750 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e6e0fb7b8f3de8dd0b5c8d5388a3bfe8.jpg 9ad1b1cf94121b9c2f9faa5e5b34f1b2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b4bda37a3a898ba0cd03790a53c24ba6.jpg 8438441a7b5df69c08e6fff75128bcec 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Otsego-32 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Otsego Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1968-03-26 Title A name given to the resource Plaintiff Exhibit 2 Description An account of the resource Plaintiff's Exhibit 2. A hand-drawn map labeled The Village of Saugatuck, Mich., 1907. The map depicts both several city blocks and the water, where there are multiple kinds of boats on the water. On the back "#4" has been written in the top right corner. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Allegan County (Mich.) Saugatuck (Mich.) Citizen suits (Civil procedure) Evidence Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/153cddf8c48f03902ca7048ac8d9790b.jpg 33e770ba4197f49de106b084fa54492c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ac9cd68cadd99d09554b493a1b9c9a9d.jpg 51aafe12e21573e7f5fdf05b7da74195 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Otsego-34 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Otsego Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1968-03-26 Title A name given to the resource Plaintiff Exhibit 3 Description An account of the resource Plaintiff's Exhibit 3. A black and white shot of four buildings, including the Cook Boat House, located on the water that is taken from across the water. There are several boats docked or on the shore. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Allegan County (Mich.) Saugatuck (Mich.) Citizen suits (Civil procedure) Evidence Boats Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f94cfd2a308a8eb5f58f4157f1c8f1c3.jpg 70529b71434b7f78029b6735c9073bdb https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4ad7271dd6d1b8097e05f4c6a124a805.jpg 27e5c55fc68395a1fc2c4199178ee6a1 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Otsego-36 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Otsego Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1968-03-26 Title A name given to the resource Plaintiff Exhibit 9 Description An account of the resource Plaintiff's Exhibit 9. A black and white aerial shot taken of the buildings along the water. The picture is taken from Mt. Baldhead, as expressed in the bottom right corner. A small 40 is written below it. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Allegan County (Mich.) Saugatuck (Mich.) Citizen suits (Civil procedure) Evidence Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ea689efa7942d8dcffa23e9f2dee043d.jpg a7d5fd96d3993f463df9a006179eef51 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. 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 DC-07_SD-Otsego-04 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Otsego Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1967-06-20 Title A name given to the resource Coburn v Kalamazoo Ferry Company, 1 Description An account of the resource Legal action that the Coburn family took against the Kalamazoo Ferry Company. It provides background information about the case and the franchise agreement that led to the lawsuit. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Allegan County (Mich.) Citizen suits (Civil procedure) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b6da6a730d4af3618d7813f44c168686.pdf bb1faeb88ac189c2bc64b87d97a1cfcd PDF Text Text � 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 Incunabula Description An account of the resource The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1450/1500 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Incunabula Collection (DC-03) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a> Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource eng it la nl de Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Die vierundzwanzig Alten, oder Der goldne Thron [folium 177] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03_177Otto1480 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Otto von Passau Description An account of the resource One leaf from Die vierundzwanzig Alten, oder Der goldne Thron, by Otto von Passau. Printed in Augsburg by Anton Sorg on March 10, 1480. [GW M28503; ISTC io00119000] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Augsburg: Anton Sorg Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Language A language of the resource de Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1480 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8e57f56fce4b67a191de080a59b498fb.mp4 0e767f530bada03185b2886777cadfee https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/789685d74b3311770400fede1e46846a.pdf 15691999ae5de0e92367fe72537b9868 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Jessica Oudbier War on Terror 2 hours 38 minutes 37 seconds (00:00:14) Early