with valor and a lot of bronze stars all around for guys who did something heroic but I personally didn’t. Sovine: Okay. So how did you come to end up in Boone, North Carolina? Smith: After deployment, went back to Germany, finished out my year, and separated from the Army. I loved the Army. The Army was great to me but I always wanted to go to school. At the time, my wife she had just finished. By the time I had got done with the Army, my wife had just finished her bachelor’s degree here at Appalachian. And so she wanted to continue on to get her master’s degree and I wanted to start my undergrad so, and she specifically wanted to get it at Appalachian and I wanted to get it at Appalachian. They were good to her while she was here and I’d come and visit her a few times and I really enjoyed the area and I really liked the university. And so….[Long pause]…[Laughter] That’s why I’m here. Sovine: So how did you come to be a cadet with the ROTC program? Smith: You know being a cadet was a really hard decision. I had about a year from when I transitioned out of the Army to when I started school and I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it. But I signed up for the class and started taking it and kind of did to keep my face…to put my foot in the door but I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to commit. I toyed with a lot of emotions. There were days where being in the Army was great, you were completing the mission you had a clear assignment of what your objective was and what you were doing and it made you feel accomplished and good, but then there were days when you really just kind of didn’t like what was going on. It’s like any other job you know? I really had a hard time with making a decision to become a cadet. I did a lot of self-reflection, a lot of you know praying to myself, I thought to talk to my wife and everything. Getting in with the program and getting back in the feel of the Army and deliberating with my wife I decided I wasn’t done with the Army and that was the best decision for us. �Sovine: Good good. All right, well is there anything else you’d like to include in the interview that we haven’t covered? Smith: It’s not so much now that the Iraq war is dwindling down but at the time, when we were there we used to watch the news and the news used to kind of make what was going on over there sound much worse than what it was so I used to tell people all the time when they asked me how it was take what you watch on the news but scale it back some. Any time anyone gets into contact or anything ever happens a report is filed obviously and so one thing we would do is we’d watch the news and hear about something…gunfire where ever in some province and we were like “okay” and we’d go back and we’d go and we’d dig up you know and find the report from the actions that happened and everything and the news would make it out to be some massive fire fight and really it was just some guy leaned out of his window with his AK and popped a few rounds off and then coalition forces just shot the crap out of the side of the house. I mean it’s really not as bad as what it sounded as the news was making it out to be so yeah they would kind of blow things out of proportion and not only that but you got to keep in perspective that when…I would tell people keep in perspective that when you hear on the news everyday “more gunfire more this and more that,” it’s not happening to the same people. Iraq’s a big country. That’s like saying that crime is happening across America, well yeah but America’s a big country. [Laughter] Somewhere in the country it’s going to be happening but it’s not all happening in the same little town. So you know it would be hours of…minutes of pure adrenaline you know when something happened, but then you’d go hours and days without anything. It would go like a week or so and you’d be thinking to yourself “God, I wish somebody would shoot at me just so I’d have something to do.” [Laughter] “I’m tired of just driving around and walking around just kind of making my presence known.” You know I used to always tell them, the news they question a lot you know why we’re there and everything else but until you’ve actually stood there and you’ve fought the enemy but not only that you’ve helped build the infrastructure, you’ve helped the locals, you’ve made their life better, you’ve started to establish them and get them back to a state of normalcy…until you’ve actually done that you see the positive change you know the positive change and all the good things we did no matter how minor they were that’s not what makes the news. It’s always the bad stuff. So until you’ve actually stood there…you didn’t…I could understand where they would question it but you really just don’t know. Sovine: All right, well I want to thank you for your time and this was a great interview. Thank you. Smith: Thank you. � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/15e80041c2eb220296a7798fded4381e.mp3 372a7121d89471962c3739bd2eac4d58 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. Smith, Jacob Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Sovine, Holly Interview Date 10/10/2012 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:12:27 File name 2013_063_Smith_Jacob_interview 2013_063_Smith_Jacob_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 Jacob Smith, 10 October 2012 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sovine, Holly Smith, Jacob 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. 4 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Subject The topic of the resource Iraq War, 2003-2011 Veterans Smith, Jacob Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Jacob Smith, born in 1987, talks about his work with Operation Iraqi Freedom. He fought against Al Qaeda and explains that it wasn't as bad as the news makes it out to be. 25th infantry Al Qaeda bayonet cadet Jacob Smith Milennial Generation Operation Iraqi Freedom ROTC striker brigade https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/9e0f3ee6ed13111fa76eaccf2b6488e5.pdf c7a9626f24692b670828b0e39f9a3e53 PDF Text Text Transcript of Oral History Interview with Lance Corporal Michael Nelson March 10, 2011 Carrboro, NC Julia Favorov: Okay. This is Julia Favorov interviewing Michael Nelson. It is March 10, 2011 , and this interview is taking place in the Carolina Cafe and Laundromat in Carrboro, North Carolina. This interview is for my American Military History class with Doctor Browning at Appalachian State University. Okay. So, Michael, what war and branch of the military were you in? Michael Nelson: I was in Operation Iraqi Freedom in the United States Marine Corps. Favorov: Okay. What was your rank? Nelson: Lance Corporal. Favorov: And where and when did you serve? Nelson: I served in the Al-Anbar province of Iraq, and it was in Ramadi Iraq. Ramadi was the name of the city. And I monitored a ECP, which is ... let me look up the acronym. I can't remember. It was, it was like an electronic collections point. And we monitored people going in and out of the city with about thirty Iraqi police. We monitored them searching the vehicles, searching the people and then we did that for the first month and then the next five months we did escorts, like escorting around high priority personnel like generals, admirals, Senator Obama, at the time. And we did that and for a good while. Escorting people, woman's rights rallies and such. And then the last month we monitored a gas station. Favorov: A gas station? Nelson: Yeah. It's the main gas station that all the truckers stop at to take gas to smaller gas stations around the country. Favorov: Alright. Interesting. What was your relations with the Iraqi citizens? 