1 50 1 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/9fa6eb5176ba64da1380ca059db66d7b.pdf 3fc180388b1b6b77e308ece7b62ad854 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/. Description An account of the resource Colonel David Hubner talks about his career in the military spanning multiple decades. He began in Germany, was deployed in Iraq a couple of times and moved around the United States to several training camps. He retired after his sons graduated high school and his body began to show signs of wear and tear. He explains that active involvement in one's community is necessary and that serving the military allowed him to gain a solid perspective. PDF Text Text Transcript of Oral History Interview with Retired Col. David Scott Hubner Sr. 10/15/12. Sunbury, GA Scott Hubner – It is October 14th 2012, and I am recording retired Col David S Hubner for an interview for the Appalachian State US Military History class. Alright, Col Sir, Where and when were you born? COL Hubner – I was born in January 1961 in Montclair, New Jersey. Scott Hubner – Alright, did you move around a lot younger? COL Hubner – Well, my father was an IBM field engineer so when I was twelve years old we moved to North Carolina. We lived in Cary, North Carolina, my dad was working in the research triangle as a field engineer, and so we bought a house there and I went to middle school and high school in Cary, North Carolina near Raleigh. Scott Hubner – So then you went on to college and joined the Army after college? COL Hubner – I had a high SAT score and got a letter from West Point and the Citadel. And I had a friend who had a sister who went to Appalachian and when I found out that Appalachian had coed and the same ROTC commissioning program that they had at the citadel I decided to go to Appalachian. I had never visited there, so I went up there after I graduated in May 1979, August 1979 Scott Hubner – Alright, so studying, doing ROTC at Appalachian what branch did you want to move into? COL Hubner - Well when I started ROTC I wasn’t sure if I was going to join the army. I had an uncle who was in the navy and he had traveled around the world and that interested me. I had always wanted to see Europe and Germany as my great grandfather had been a German and my other grandpa had been a Scot. So I studied at Appalachian I didn’t contract until my junior year because I wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted to do, but after being around the program for a while and having a roommate who was in ROTC I thought what you know ill go in for a tour and see what its like, Get stationed in Germany. And I was intrigued by from my military history studies the cavalry and armor in particular, and what they had done in modern warfare so I decided that you know I was going to do something I wanted to be full bore I didn’t want to be an admin guy in the army so I decided that after doing commandos and doing a lot of foot patrols that being a tanker would be a lot more fun and you know tanks lead the war. Scott Hubner – Alright, so when did you commission and I assume you commissioned Armor? COL Hubner – I did, I got my first choice because I did well at advanced camp and despite a mediocre academic career at Appalachian. I had a good strong camp and was able to get my first choice which meant I was able to get armor and active duty. So I actually graduated in 1984 and spent an extra year. I �changed majors midway thru from business to English and when I figured out I was going to go in the army and they told me it really didn’t matter what my degree was, I know that’s changed some. But I went to Fort Knox for officer basic in June of 1984 after graduating from Appalachian. Scott Hubner – What do you recall from your first days in service? COL Hubner – You know it was kind of scary because you know here I am driving up to fort Knox Kentucky and I’m a brand new lieutenant. You know I’m in my class A’s I have to go sign in, weigh in and go through all of the admin stuff. You know it was a nerve racking thing at first and then you start meeting other guys from others schools, who were there for the same basic course and they put you in tank crews when you’re in armor so I had three guys I was pretty close too and we did a lot of things together from different schools. One was from UT (Tennessee), one was from Gettysburg College and the third was from Arizona so we were a good mixed bunch and you know it was a bonding thing. And I took it very seriously because I knew that I was out of college and this was now a profession. I wanted to be good at it; I didn’t feel like I knew a whole lot about armor when I got there. Scott Hubner – Alright, so shortly after you commissioning, where did you find yourself? What was your first assignment? COL Hubner – Well my first assignment was to Fort Knox KY and I was not happy, so I called armor branch and they wound up getting me a trade with a guy who wanted to stay close to home. I really wanted to go to Germany and see Europe because I wasn’t sure how long this army thing was going to last and I figured that you know that I should have an opportunity to do that. And that was where at that time because the cold war the Army considered the best units were over there. So I wanted to go to an armor/cavalry unit or a tank battalion that was on the border or in Germany and I got my wishes. I was sent in November to Bovergan, Germany. Which was then considered to be the first infantry division forward, it was a brigade plus of mechanized and I was assigned to second battalion 37th armor. Creighton Abrams was the 37th tank so he was our kind of our honorary guy and I was a young lieutenant platoon leader in Charlie Company, second battalion 37th armor. On M60 A3 tanks, that’s how old I am. Scott Hubner – So when was the first time you saw the war like experience, in the Gulf War? COL Hubner – Well, after Germany I went to the armor officer advanced course