Life -Born on April 6, 1989 in Fort Ord, California near Monterrey, California -Father was stationed there at the time for the Defense Language Institute -He was planning on becoming a Russian linguist for the military -Moved around a lot growing up -Lived in Colorado -Then in Spokane, Washington -Father was assigned to NORAD -Parents got divorced shortly after her father was assigned to NORAD -She and her mother and siblings moved to Spokane, Washington -Spent most of her early life growing up on military bases -Difficult to form long lasting friendships because she moved around a lot -Father was a Russian linguist and also collected data from satellites -She had one brother and two half siblings -First went to John R. Rogers High School in Spokane, Washington -Left Spokane when she was sixteen to move in with her father in Beaver Creek, Ohio -Attended Beaver Creek High School and graduated from there in 2007 -It was not uncommon for children in Spokane to have a parent in the military -Took care of mother and brother growing up (00:06:17) Enlisting and September 11th Attacks -Knew she would enlist in the military when she was old enough -There was the expectation she would serve the government in some way -Remembers being thirteen when 9/11 happened -She was in class at Jefferson Middle School -Trying to explain to her teacher that America was under attack -She needed to call her father to make sure he was okay -Uncle worked in the Pentagon -Eventually confirmed that he was alive, but very busy -Grew up knowing that the United States would eventually be attacked -Wanted to serve her country already, 9/11 just made it concrete -Knew that college wasn’t for her -Felt that it would be better to serve her country than waste her time -Enlisted when she was seventeen in the Navy -Mother was fine with it and so was her father -Had to go through psych exams for security clearance -Enlisted on August 15, 2007 (00:13:53) Basic Training -Sent to MEPC for processing Cleveland, Ohio -Set up in a hotel �-Interviewed and examined again to make sure you’re fit for service -Flown to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois for basic training -Knew what to expect from training from talking to her father and family -It was interesting to watch recruits from civilian families trying to argue with instructors -Also kind of entertaining -Stripped, given military clothing, and given a short haircut -A lot of recruits joined to pay for college, needed the money, or they faced jail instead -Only one or two recruits from rich families -The goal was to break down the individual and build up the unit -Did this by inciting division and urging recruits to work together -Break down the idea of being an individual and individual competition -Responding almost unconsciously to orders -Physical training consisted of marching, running and calisthenics -Took courses on Navy history and on ship classification -Scored 96 out of 100 on the ASVAB and wanted to work on a nuclear submarine -Wasn’t allowed to do that because she was a female sailor -The first couple weeks were difficult because two female recruits didn’t like her -Accused her of being racist and arrogant when in fact she was neither -Tried to confront them and deal with the issue -They were eventually kicked out of the Navy -Male recruits were wary of talking to female recruits -She was placed in charge of singing cadence and also temporary second in command -Everyone got sick at the start of basic training -Got picked to be the AROC because she didn’t lose her voice -Basic training lasted eight weeks -Final test was “battle stations” and after that was in the Navy (00:32:28) Advanced Training -Placed on a bus and driven across the street to A School for operations specialist training -It was a good job -Working in CIC on a ship, dealing with communications and computers -Watched radar screens and talked to other ships and also handled air traffic -Training consisted of spending eight hours each day sitting in classrooms -Learned about semaphore, Morse code, and radio etiquette -Learning more about the different types of ships and satellites -Taking tests -Took night classes to help speed up the process -Able to visit Chicago on a few occasions -Found ways to get extra sleep and get cigarette breaks -Learned it’s just about being respectful to people with authority -Completed operations specialist training in February 2008 (00:38:24) Tactical Air Control Squadron 12 -Wanted to go to work at NORAD like her father -Request was denied -Sent to Tactical Air Control Squadron 12 in San Diego, California -Worked alongside air traffic controllers -Considered “staff” because they worked for the fleet commander �-Meant they were afforded certain privileges -Didn’t have to do the same things other sailors had to -She wasn’t well received -Made some friends, made some enemies -Assigned specifically to Coronado Naval Air Station -Given a lot of freedom (00:41:24) Sexism and