2 �Nelson: The Iraqi people were pretty.. they were pretty cool most of the time. Iraqi police and Iraqi army guys were awesome. And the civilians were alright, depending on where you were. When we were in Fallujah, we didn't get a lot of good feedback. Favorov: Yeah. Nelson: But that's understandable. Favorov: Yeah. But so you got to hang out with the Iraqi police people? Nelson: Yeah. That first month and last month we were, when we were on those specific stations, we'd hang out with the Iraqi police and the Iraqi army a lot, because they'd be living with us at the frrst post. So, basically we would be sleeping in the same house really with Iraqis. Favorov: Interesting. Okay, well, what made you join the military? And specifically the Marines? Nelson: When I was three years old, my dad took me to a ... it was like a military show at the RDU airport. It was with all of the troops getting back from the first Iraqi War. And we basically went up on this big concrete hill with the sun in the background and everything. It was gorgeous. And we walk on up an Apache, a huey, an Apache helicopter, a huey helicopter, and a couple of Humvees, and it was just really cool. I was like three years old and I'm walking up here with my dad and my brother and this dude just picks me up and says "You wanna see something cool?" Next thing I know I'm in the cock pit of an Apache attack helicopter. And I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. Favorov: Yeah. So, why did you pick the Marines? Nelson: The best of the best. Favorov: Well, what was boot camp like? I remember hearing some pretty funny stories from you and Tako about boot camp. 3 �Nelson: It was interesting. It was like being in jail. It was exactly like being in jail, except you get to hold and shoot weapons. [Laughter] Yeah, it... I don't know. It was wild. You meet a lot of interesting people. There were about ninety-two people in my platoon. Which is large for a platoon. Really large. And a lot of interesting people. Favorov: Yeah. How much of a shock was it to go from high school in Chapel Hill to boot camp? Where did you go? Nelson: I went to Parris Island, South Carolina. And it was intense. It was terrifying. It was absolutely terrifying. Probably the scariest experience of my life. Scarier than going to Iraq. Favorov: Really? Nelson: Yeah. We trained for a year before we went to Iraq. Favorov: I mean, was it fun in some ways? Nelson: It was fun in some ways. Favorov: And exciting? Nelson: We had a lot of hilarious moments. Yeah. It was fun. I mean, you're with your boys and everybody is just terrified as fuck. Just completely fucking terrified. Favorov: Yeah. Do you have any funny stories that you'd want to share? Nelson: When we went to the gas chamber to .. Favorov: Gas chamber... ? 4 �Nelson: Yeah. We'd have to don gas masks, go in there, and they would fill the entire place with CS gas, which is like tear gas. Favorov: Okay. Nelson: And what it is is these tiny crystals, like microscopic crystals that will get in the pores of your skin and it will explode. So it is like an extreme sun burn. Favorov: That sounds like fun. Nelson: Yeah. It was, it was pretty bad. I went through that like three, three to four times in the entire Marine Corps. But, we are at this gas chamber, and there are a couple people .. we have to take off our masks for ten seconds and then put it back on and clear the mask by blowing with your hand on a button and then you're good to go but it still burns like crazy. And we had a couple of guys flip out and one of them, B_ _~ flipped out to the point where he shat himself. Favorov: Oh my god. [Laughter] Nelson: So we're sitting out, after the gas chamber, all snot coming out of our noses and everything. And we're just like "What's that smell? B did you shit yourself?" And he's like "Uhh .. " He just looks even more terrified, I think he started crying. The drill instructor nabbed him up, took him back to the barracks and everything. And this a ... this is hilarious, we're going to the bathroom after the gas chamber and everything, just going in there to clean up. And we hear this recruit yell out, we're all called recruits, we hear this other recruit yell out, "Uh, sir, permission to speak to drill instructor Sergeant Hemingway, sir." And this is all screaming. "What the fuck you want?" And he says, "Uh, sir, there's a turd on the deck, sir." And you hear the drill instructor yell "B _ _ ! Come clean this shit up! " It was pretty hilarious. That's one of many. I can't think of all of them off the top of my head. I went through some pretty hard times too. Favorov: Yeah? 5 �Nelson: Just, we have this one thing, it's called the crucible. We're out for three or four days. And we only have three meals. And we've got to hike to certain areas carrying a hundred pounds of gear. And several miles we'd be doing all this for like twenty miles to and from everything. And I went during the winter, because I thought it would suck going to boot camp in the summer. But in the winter the cold is horrible. And it was raining for all three, I think like three of the four days or something, I can't remember. But it's just like the most.. it'll beat you up pretty bad. You're outside 24/7. Favorov: Yeah. Well, doing it in the winter doesn't really prepare you for Iraq. Nelson: No, no. But we had plenty of training from boot camp to the time we went to Iraq. In hotter climates. Favorov: Okay. Well. [loud sounds in the background] Nelson: Sorry about that, I don't know what that is. Want to pause it? Favorov: Yeah, maybe. Okay. How often did you see combat in Iraq? Nelson: Not very often. More stuff happened in Fallujah, outside of where we were. We went to Fallujah probably maybe four times while we were there, maybe five. And it was, I mean, they lost a lot of people in Fallujah. We lost two people in our battalion. While we had control of the AI Anbar province. And one night, the first week, we... I was on that ECP post and I was going to bed for the day, I had the night shift watching security cameras. And this ... I had just got into bed and the entire building just shook so I look outside and we see this huge plume of smoke coming out. And it was a thousand pounds of explosives that attacked one of our ECPs, one of our police stations on the other side of the city. And it killed, well, one guy from my company, he got blown up with a guy from the battalion that we were leaving, which was 28, and my battalion was 19. So, we lost two guys that day. 6 �Favorov: Did you know them? Nelson: I knew Harter, I'd seen him around, I didn't know him that well. I just... I went to SOl with him, the school of