and I got married towards the end of my time in Germany a lady I met at Appalachian in German class actually and she came up a couple times in the summer to teach for Appalachian in the summer program. So we dated and decided to get married so we came back and I wanted to be closer to her parents in South Carolina and my parents in North Carolina. So I asked for Fort Stewart and at first they didn’t have it, but eventually someone resigned or something happened because I was eventually able to get my assignment to Fort Stewart. I was assigned initially to second brigade 24th infantry on the staff as a planner and eventually after an NTC rotation was moved down to take Delta Company 1-64 Armor. Before I went down to delta company they were shooting a gunnery and the guy that was leaving delta company did not want to shoot, he was working on going to recruiting command, not going to be in armor anymore so he wasn’t excited about getting on the tank and the battalion commander offered me the opportunity to go through gunnery. Of course I had to do the gunnery skills test and go through �at night after my day job as brigade staff, go through training on the machine guns and everything and then go through crew drills. That was a fortuitist experience for me because that was the crew that I would go to war with. So we bonded very early and if we hadn’t had that experience, we would’ve jumped on that tank without having gone through any training and it’s a fairly complex beast and if you don’t know what you’re doing you can get hurt or you can hurt somebody else. So I trained with that crew, we shot a gunnery, we qualified and then a couple months later we were on an airplane headed to Saudi Arabia to be the line in the sand. Scott Hubner – Did you see combat in this tour? COL Hubner – Yes, I had the ability to use a LORAN and I was pretty good with a map I had been a scout platoon leader in Germany and the battalion commander had known me from Germany he was our S3 for a year. He knew me when I was a scout so he wanted my company to lead the brigade into Iraq. We actually crossed the berm my company, the night before the attack and secured crossing points in Iraq. Then the next morning the battalion task force came through and we started the advance into Iraq. It was three days of road marching, a couple of good skirmishes, and then we did a deliberate attack on the Republican Guards Secured Airfield in Jalibah, Iraq. The in southern Iraq we got in a fight there with the Republican Guards. A couple kids got hurt, some killed. Not in my company but because my company was in the lead we saw a good bit of action, a couple of bronze stars for valor. We had a kid on a plow tank, his tank got caught in wire and jumped off of the tank under fire and pulled the wire out of the plow while he was being shot at. So it was a pretty wild experience and then we chased the Republican guard towards Basrah until they finally had a peace settlement. Basically, four or five days of nothing but attack, penetration, pursuit, and then cease fire. Scott Hubner – Was that the last time you got into real contact in your Army career or was there another time? COL Hubner – I then went on to be an S3(Staff Operations Officer) at Fort Riley, Kansas. After spending a little time as a PAO(Political Affairs Officer) and going to the Majors course. After that I was assigned to an ROTC duty at East Tennessee State University as a PMS, I thought that was pretty much it, I was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Then I got a call from a guy who had known me, a two start general, General Craddock who had selected me to command a tank battalion in the First Infantry Division in Europe. I went over to Europe and commanded that battalion deployed it to Kosovo which was kind of a low intensity conflict at that time and then we got the call to go to Iraq for OIF II(Operation Iraqi Freedom II). In OIF II we were in Sala Adin which was a very hotly contested area of the Sunni insurgency. My task force was centered in the city of Balaad and fought in Samarra in operation Baton Rouge. Also fought during the first election and before that the unit was awarded the Valorous Unit Citation, to this day the proudest award because that was a unit award and not many units get to be chosen to be valorous units. So I was the commander of 1-77 armor for three years in Schweinfurt, Germany. But only in Schweinfurt for about 10 months we were deployed twice, once to the Balkans, and once to OIF II. We had 90 plus purple hearts. Six of my soldiers were killed. I got blown up a couple times by IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and also had a mortar round land on top of the room I was in. But we made it through pretty much unscathed I was blessed. �Scott Hubner – After OIF II where did your military career go? COL Hubner – Well after battalion command I was selected for the war college. After I was at the war college I was called by our branch and they said basically you are a top choice for brigade command, but we’ve only got two armor brigades open and then a training brigade and we think you should wait a year and try to compete for one of the maneuver brigades. Because I had been in battalion command for three years and I had been through what I had been through I didn’t mind taking the training brigade I thought It would be a good command. So I told them I was going to go ahead and compete and I was selected after the war college to go ahead and command the 1-94th armor brigade which is the Armor branches training brigade. I trained the 19-Delta Scouts and 19- Kilo Tankers, tank and Bradley mechanics and they also had some basic training units, at that time they did. So it was a seven battalion brigade and the most interesting thing about that was, I took command and we were in a surge in Iraq. So we had a heavy training load and our attrition went very high and there was some concern that