Harassment Pt. 1 -Didn’t expect the sexism and double standards -Started dating Marines -Received a lot of trouble from other female service members -There was one older, female officer that targeted her -Harassed her consistently -Tried to be relaxed and professional about that harassment -Worked hard and got promoted quickly -Other service members claimed she just used sex to get promoted -One older Marine got her number and began to call her -Eventually led to sexual abuse on a regular basis -She could not get rid of him -He wrecked her car (00:49:00) First Deployment -Deployed aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard in the summer of 2008 -Taking part in RIMPAC with foreign navies and marines in Hawaii -Rim of the Pacific Exercise -Doing naval exercises -Got to stay in Honolulu and met a good Canadian soldier -She got along better with foreign service members -They treated their women better -Harassed for spending more time with them than Americans -Began training for Theatre Battle Management Combat System (TBMCS) -Correlating data with air, land, and sea forces of American and foreign forces -Sent to Point Loma, California for that training -Enjoyed it -Became a systems administrator -Meant she would be working with officers which was more relaxing -Didn’t have to deal with the same amount of harassment -There was still no way to report harassment though -Did a lot of monitoring and waiting -Joined thinking that there would be more actual combat -Learned that the boredom and helplessness of being on a ship was mind numbing -There was no privacy and anything you said or did, everyone found out about -Saw the best and worst of people aboard the Bonhomme Richard -No chance to relax and get away from people -This was especially stressful since everyone she knew, hated her (01:02:30) Sexism and Harassment Pt. 2 -Living with a man who routinely sexually abused her -He would manipulate her and would blackmail her �-She had moved in with him to a place in the middle of nowhere -This made the abuse even worse -The abuse led to identity issues, depression, and work problems -She got an unfair and bad reputation that followed her through the Navy and her personal life -Eventually found out that he was married and receiving a housing allowance from the Marines -Found out that he was married after he was deployed to Afghanistan -He wound up divorcing his wife to try and keep Jessica around -She was too young to understand that it was just more manipulation -He was also selling spice (synthetic form of marijuana, illegal, but didn’t show in drug tests) -He would videotape him raping her, drugging her, and inviting other men to rape her -She eventually got pregnant because of him -Decided that the only way to deal with this was to commit suicide -At least then she and the child would be free of him -Decided to overdose on pills and cough syrup -Led to a miscarriage, but did not kill her -After surviving the miscarriage and suicide attempt she had to go to work -Continued to have to live in the situation without any chance of escape -Eventually summoned the courage to write him a “Dear John” letter -“Dear John” – break up letter -Received it when he was in Afghanistan -Made the situation even worse because now he was seen as the victim (01:16:00) Meeting Rocky -She began to take part in a “workup” (preparing for the ship to be deployed) -During the workup she met a Marine by the name of Rocky -It was love at first sight -They bonded over their mutual affection for Pearl Jam -He was a good man, and it was an honest relationship -Tim called from Afghanistan about the Dear John letter -Rocky intervened on her behalf and told him that she was done with him -In the meantime Rocky was transferred to the Bonhomme Richard -The cruise was eventually extended to a ten month deployment -Had to maintain professionalism with Rocky during the cruise -But still had to maintain the relationship as well -Both wanted to be mature and respectful with each other -Tim then sent all of the videotapes of her “taking” drugs to her superiors -This led to her being investigated (01:20:30) Second Deployment -At the time of her second deployment she managed to avoid her coworkers -They were still harassing her -Made sure that she did her job and did it well to avoid any further scrutiny -Began to work with one marine by the name of Sergeant Oudbier -The destination of the second deployment was the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen -In the meantime, Tim has had her car and all of her personal possessions destroyed -Also has had her pets killed and attempted to destroy her friendships -She was also being investigated by an officer that hated her -Tim had friends aboard the ship that were also watching her so he could harass her with letters �-During the deployment the Marines were starting to get anxious and destructive -This caused her and the other sailors problems -After the Gulf of Aden they sailed for