infantry, I went there with him. And I had just seen him around. But it was wild. Favorov: Yeah. Was it hard to deal with? Seeing that or having that happen? Nelson: A little, but not really. I mean, you just don't worry about it really. You just... If it's your time, it's your time. We had a bunch of people who got blown up but not killed. Favorov: Yeah. But, what did you tell yourself to calm yourself down when you're in a dangerous situation? Nelson: There's nothing you can do. Favorov: Yeah? Nelson: Yeah. That's just what I told myself. It's just like there's nothing I can do. If something happens or if we had to shoot back I'd do that, but I never really had to shoot back at anyone. You just tell yourself that there's nothing you can do, otherwise you're going to be antsy and nervous and you're going to get somebody killed. Favorov: Yeah, yeah. That's intense. Well, I mean, do you have any stories you want to share from being in Iraq? Like funny stories, or not funny stories. Nelson: I can't think of any real funny stories. We didn't really, we didn't do much. All we really did was just escort people, or we'd be out a lot of the time. Favorov: Was it boring a lot? Nelson: Yeah, it was boring all the time. Absolutely boring. Whenever we were on the base we'd be 7 �watching That 70's Show or Califomication or.. Favorov: I like that show. Nelson: Yeah. We'd just get any series. Like, all the Family Guys, we'd watch them, because they had this hagie store off base. We called it the hagie store. And it was just this little, kind of a, one store flea market that sold bootleg DVDs and Tiger energy drinks and Boom Boom energy drinks. These drinks had caffeine in them so they weren't legal in the states, but they were, oh god they were great. We'd survive off those things. And we'd just drink water everyday. Water, water, water, always drinking water. Favorov: Did you have any alcohol when you were there? Nelson: No. Favorov: Yeah, I bet they wouldn't want ... Nelson: It's a dry country. If we were in .. if we weren't in a dry country then we'd be fme. But it's a dry country so alcohol is illegal. We noticed a couple of the Iraqi police smoking marijuana or opium. They'd get bootleg liquor, they'd get whiskey and stuff like that. But nothing .. we didn't really do anything. Favorov: Besides watching TV shows, what else did you guys do for entertainment? Nelson: Download Nintendo 64 emulators and play them on our computers. Favorov: Okay. Was it you that was telling me something about when you were in boot camp people playing WoW? World of Warcraft. Nelson: Not in boot camp. 8 �Favorov: Okay, well, not in boot camp, but somewhere. Yeah, sorry, not in boot camp. Nelson: Yeah, yeah. That's right. Back in the states, my room mate played WoW 24/7. Actually, probably 21/7. He'd sleep for three hours and he'd get up and he'd play WoW again. Favorov: That's pretty funny. Nelson: He never left the room. He would order pizza and have it.. it'd just be delivered to the room and he'd just eat and sit there and do nothing while we'd be going out to the bars and everything. Every once in a while we'd be able to pry him away from his computer, but not much. I forgot to mention, in Iraq, a couple of the guys passed time .. played Dungeons and Dragons. Favorov: That's cool! Nelson: Yeah. Yeah, me and a couple of my buddies were making fun of them because they were playing Dungeons and Dragons, but they.. Favorov: No, Dungeons and Dragons is great! Nelson: But yeah, they were excited. They were like, "it's something to do!" Favorov: Did you ever do Dungeons and Dragons with them? Nelson: No. I'd go and I'd watch and I'd ask what all the characters were, but .. Favorov: You should have played. That game is fun. Role playing is fun. Nelson: [Laughter] Favorov: That's interesting. I never.. okay. So, then when you were in the United States and you're just waiting .. so you're just waiting to be sent somewhere from your station? 9 �Nelson: Pretty much. Favorov: Where .. what different places were you stationed in the United States? Nelson: I was only stationed in Camp Lejeune, but we'd go to training at forts all over the country. Army forts all over the country. Twentynine Palms in California. It's in the Mojave Desert. And we'd do a lot of desert training there. And that was pretty interesting. There's a lot of cool training there. We'd .. we had this one mission when we were in the Mojave Desert, where .. I was with the mortars. I was a mortar-man, when I wasn't in Iraq. So, we'd get this ... we'd get this cannon and basically drop this bomb down a cannon and it'd fly five thousand meters to destroy a target. And it had a forty meter kill radius. We'd be able to launch ... a good ten rounds within two minutes, and be able to destroy an entire area. Anyway, that's what I did. So, in California, we got ordered to go to the top of this mountain and we're going to be assaulting this city with tanks and artillery. So, artillery starts firing and smoke over this town made out of Conex boxes, you know, those boxes that are on oil tankers? And arti is smoking the hell out of this town, and we're on top of this mountain so we're just watching everything, just like "whoa, this is awesome! " And we've got these three tanks, like picture you're on top of this mountain and you've got three tanks coming down here, and arti is blasting this place with smoke, so smoke is just covering this entire little town and the tanks fire and it looks like lasers just destroying everything. And we would drop AG rounds, which are high explosives, and that was our forty meter kill radius weapon. And we just obliterated this town with mortars and everything. Favorov: Okay. Well, was it.. did you get to experience all these different cities all over the United States? Awesome United States traveling? Nelson: Not really outside of military bases. No. We'd go there on the weekends. We'd go to Florida. We went to Daytona. We'd go everywhere. I went to Atlanta, Charlotte, Wilmington all the time, because it is forty five minutes from Camp Lejeune. Just go to Wilmington a lot. Basically just binge drink. Favorov: Hah. Okay. Well ... 