we were letting to many people go in the Army. But I think because we held that standard our branch is better off now with enlisted soldiers than they might’ve been than some of the other branches because they let some people in that should not have been in during that period. And that why there is a lot of the discipline problems that are in the army today. So after that brigade command I had two children that were both in high school, I wanted to try to see them through in one school. So I met the commander of the ROTC General Bartell. He interviewed me and wanted me to come be his 1st brigade commander which was the military colleges of the country so I did that for a year. Then he asked me to be the 1st chief of staff at Fort Knox, which I did and enjoyed as we tried to bring ROTC headquarters to Fort Knox, which we did. At that point I was nearing the end of the road, physically I had some issues with my back and my sons were out of high school so there wasn’t a whole lot more I really wanted to do in the army at that point. But I did deploy one more time; I got the opportunity to go work for General Bartell in Iraq, in a brigadier generals position. I was the chief of current operations for all US forces Iraq. It was a great experience and it was kind of a neat thing for me because I had been in the original desert shield/desert storm when we first got into a conflict with Iraq, I then had fought in OIF II as a task force commander and had been there for the first election, and then as a United States forces Iraq senior staff officer I got to help plan with the withdrawal and the end of the conflict in Iraq for US forces. So that to me was perfect, I got to do that for six months and I submitted my retirement paperwork before I left so that I could come back and get all of the VA and medical things done, my sons were now out of high school and so I retired with full honors after 28 years of service. I went to work with some guys, actually my boss was a guy I knew in desert storm so it all comes around I guess. Scott Hubner – So you retired as a full bird Colonel, what do you remember about taking that step, that last day in the Army, retirement? COL Hubner – I really, because I didn’t want to dwell on the past I really just stayed focused on the current and the future. I kind of learned from the army to live your life that way, not to get stuck on the past too much, maybe when I’m older, later and when I stop working. I was hustling trying to get moved out, get all of my VA stuff done. So it was a sense of relief that it was all done, I felt like I had a good run. I also felt like I had done everything I had wanted to do in the army. It was time to go and hand it over to younger folks that were hard charging and ready to lead. Also as I senior leader you see sometimes the �army goes through ups and downs and I felt that I did not want to go through another downturn where we reduce forces, and cut civilian jobs. Because as a senior leader, the generals expect the colonels to carry the mail, the bad news and though the colonels don’t always agree with the decisions of course they salute and move out and do that. I was tired of doing that as a chief of staff, that’s why I also took that duty in Iraq, we also got a general in Cadet Command General Mark McDonald but he wanted his own chief an artillery guy so it was time for me to move on and it really gave me the opportunity to reflect so now I look at it and say “now what can I do to make my mark as a private citizen” so that’s what I’m trying to do now. Scott Hubner – Is there anything you would like to add that we haven’t covered in this interview thus far? COL Hubner – I think that everyone should serve their country in some form or fashion whether it is their community or nation. I really think that should be a prerequisite to citizenship or at least to being able to vote. If you have never been a nurse or teacher, firemen, policemen, or a volunteer at something you should do that. I was blessed to have the physical and mental capability to be an officer in the Army and I loved it, I don’t regret a minute of it. I think it’s a great start for young people and it gives you a good perspective. I think it’s very important to help you with your perspective of the world. I raised my children to be citizens of the world not just citizens of just North Carolina or South Carolina or whatever. I want them to understand that we are blessed here and only by the hard work and bravery of the ones before us. So I want them to have that mental outlook. Scott Hubner – Thank you for your service, Retired COL David S Hubner. Thank you for your interview, I appreciate your time. COL Hubner – Thank you. � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/f173b496627fce1dda86d7b153acc751.mp3 f70a6fcfbf5e7a172d31af3aeefed5d3 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. Hubner, David S. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Hubner, Scott Interview Date 10/15/12 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:19:13 File name 2013_063_Hubner_DavidScott 2013_063_Hubner_DavidScott_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 David Scott Hubner, 15 October 2012 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hubner, Scott Hubner, David S. 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 Hubner, David S. Veterans United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Colonel David Hubner describes his service in the military which spanned multiple decades. He began in Germany, was deployed a couple of times to Iraq, and moved around the United States to various training camps. He retired after his sons graduated from high school and his body began to show physical signs of wear and tear. He explains that serving one's community is necessary and being a part of the military allowed him to gain a solid perspective. ASU colonel Fort Knox Germany Gulf War Jalibah Iraq ROTC senior leader