Thailand -It was a chance to spend some time with Rocky -Tim has also managed to destroy Rocky’s prized guitar by this time too -During this deployment Sergeant Oudbier is sent to Djibouti (01:27:13) Combat Operations -During the second deployment the Bonhomme Richard was carrying out classified operations -Sending out strike fighters to bomb unknown targets in Yemen -Knew about, but didn’t know about, the people that were dying from the air strikes -Believes that it was nothing less than mass murder -Innocent men, women, and children were getting killed indiscriminately -Even pitied the militants who had no way of defending against the air strikes -Had to approach her job by being numb and detached (01:29:52) Meeting Sergeant Oudbier -After the operations in the Gulf of Aden the ship sailed to Malaysia -Couldn’t find Rocky because he had gone off with his friends -Sergeant Oudbier came back to the ship from Djibouti -Wife had divorced him over Christmas -This led to her and Sergeant Oudbier getting closer -During the deployment she had been under a lot of stress and was being overworked -Ship eventually pulled into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -She and Sergeant Oudbier were the only ones aboard the ship -He found her sobbing and decided that they both needed to get away -He took her out for dates in the city, one thing led to another, and she got pregnant -She met up with Rocky and broke up with him -She couldn’t handle the emotional stress of being with another disloyal man -The pregnancy was a complete surprise -She had been told that, after the miscarriage, she couldn’t have children -At this point she now faced being dishonorably discharged, homeless, and pregnant -She was told on April 1, 2010 that she was pregnant -Thought that it was a sick April Fool’s Day joke at first -Because she was pregnant she had to be flown off the ship -The ship was in Pearl Harbor and only two weeks from returning to the U.S. -Still had to do the “flight of shame” out of Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii -In light of the circumstances, she and Sergeant Oudbier began dating (01:39:45) Stationed in San Diego -She was able to sleep on a friend’s couch in San Diego for two weeks -Her family didn’t know she was off the ship and pregnant -Told them when they came to greet her in San Diego -Also introduced them to Matt Oudbier -She was transferred to the Transient Personnel Unit in San Diego -Moved into an apartment with Matt and started to learn about each other more -Assigned to Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility (FACSFAC) San Diego -Didn’t want to be assigned to that -Job was to track air traffic in the San Diego area �-She was being treated well by Matt and was away from the people that hated her -Decided to have another child with Matt before he was deployed to Afghanistan -Wanted to make sure that she had two children in rapid succession -First daughter was born on December 12, 2010 -She was working a rotating shift at FACSFAC -8AM-2PM, 2PM-10PM, 10PM-8AM, Thursday and Friday off -Made sleeping hard which made life hard -On top of this she was receiving death threats from Tim -Managed to get through all of it with the help of Matt -Transferred to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California after her second child (01:46:16) Reenlistment and Reassignment -She decided to reenlist and was reassigned to the USS New Orleans in November 2012 -At the time of her assignment to that ship it was in dry dock undergoing repairs -She was a regular operations specialist and was no longer considered “staff” -Met the new people that she would be working with, hoped that she could start over -She was an E5 (Petty Officer-2nd Class) -But she had no pins (enlisted warfare pins) and had two children -Both were major negatives, and her reputation had already followed her -Got off to a bad start with her coworkers -She was cleaning a space with them on the ship -Mentioned that a song sounded like a song by the rap group NWA -Someone reported her for being “racist” -Stuck up for herself and explained the context of the use of the word -The chief petty officer liked her and gave her plenty of work to do -The New Orleans got out of dry dock and began to do maneuvers to prepare for deployment -Matt was getting out of the Marines which meant he could stay with the kids (01:52:39) Leaving the Navy -Saw a young female sailor starting to go through the same things she had with Tim -Tried to give her advice about avoiding men like that -The girl wound up getting sexually assaulted anyway -She tried to defend the girl, but was rejected -Other sailors under her command were leaking classified information and getting it disorganized -Because she was in charge she was the one who was blamed for it -Faced going to prison because of it -Her emotional state deteriorated again and she began to contemplate suicide -Marriage wasn’t turning out the way she thought it would -Starting