10 �Nelson: Some training scenarios, we'd have Iraqi people who were role players. And they'd come out there, and they'd have to speak all Arabic, they wouldn't be able to speak English. They wouldn't be allowed. And they'd have AK-47 assault rifles with blanks and we'd have blanks as well and we'd be role playing basically. One time, we patrolled, foot patrolled, with a MlAl Abrams and we'd just walk beside it and they had this whole scenario set up. So, we turned a comer in this town and I've got the tank right next to me and I've got an M4 and my squad leader is in front of me, and this little rocket attached to a string just flies down and explodes. And this sniper guy just starts firing at us, and we've got to fire back with all of our blanks. It's pretty intense. And the tanks fire with a 50 caliber machine gun, just like .. intense. It's wild. It'll shake your whole chest. Favorov: Yes. Well, so what were .. what was your favorite time serving in the military? Where .. yeah, what was your favorite .. when you were where was your favorite time? Like, in Iraq? Nelson: In Iraq, probably. Favorov: Yeah? Nelson: Yeah. You're just out with your boys and you're making mad money. Lots of money, because we get combat pay, hazard pay, and no taxes. And it was great. Favorov: Okay. So, after your service ended how has it been getting back to civilian life? Nelson: It's been pretty difficult. Favorov: Yeah? Nelson: Yeah. When we got back from Iraq, apparently on the drive from where we got back to to the beach house that my parents rented the traffic wasn't easy to cope with, because in Iraq everyone gets out of your way and back here you're driving right next to people. So, apparently I was like doing this, reaching for my shoulder all time. I was reaching for my gun. I don't remember doing that. My parents 11 �told me about it. And that was after the fact. But getting back to civilian life just from being in the Marine Corps, the profanity is probably the hardest. Cause I'd just be like, "Fucking, with this fucking thing in the fucking .. " And that's seriously how we talked. Like, "fucking, fuck, fuck, fuck." Like it just never stopped. Shit, damn, hell, all of that. Favorov: And do your parents not appreciate that language? Nelson: Not really, no. Well, I mean, saying it around other people isn't easy, either. Cause I got a security job when I first got back, and like security we're supposed to help people get to where ever they need to go if they can't find a place. So, it's really hard not to use profanity when you're saying, "Yeah, go to the fucking end of the corridor there, and just fucking hang a right, and take another fucking right and you'll be good to go. Just keep walking straight and it'll be right in front of you." It's the worst. The worst. Favorov: That's interesting. I guess that makes sense that that habit would get picked up in the Marines. Nelson: Yeah. Saying like, calling people yoohoos. "Hey yoohoo! " Favorov: Yoohoo? Nelson: Or like trying to stop from telling people to pick things up if they throw a piece of trash on the ground. Because I've yelled at people for throwing a cigarette butt down. Favorov: Well, so what have you been doing since you got out ofthe military? Nelson: Not really much of anything. Just trying to pay back bills. And I was staying with my parents for a good while, and I just moved into this little apartment with my girlfriend in December. And that's been interesting. But not really much of anything. Just paying back bills and thinking about going to college. Using the GI bill. 12 �told me about it. And that was after the fact. But getting back to civilian life just from being in the Marine Corps, the profanity is probably the hardest. Cause I'd just be like, "Fucking, with this fucking thing in the fucking .. " And that's seriously how we talked. Like, "fucking, fuck, fuck, fuck." Like it just never stopped. Shit, damn, hell, all of that. Favorov: And do your parents not appreciate that language? Nelson: Not really, no. Well, I mean, saying it around other people isn't easy, either. Cause I got a security job when I first got back, and like security we're supposed to help people get to where ever they need to go if they can't find a place. So, it's really hard not to use profanity when you're saying, "Yeah, go to the fucking end of the corridor there, and just fucking hang a right, and take another fucking right and you'll be good to go. Just keep walking straight and it'll be right in front of you." It's the worst. The worst. Favorov: That's interesting. I guess that makes sense that that habit would get picked up in the Marines. Nelson: Yeah. Saying like, calling people yoohoos. "Hey yoohoo! " Favorov: Yoohoo? Nelson: Or like trying to stop from telling people to pick things up if they throw a piece of trash on the ground. Because I've yelled at people for throwing a cigarette butt down. Favorov: Well, so what have you been doing since you got out of the military? Nelson: Not really much of anything. Just trying to pay back bills. And I was staying with my parents for a good while, and I just moved into this little apartment with my girlfriend in December. And that's been interesting. But not really much of anything. Just paying back bills and thinking about going to college. Using the GI bill. 12 �Favorov: What would you go to college for? What were you thinking about? Nelson: For a while I was looking at being a cop, but then I don't want to keep doing what I have been doing. And then, I'm looking at logistics or anything. I don't really know what I want to do. Like data management or logistics or something with like an associates degree or something along those lines. Favorov: Okay. Well, do you have anything else that you want to share about the whole experience? Nelson: It was a lot of fun. It was like ..being in the military is like fifty percent "Fuck I hate my life," and the other fifty percent is like "Oh, that's cool, I get to do that." Or "Yay, I get to hang out with my buddies." Or stuff like that. The best part about the Marine Corps was probably the weekends. Just going to random bars, getting in bar fights. Wild, wild weekends. It's like being a rock star. But with not a lot of money. So you go to crappy bars. Yeah. Favorov: Okay. Well, I don't think you said it before. What were the .. when did you .. when did your service start and end. What were the dates? Nelson: I went into the Marine Corps on September 11 , 2006. That was the day I arrived at Parris Island. And I got out... they had a ninety day early program, because the Marine Corps was overflowing when I was getting out. So, I got out ninety days early. You had to apply for it and everything. And it was ... June 4, 2010 is when I got out. And I've been utilizing the VA benefits. I get free health coverage, because I have 10% disability for having tinnitus. Because dropping bombs down a cannon, and your head is right next to the cannon ..! can't really.. this ear is kind of messed up. And, yeah. That's pretty much it. I just got an evaluation for PTSD last week. I'll see how that turns out. Hopefully... I don't know. Favorov: Do you feel like you have the symptoms for it? Nelson: I don't know. I got nightmares for a while. Like a year after Iraq. Drinking usually made them go away. Now I don't really get many nightmares, and I don't drink anymore ... as much. I probably have like a drink every... a couple drinks every week. Rather than drinking like a case of beer a night, 13 �• which is what it was. Favorov: Okay. Well, good luck with all that. Nelson: Yeah. Favorov: Okay. Well. I guess ... this interview is over. Unless there is anything else you want to say. Nelson: I can't think of any. Favorov: Well, thank you. Nelson: You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Favorov: Yes. 14 � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/0a17d69d1d348f55a141f5dc22f53fec.mp3 b33464ee6a562f167d72ddd195d7538b 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. Nelson, Michael Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Favorov, Julia Interview Date 3/10/2011 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:27:35 File name 2013_063_Nelson_Michael_interview 2013_063_Nelson_Michael_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 Michael Nelson, 10 March 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Favorov, Julia Nelson, Michael 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. 14 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Subject The topic of the resource Iraq War, 2003-2011 Veterans Nelson, Michael Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Michael Nelson served in the Marine Corps as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He describes his experience in Iraq as quite boring, and his basic training as much more lively. His greatest challenges have been adjusting back to civilian life. Al-Anbar Camp Lejeune gas station GI Bill hagie store Lance Corporal Marine Corps Michael Nelson Operation Iraqi Freedom Parris Island 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 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/88f95986a099fdaa7887f71cb59dcfd1.pdf ee1404c580149b0b5fdb456d63ba403b PDF Text Text 3 . 2.0V ^ Chris Garner Dr. Browning Military History Interview Transcription Chris: Hello this is Chris Garner here with SPC Seth Crawley on Thursday March 3 2011 in Boone, NC. This interview is part of a requirement for Dr. Browning's Military History course. Chris: Alright for the record SPC Crawley when were you born? SPC: I was born November 25 1987 Chris: So you were how old when you enlisted? SPC: I was 19, just turned 19 Chris: Ok, ok and which branch did you enlist? SPC: Army National Guard Chris: Alright and your current rank? SPC: I'm a specialist Chris: Alright and where did you serve? SPC: Baghdad, 20 minutes south of Baghdad....for 10 months Chris: What exactly did you join for, what was your reasoning? SPC: I've always kinda wanted to do something with the military I applied to go to West Point, Annapolis, which is the Naval Academy and just didn't have the grades good enough for that and then my parents got a divorce so I needed someway to pay for college and what other better way to do it than do the military Chris: Why did you pick the Army as your branch? SPC: To tell you the truth I really don't know... I was young and dumb and didn't look at anything else. My roommate joined before I did and got back from basic training and started talking to me about it and since it's the national guard I'm getting state and federal benefits which is about the most you can get with doing the military so that's why I went that way or that route Chris: Ok, tell me about your boot camp and training experiences �SPC: Ha, I left to go to boot camp February 21st of 2007 in Fort Seal, Oklahoma. I did OSET which is one station training basically 16weeks of basic training. We did BRM, drill and ceremony, you can name it, we did it. It was cold, hot, rain and snow all in one day kinda... it was tough, very tough not being able to talk to your family and friends and that's really the first time I've ever been away that long of time by myself being young I struggled with it at first, but once you get kinda used to it its just another thing. Chris: Why you were there, do you remember you drill instructors? Or now that your back from basic? SPC: I mean I know I could look at em and tell you "hey that's my drill sergeagnt" but their names the only drill sergeant I remember was DSG McCullah, because he was the meanest. Chris: Ha, ok...how did you get through basic, I know its kind of a long time? SPC: Laid low, didn't talk much. My drill sergeant didn't even know who I was until about the fourth week of basic training, he didn't even know I was in his Platoon to tell you the truth. Chris: haha, alright of your actual army experiences, which war did you serve in? SPC: Operation Iraqi Freedom and I was there from 2009 to 2010. Chris: Ok, and where exactly did you go....you said? SPC: I was about 20 to 25 minutes south of Baghdad right off of NSR Tampa Chris: Ok, what was your first day arriving there like? SPC: hot and nerve racking. We landed, I road a C141 from Kuwait into Baghdad the plane basically didn't even stop when we landed, they just let down the back door and we jumped off, it was like a turn and burn and there we were. I didn't know where I was, what I was getting into, and I didn't know if I was going to have people shooting at me soon as I got off the plane or it was gonna be like a vacation where I was at, didn't really know what I was gettin into at the time. I mean, just like anything else you kinda get accustomed to it. Just do your thing Chris: Alright, what was your thing? What was your job while you were there? SPC: The first half of the tour I was my PSG Driver and then the 2nd half of the tour I was the lead vehicle gunner and I had a SOcal. M2. We stayed on a JSS base, which is a joint security station, basically what that means is we had my battery because I'm in field artillery was on a base or a JSS I should say with another Iraqi company and �we did full spectrum operations, we did security, tower guard, ran patrols, convoy security, you name it we about did it. Anything from cleaning the FOB to going and knocking down doors, that's what we did Chris: Well, tell me a couple of your most memorable experiences while you were there? SPC: I remember one of the first missions we went out on, we went and there was supposed to be a weapons cache at this house that the Al Queda took over and supposedly there was a bunch of 155 rounds there, RPGs, pressure plates anything and we were supposed to clear that and I remember walking in and it was a really big house and there wasn't anybody there...they and been gone for a while but I remember seeing hooks with nooses hanging up and little children's shoes and books, everything scattered around. Apparently from what the Iraqi officer that was in charge of the company that we normally went out on missions with told us that they killed almost every IP which is Iraqi Police officer that was in that village either tortured them or hung them and buried them in the middle of the court yard. I remember going around and looking and I could literally pick up bones like femurs and stuff of humans, it was, it was an eye opening experience and another memorable moment I remember (snicker) I got hit by an IED we had, thankfully it was from what we can put together it was controlled by phone because we had our dukes on and rhinos and dukes a jammer so it jammed the radio frequency it didn't go off until we got by, but it was still close enough to get your attention. We got mortared, got rocketed, basically about anything you can think of it happened other than, we got small arms fire, but no like direct fire, basically just shootin and run, and hidin. Chris: So the unit you with, you guys didn't take on any casualties did you? SPC: No, but we actually did have a casualty not with us our LT that had just got promoted from butter bar to first LT he was with another unit and he was meeting with some lAs and some Iraqi civilians to get intel and a guy wearing a suicide vest come up in the middle of the circle and blew himself up and killed him, but that's the only person that I had any type of contact with that I knew that died. Chris: Ok, on maybe a lighter