to “grey out”-essentially going through life on autopilot -While doing an air and sea exercise she finally had a nervous breakdown -Spoke with a medical officer, legal officer, and a chaplain -Told the chaplain everything that had happened to her in the Navy -She was removed and taken to shore via boat -Remembers seeing Comic-Con 2013 happening in San Diego -This would have placed her departure from the New Orleans in July 2013 -She was taken to meet with her psychologist who had helped her stay in the Navy -She had wanted to stay in the Navy, but was going to be medically discharged -She had wanted to go on the deployment �-People were saying she was just faking to get out of being deployed -Wishes that she could have had the friendships male sailors had had -She was considered “promiscuous” for talking to a male sailor -Or exercising in front of male sailors -Got discharged from the Navy in February 2014 (02:03:55) Moving to Michigan and Life after the Navy -Sent the children to Michigan to live with their maternal grandmother -Her depression was getting worse again -Braved it to be around for her husband and children -Lived in a motel with Matt while as they prepared to leave San Diego -One night she went to the hot tub and had a drink and one extra sleeping pill -Fell asleep in the hot tub, and Matt thought it was a suicide attempt -She was taken to Balboa Hospital and woke up in the mental ward -Had to stay there for a couple days before being released -Decided to move to Michigan and start their lives over there -Wanted to be able to attend Grand Valley State University -Figured that it would be best so that children could be watched by family -Moved her mother to Michigan from Texas -Neighborhood she was living in was getting worse -As of 2015, she is in therapy and is considered 80% disabled by the government (02:09:16) Reflections on Service Pt. 1 -She doesn’t know how to explain to college students about her experiences in the Navy -About depression, military reputations, about how the enemy isn’t an enemy -Doesn’t feel like a war hero, just feels scarred from the sexual abuse -Has had to choose her children over revenge for what Tim did (02:13:46) Rape and Suicide -Saw countless women just trying to do their job and serve their country -All they got in return for it was to be raped -Found out that Rocky has since committed suicide -Boss at FACSFAC committed suicide after killing his wife -Other people she knew have since committed suicide (02:16:57) Reflections on Service Pt. 2 -Cannot readjust to being a civilian or a student -Has gotten almost no help from Veterans’ Affairs -Doesn’t spend time with other veterans because all she sees is pity -The Navy and the government continue to send money -They can retract that aid at will though -She grew up in the military and doesn’t know how to be a civilian -She is trying to be a good wife, mother, and daughter in spite of her depression -Doesn’t understand the arbitrary hierarchy of professor and student in college -Doesn’t make sense since the student is an investor, not an employee -Still has trust issues -Stays grounded via the Student Veterans of America at GVSU and Matt -Didn’t know she’d have to prepare for sexual and verbal abuse in the Navy -Didn’t know that she’d have to deal with the coldness and apathy of modern warfare -Believes that she didn’t get to fight the enemy, just got to fight her fellow sailors �-Her sense of patriotism and loyalty to the country have been shaken -Seeing innocent people killed and soldiers killed and maimed for an ambiguous cause -Doesn’t have the sense of camaraderie that she had in the Navy -Despite not getting along with her fellow sailors, at least there was common ground -There is the urge to return to the Navy and go on one last deployment -She wants her story to be known -Hopes that maybe it will make things better for someone else who has suffered -Gives her comfort that her suffering would not be for nothing � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 RHC-27_OudbierJ1732V Title A name given to the resource Oudbier, Jessica (Interview outline and video), 2015 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-02-19 Description An account of the resource Jessica Oudbier was born on April 6, 1989 in Fort Ord, California. Her father was in the Air Force and she grew up in various military communities, even after her parents divorced. After graduating from high school she enlisted in the Navy on August 15, 2007. She received basic training and communications training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois. She was assigned to Tactical Air Control Squadron 12 in San Diego, California. During her time there she withstood repeated sexual assaults as well as verbal harassment from fellow sailors. She was assigned to the USS Bonhomme Richard and took part in RIMPAC 2009 as well as a deployment to the Gulf of Aden for air strikes in Yemen. During her time in the Navy she got pregnant and got married and was assigned to FACSFAC in San Diego. She reenlisted in 2012 and was assigned to the USS New Orleans. After a nervous breakdown she was medically discharged from the Navy in February 2014 and moved to Michigan with her husband and children. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Oudbier, Jessica Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jones, Adam (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f4f168f174ec0a2509ca38ec3349f174.mp4 87e575a98d1e9c4e47580a378dda9926 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/165e2cc92c22a4e45adc42cf2555f933.pdf 79719d538aaf2b239cb846af93a9f7c8 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Oral History Interview Veteran: Matthew Oudbier Interview Length: (2:24.12) Interviewed by: James Smither Transcribed by: Chloe Dingens Interviewer: We're talking today with Matthew Oudbeir of Allendale, Michigan and the interviewer is James Smither of the Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project. Okay Matthew, start us off with some background on yourself and to begin with, where and when were you born? So, I was born in Bremerton, Washington. My dad was in the Marine Corps and so he was initially stationed out on Camp Pendleton in California and then it was assigned to leave marine security guard at, in Bremerton. So, my mother relocated up there. I was born and then shortly after they moved back down to Pendleton, but that's where I was born. Interviewer: Okay and then did you move around a lot when you grew up or did you stay in the San Diego area? (1.15) Not so much, we I mean we for the most part all I remember is Camp Pendleton, we lived on base housing for the most part. I think we lived out the uptown for a while, but my parents are from Grand Rapids, Michigan so after my dad had gotten out they moved back and I think I was about ten at the time we moved back and then I spent the rest of my time growing up in Grand Rapids. Interviewer: Okay then now what do you remember, or what sticks in your mind about the time growing up in Camp Pendleton? Just being a kid there. �So, my dad served during the Persian Gulf, so he had actually gone on deployment, so I mean there was a small period that I remember him being gone for a while and then just family watching the news. Kind of checking up what's going on there and then I remember the homecoming, actually I remember the before they left they had a family, a family day and they had lined up all the- all the weapons and had blank rounds in them and stuff and had some of the Humvees and the tanks out there so we could, the kids can you know check them out and stuff. But you know I- I don't think I really understood the, especially when we lived on base housing didn’t really understand the community that we lived in, that everyone there had a parent serving in the military in some capacity, and I don't think I really understood that it was just kind of being a kid and… (2.47) Interviewer: It's just what was there. Okay so then you're ten years old and you moved to Grand Rapids, and then what was that transition like? You know it wasn't difficult, I think. So we ended up staying with my dad's mom, my grandmother for the first couple months when- when we moved back in, while my parents were looking for housing and then I know my dad had kind of bounced around jobs for a while when he got out and eventually got a position at the post office which he has been working ever since. So, but for me it was kind of, kind of roll with it. I had three younger… or two younger brothers at the time who were in somewhat close proximity of age to me, so I was you know busy with them and you know just kind of being a kid, I guess. (3.38) Interviewer: Alright and so where'd you go to high school? �I bounced around high school's quite a bit. So, I initially went to East Kentwood for freshmen and sophomore year. Then I went to Creston for a year and then after that I went to Northview Alternative. My, at that point my- my decision was to join the Marine Corps so at that point I was kind of ready to finish school and I was actually in a position where East Kentwood had more credits, I'd earn more credits than I needed and so going to Northview alternative I'd only have to stay there for another semester and then I'd be able to graduate early so I was able to ship- ship off to boot camp you know before the summer, before I actually graduated. Interviewer: Okay and- and at what point did you decide that you wanted to go into the Marine Corps? (4.33) I think it was my- my sophomore year what I really kind of made that decision. You know I think it was a lot of things that kind of played into that my- my dad being in the Marine Corps. I think the year, the year prior to my sophomore year the September 11th attacks occurred, and I really, I guess I didn't see any other kind of options, there wasn't a whole lot I guess I had going for me at the time. I was not the, I mean I was a