note, were you awarded any medals or citations for your service or your time? SPC: I got an ARCOM, Army Accommodation Medal, (snicker) I got a master driver for driving over 500 miles, I got an army achievement medal, um... that's basically about it, nothing too outstanding. Chris: Alright, while you were there how did you stay in touch with your family and friends? SPC: Over the SKYPE and the frequent phone call every now and then. I would email, didn't do too much writin because by the time, if I wrote a letter to somebody �I could basically tell them by the time it got there, it would take almost 2 weeks, sometimes a month before it would get there...so stayed away from the writing, but I would probably talk to my mom and my dad at least once a week, tell them I was ok. Chris: What was the food like, while you were there? SPG: Terrible, I would rather eat the sheeks food than have to eat... we, since we were on such a small base we had a MKT which is basically on kitchen on wheels and the cooks were not doin the best job and I'm still suffering from that to this day with my digestive system... so it wasn't the best, that's for sure. Chris: How often did you have MREs, was that just when you were on the field, or in the field? SPC: I basically stripped MREs down and got the candy out of them, you eat one for lunch for about a week and that's about all you can do. I just quit eating lunch. Chris: What about supplies, did you have plenty of supplies? SPC: Oh yeah, we had anything you could think of... I carried a combat load had everything but frag grenades....flash bangs, smoke, carried 270 rounds, my M4 the M2,1 mean we carried anything from flash bangs to two cases of Gatorade when we went out on missions, but we always had supplies, that was never an issue Chris: When you weren't running a mission how did people entertain themselves? SPC: Goofin off or workin out, I worked out a lot to relieve, get rid of built up hostility and anger, it was a good way of doin it. Played basketball, we made us a basketball court, made us a volleyball court since they have an abundance of sand over there. You can be surprised what you can come up with, with so much time on your hands. Chris: Were there any kind of pranks you guys would pull on each other? SPC: I had a mouse trap put on my computer one time and I didn't know it.. I come in from a mission one day and I put my hand on my mouse pad to like wake my computer up like I did every other day and somebody thought it would be cute to put a mouse trap that was set on my mouse pad and it nailed me, but be assured I got him back (laughs) I promise. Chris: What about the officers? What did you think about them? How were they? SPC: They were, I liked all of my officers except one and I'm not going to get into all the details about that because that's not my place nor my rank, but the only thing I didn't like about it, about him, was he would never listen to his soldiers. And the bad thing about it was is he was my PL and he wouldn't, it was always his way or the �highway, he never would listen, but that was the only issue we ever had out of any of our officers. All the rest of them, you couldn't ask for anybody better. We even had a change of command while we were over there and it was right in the middle of the tour, we went from our previous captain, Captain Bowls and Captain Gill you would of never thought we had a change of command..it was smooth sailing, I was impressed, I thought it was gonna go worse than it did but I was very, very surprised and I was happy, I was very happy. Chris: What did you do on leave, I know you get a 2 week leave? SPC: I went, I came back up here to Boone saw some of my friends, I went down to Wilmington, NC for a couple days, spent some time with my family, spent some time with my girlfriend, at the time, basically just hung out... I got a tattoo (laughs) of my fist holding my dogtags up saying OIF 2009-2010. Drank some, that's about it...had a good time. Didn't want to go back that's for sure. Chris: After your leave, how much longer did you have? SPC: I was the 2nd chalk to go out on leave so basically I was there a month before I went home to go on leave and when I got back I was there for another 8 and a half months. I didn't leave again. I didn't go on RR, because you can go on RR down to Kuwait its like for 3 and a half 4 days you can go do that, like 3 or 4 people got to do that and go on leave, but didn't have enough rank to do that apparently....so its all good. Chris: Once you got back when did you return to school? SPC: I got back, I left December 1st of 2009 I got back January 24th of 2010 so I didn't have I got back to late to start that semester so I started this past fall was actually my first semester going back to school. I did take a summer class to kind of get back in the groove of studying and stuff over this past summer, but my first full semester was fall of 2010. Chris: Ok, and you said your National Guard so your education is supported by GI Bill? SPC: Yes it is. Chris: Tell me about the friendships you made since you've been in the service. SPC: You'd be surprised who you can become friends with you think the people you'd never even think about talking to, would all of a sudden become some of your best friends, people you can count on, when your put in a stressful situation like that being put on guard 24hrs a day, 365days a year and your just constantly on edge and on A game youd be surprised of how good of friends you make with some people because I mean the guy to the left and right of you has your back and literally �they got your back, I mean its some friendships I know I'm not even trying to make a career out of the military, I'm doing my time and I'm doing my six years getting schooled paid for and I'm getting out, but I know that even after I get out I'm still going to be friends with 95% of the guys Chris: Talk a little bit about your military experience, did your military experience influence your thinking about the war or the military in general? SPC: Can you repeat that? Chris: Did your military experience influence your thinking about war or the military in general? You going over there? Did it have any kind of... SPC: When I went over there I had a pre conceived notion anybody that watches the news has a pre conceived notion about war when you are actually put into it it's a way differnet outlook, the stuff that they cover on tv is only a 4th of a fraction of a percent of what really goes on, and I don't think that's right I think people should know, I think people should know what happens, what goes on from day to day and not just in Iraq I think it should be all over the country, since they are actually paying for this to go on so I feel like they should know whats going on, to a certain extent, I mean I know that OPSEC and stuff like that you gotta keep quiet about some certain things I understand that but I think they should broadcast more of what goes on, what they can broadcast I should say cause like I said I mean it's the tax payers money that's going to do all that and it's a lot of money involved in war. As on my outlook I come... are you talking about like how the war affected