bright student but I was not I had a problem with authority and I guess joining the Marine Corps was maybe not the first conclusion you make, but I figured I- I could use that to kind of get myself straightened out in a way. Interviewer: You would kind of have to learn to deal with Authority at that point. Yes. Interviewer: Because you were going to get a lot of it, but you had a pretty good understanding on some level of what the Marine Corps was all about because you'd grown up with it. Yes. �(5.35) Interviewer: Okay, alright and do you remember how you learned about 9/11? So I was, I believe it was my freshman year. I was in, I want to say a history class if I'm not mistaken and someone came down the hall and said, you know, “turn on the TV,” and they turned on the TV and we sat there and watched what was kind of unfolding and no one really knew what was going on so, you know what you know I believe we finish out the day you know as- as kind of normal after that but it was kind of people were kind of confused on what was going on. Interviewer: Right. For the most part. Interviewer: Okay, alright so then so when do you actually you- you finish high school and so when you actually enter the Marine Corps? So that was in February 2004. I had, they had the Delayed Entry Program and I had signed up for that in my beginning of my senior year which I believe is where they will accept people in the Delayed Entry Program. So, I was signed up for that and I had let the recruiter know what was my plans were to graduate a semester early. So after December I had gotten all the credits I needed to graduate and then he told me that “well we're just gonna once we have an open slot for you we're gonna put you in there so you are kind of at a moment's notice at this point,” and then come February I got the- the call saying that they're gonna take me down to MEPs in Lansing and process me to- to enlist. Interviewer: Okay, now how much, in the year when you were going in, I mean how much kind of test taking and processing did you do before you actually went off to training? (7.25) �So, I mean there was the ASVAB that we had to take, and I took that in I want to say my- my junior year maybe, and I had done exceptionally well on there. And then like in the Delayed Entry Program they, because you have to do a… they want you to do an initial PFT so it's… Interviewer: Is it a physical? Yeah physical training test and it's like a half- a mile and a half run and sit ups and pull ups and so I had done that before I enlisted, before actually when I was in the Delayed Entry Program and in the Delayed Entry Program they kind of go through a, you know they tried to help training acts, kind of some of the- the basic things you're gonna need to know. You do a little marching, they do physical fitness activities some, a lot of organized sports or hiking stuff like that. I actually didn't participate a whole lot with that because I figured I was going to be joining and I'd be getting a load of that stuff so… Interviewer: Right. But they- they had some of that and I did participate with some. (8.33) Interviewer: Okay and then were you, before you go out there, were you given a chance to kind of express preference for what kind of training you would get or would that all come later? So yeah I was asked and I asked to join the infantry and they for some reasons said they didn't have any positions open for that because I had and I, I don't know if it was because I had a high ASVAB score that they didn't want to put me in there, or it was because they were actually full in infantry position I don't know if that's possible. But so, I ended up signing for a general field, which was command and control electrician. It's kind of a broad field and then I ended up getting assigned to a radio operator because I initially was going to sign in open contract, just so I could �you know they could put me where I needed to, kind of roll the dice. And see how that goes and my recruiter was like well you got to pick something or at least an area of specialty and stuff. So, that's what I end up doing and I come to find out I be a radio operator which is, in my opinion kind of the- the next best thing and in a way because you actually get to, there's more flexibility with the radio operator, every unit has radio operators, every unit needs them so you can be an infantry units, you can be an air units, you can be in whatever. (9.56) Interviewer: Okay, alright so now they take you, okay so where do you do your basic training? I did mine in San Diego and at the Recruit Depot there and that was 13 weeks and lots of fun. Interviewer: Okay now in the Vietnam era there was gonna the whole ritual surrounding actually arriving there, coming in in the middle of the night, and all of this kind of stuff. So, what happens when you go out there? When you first arrive, how does that work? I mean I believe it's not a whole lot different than- than it's been in the past, I mean