me? Chris: Right SPC: It changed my outlook a significant amount, I've had some problems since I've gotten back like anybody that's been deployed it can be anything from having an upset stomach everyday to having some major problems I mean I have friends that went over there with me that have flashbacks almost everyday, I have them to an extent. But, I feel like I mean I don't feel like I know I grew up a lot, a lot and you have to because I mean if you don't, if you don't except what you're doing and really pay attention you're talking about dealing with your life. It just makes you appreciate things a lot better I should say. Chris: Is there anything that we haven't covered that you'd like to add, anything that I didn't ask that has your mind kind of stirring? SPC: let me think...I think that anybody that joins the military especially in todays time I feel like they should be deployed, atleast do something because the way I look at it is I would, I would at first when I joined I didn't want to go nowhere I just wanted to get my money, do my thing, go to drill once a month, AT in the summer, do that for 6 years and I'm done, but after I went over seas I feel like everybody that joins the military should do it, I mean its what you sign your name on the dotted line �for, to serve and defend our country. So I don't feel like people, I mean I know countless people that just, when we found out we were getting ready to get deployed just started coming up with some of the craziest stuff to try and get out of it and I don't, if you're going to do that then you really need to consider your career in the military for sure, because you're taking the easy way and that's not right to me. That actually pisses me off, to an extent because I mean I had a chance of staying home I had a 2year college first program and I waived that to go with my friends because I couldn't of thought of even begin to wrap my head around the fact that something happened to them and me not be there and I don't ever want to go back, but I'd never change it, I wouldn't take it back for the world. It makes me who I am today, that's for sure...that's probably about it. Chris: Alright well I appreciate your time and I guess that wraps up the interview with SPG Crawley and thanks again for your time. SPC: No problem � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/3f71607f2798f2af05b965335601f085.mp3 c34c51200f816df9ddbc124bfd2c85c8 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. Crawley, Seth Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Garner, Chris Interview Date 3/3/11 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:23:55 File name 2013_063_Crawley_SethW_interview 2013_063_Crawley_Seth_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 Seth Crawley, 3 March 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garner, Chris Crawley, Seth 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. 7 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Subject The topic of the resource Crawley, Seth Iraq War, 2003-2011 Veterans Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Description An account of the resource SPC Seth Crawley is a specialist in the National Guard and was stationed in Baghdad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was there for about a year fighting the terrorism of Al Qaeda. He explains that it has been hard adjusting back to regular life, especially on his digestive system and mental health. Al Queda Baghdad National Guard Operation Iraqi Freedom SPC Seth Crawley 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 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/2bef6ffa64a39fa4cc68ffd3748e6e07.pdf 05ca53486c547b441240042407bf1c59 PDF Text Text Military Oral History Interview Transcript Francesca Johnson Asheville, North Carolina SF: Steven Folts FJ: Francesca Johnson SF: Before we begin I would like to thank you for participating in this interview and for your willingness to be a part of this veteran’s oral history project. I want you to be sure you realize that if you agree, this interview and its transcript will be made available in the special collections in Appalachian State University’s library. And finally I want you to know that if there are any questions you don’t feel comfortable asking or you feel they violate operational security, let me know and we will move on. Do you agree? FJ: I agree. SF: Can you tell us your name, and the date and place of your birth? FJ: Francesca Johnson, December 14th 1977, Anaheim, California. SF: And can you please tell us what war and branch of service you served in? FJ: Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Army. SF: And what was your highest rank? FJ: Sergeant. SF: I want to talk a little bit about what led up to you joining the Army, so when did you enlist? FJ: I enlisted in, on February 29th, 2000. SF: Okay, and what initially made you want to join the military? FJ: I wanted to travel. SF: You wanted to travel. And what made you choose the army over the other branches? FJ: My father was in the Army, so I kind of knew a little bit more about the Army than any of the other branches. SF: Okay, so what was your first military occupational specialty, your first job you had? FJ: It was 71L, administrative specialist. 1 �SF: So can you tell us a little bit about what that does? FJ: Awards, NCOERs… SF: Whole lot of paperwork and personnel type stuff? FJ: Yes. SF: Okay, so why don’t you tell us about your first day of basic training. FJ: It was… kind of weird (laughs). SF: Kind of weird? FJ: Yes It wasn’t what I expected, I thought there would be more yelling, there wasn’t too much yelling, it was mostly kind of fun. SF: So what were some of the things you learned while you were at Fort Jackson? FJ: No, I was in Fort Leonard Wood. SF: Okay. FJ: Some of the things I learned in basic? SF: Yes, what was it like back then in 2000? FJ: It was probably not that much different than what they’re doing now. We didn’t have combatives back then. So that’s probably the only really thing that was different. SF: Okay, so just give us like a basic, the stuff you started at the very beginning, like PT and moving into BRM, something like that. FJ: They did start us with PT. You start off, I think they started only running us a mile, and then they acclimatized us, however you want to say it, so that we could run further and did more exercises, so it got harder and harder. SF: Okay. So, do you have any moments that really stood out for you, memorable moments that you had when you were there? FJ: I liked the range; I never shot before I went to basic training. I did very well (laughs). SF: How do you feel about the quality of your training you received there, and the drill sergeants that taught you? FJ: I liked it. I thought it was a great experience. 2 �SF: After you finished your basic training and AIT (advanced individual training), where was the first duty station they sent you to? FJ: It was Daegu, Korea. SF: So how long were you at this first unit before you moved or got deployed? Can you tell us about like, the track leading up to you getting deployed? FJ: I was sent to Korea, and then I was sent to Fort Polk, Louisiana, then I was sent to Germany. And then I got out for two years and came back into the reserves, and that’s when I deployed to Iraq. SF: So why don’t you tell us where did you first land where you deployed, where did your plane land? FJ: It was Kuwait. SF: Okay. So what, can you walk us through like, your first day overseas? FJ: Pretty much when we first get there they put us in a room and kind of give us the briefing about the base and kind of like what’s going on, and the weather, they tell you of course you need to drink a lot of water cause you’re not used to that weather, and besides that we started getting ready, we start training a little bit over there. You’re only there like, maybe between one and two months, at the most SF: In Kuwait before you went to Iraq? FJ: Yes. Usually you’re supposed to be there ten days but we were only there for five. They sent us pretty quick. SF: Okay. What kind of things do you do in your downtime while you’re overseas? FJ: Um, went to the gym, or we ran around the base. There really wasn’t that much to do. They had a Starbucks and all that over there, I was surprised about that. But um, pretty much we just you know, exercised. I think everybody just exercised or barbecued. That’s about all we did SF: Did you guys have any way to stay in touch with your families, like internet or phones? FJ: Yeah, whenever it worked. SF: Whenever it worked? FJ: Yeah it was bad, because the generators would go out, but it was ok. It worked most of the time but usually when you really wanted it to work it didn’t 3 �SF: What year was this? FJ: 2009? The end of 2009, the beginning of 2010. SF: Were you given any leave time while you were over there? FJ: I was sent home early, so I did not take any leave. It was during Obama’s little thing where they had to send 50,000 troops home so I was one of them. SF: Could you tell us about your day-to-day duties while you were overseas, what you did in a general day? FJ: I worked with finance and I worked with the soldiers if they had any financial programs. I started getting everyone’s leave forms ready for when they did want to go on R & R. I also had to do accountability every morning about where our Soldiers were at. SF: Did you guys do any training while you over there, or was it just your job? FJ: Yeah, it was just our job; we didn’t really do too much training. SF: Did you see any combat while you were over there, anyone shoot any rockets at your base? FJ: Yeah, we got mortared twice while I was there but nobody got hurt. SF: Okay, so nobody got hurt, or you never saw anyone got wounded or got wounded yourself? FJ: Uh, no. We had one convoy, our first convoy that went out the wire, hit an IED (improvised explosive device) but there was only one person that was injured, he got shrapnel to his hand. SF: The first convoy that went out? FJ: Mm hmm. SF: Interesting. Did you have any of those critical incident debriefings, where something really bad happened and they gathered you all together? FJ: No, I didn’t. SF: Did you participate in any joint service operations with the other branches of service? FJ: No. SF: Do you have any memories that really stand out, good, bad, extremely boring from when you were over there? 4 �FJ: Um, the only good one that I can think of is every time, every Saturday or Sunday, a lot of us got together and just hung out and barbequed and that was a pretty good time. SF: Were you off on weekends? FJ: Some of us were, like every other weekend we would take off. SF: So generally you had like, a seven day week, then a five day, then a seven day? Okay. So what kind of awards did you get while you were there or right after you got back? FJ: I only got a good conduct medal since I came back early. SF: Do you feel like being deployed affected your relationships with your family and friends either while you were there, or after you got back? FJ: No. SF: Do you feel like it affected you personally at all? FJ: No. SF: Did being overseas change your opinions on maybe military service or our mission overseas at all? FJ: No. SF: So, did you have any difficulty readjusting when you got home? FJ: Um, yeah, well the first thing that you have to get used to is not carrying your weapon around. So I’d wake up and look for it. But besides that no, not really. Because I never really went out the wire so I didn’t have to worry about driving and stuff like that, but um, that was the only thing that I had to get used to, and acclimatizing again when I came back, it was a lot colder than what it was over there. SF: Do you still stay in contact with people from, you deployed with but aren’t serving with anymore, they’re in different units? FJ: No, we’re all still together. SF: Didn’t make any friends from other units? FJ: No. SF: So, what would you say to somebody thinking about joining the military today? 5 �FJ: I would say “do it.” I think it’s great. I learned a lot and I think I’m a better person for it, for what I did SF: So where are you stationed right now, and can you tell us a little bit about what you do there? FJ: I am stationed in Asheville right now. And I just got a new job as 68W SF: So tell us what that means. FJ: Medic. SF: So you’re a medic. FJ: Yes. SF: So, what do you think you’re going do with that, your new job or your career in general? FJ: I’m still kind of just new at it, but I’d like to pursue something more with it probably. Maybe go nursing, I’m not sure SF: You think you’re going try to retire out of the military, do the whole 20 years? FJ: Oh yeah, definitely. I’m halfway there already. SF: Alright, so why do you feel, if you do, that it’s important for veterans to share their stories? FJ: Well, probably just for knowledge, I mean you can always learn something new from everybody, you know to do something different in a different way, to learn people’s experiences. SF: Okay, so is there anything we didn’t cover that you might want to add, want to say on the record? FJ: No. SF: Well thank you very much for your time Sargent Johnson, and on behalf of all of us, thank you for your service. FJ: You’re welcome. 6 � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/1a15bb63240f85ddb0647e7650ef7e11.mp3 ef16a7c36906211a6372f75170e9e970 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. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Folts, Steven Interview Date 11/14/11 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:11:42 Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound. 6 pages 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 Francesca Johnson, 14 November 2011 Subject The topic of the resource Iraq War, 2003-2011 Johnson, Francesca Veterans Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Francesca Johnson, interviewed by Steven Folts, was born December 14, 1977 in Anaheim, California. She enlisted in the United States Army in February 2000 and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the interview she discusses her experiences in training and her job duties. 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 (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Language A language of the resource English Francesca Johnson Operation Iraqi Freedom United States Army