we arrived and it was it was late at night and we get to the yellow footprints there the- the bus driver was really nice and then when we pulled up yellow footprints and they got blinding white lights shining on the- on the area and then the drill instructors come on and start barking orders, everyone get out on the footprints and then you kind of go through in-processing. You know the I think the- the first thing you do is get the haircut and then you go through and you get- get loaded in with equipment and stuff, so you get uniforms and then hygiene equipment all kinds of stuff. You just kind of you know corralled through this thing and then eventually you get into a receiving barracks and I think we're actually in receiving for like three days. Waiting and after that whole initial period it kind of really slows down and you're just kind of being marched from- �from chow to you know, breakfast to lunch to dinner and then I think you're doing cleaning and stuff in between just kind of to hold you over but you're not doing a whole lot in the receiving. (11.38) Interviewer: Okay and how much of this were you expecting when you went in? Well the initial stuff I was expecting the- the latter part of the receiving, not really, I mean I think a lot of us it was kind of we were all anticipating you know the- the boot camp and the receiving was not, I think the- the drill instructors that are in receiving are generally on their way out of being drill instructors they, they've done their time and they're kind of been started their last leg of their drill instructor tour. So, they're not as, you know hard-nosed as the- the drill instructors you're gonna get for your platoon. Interviewer: Okay alright so and then out were you waiting just to fill up the ranks of a training unit or? I'm not sure, I think they just have the receiving cycle, where you know I believe we also went through shots and medical screening and stuff like that. So, I think it's just that time to process you in and get everyone situated, and it may be… well I don't know if they're waiting on to fillfill everyone up, because I think everyone, we- I had came with was ended up being in the platoon that I was in after the most part. (12.55) Interviewer: Alright okay so know when training actually starts what does that consist of? So, there's the I mean so the Marine Corps does three phases of training. The- the first phase is they are just kind of breaking you down. A lot of it is getting used to the- the system they've got going on you know we do a lot of physical training, a lot of, what they call ITing, which is the I figure out the- the act what it stands for but essentially the drill instructors would take the group �and have them do push-ups until they scream for mercy. And there were some classes in there also, I think a lot of it was general Marine Corps history that kind of stuff we went over. A second phase we actually move, so that's in San Diego, and then the second phase we go up to Camp Pendleton and there's barracks there and that's where we get into our field training portion. So, a lot of classes on the rifle, on patrolling and maneuvering, we do the rifle range up there and then at the end of that is when we do our- our, the crucible or the final exercise for that. Which is the I think 72-hour movement I- I think they give us like two hours of sleep a night or something like that, if you're lucky and you could I think a meal and a half for the three days. And then ending with a, I want to say a 15-kilometer hike and I think at the top is where they that's where we got our- our I think MCMAT belts. I in the past they've… I know they've changed it around in the past that was kind of the very end you would do this, and you'd get your Eagle Globe and Anchor. For us by that time it was you get to the in the second phase and we're in the middle you MCMAT belt and then third phase is kind of refining, where they going over additional classes and stuff you're- you're focusing a lot on drill. And we get to gloss our boots at that time and we get to unbutton our, they had us button our top button on our- our blouse for most of the training and third phase we got to unbutton it so we actually look somewhat like Marines, and then at the very end graduation is where we get the Eagle Globe and Anchor. But yes, so that was- that was training for the most part. (15.47) Interviewer: Okay, now how would you characterize the group of people you were training along with? You know I'm not sure, I mean we hit a lot of people, there was people from all over. I mean we usually we come to find out that most people are from California or Texas and then there's �people from other places also. But I mean it seemed that, it seemed to me that most people were kind of like me and I- I looking back I would say probably you know lower, middle class kind of backgrounds that kind of thing. Interviewer: Were there many with military families? Not that I'm aware of. I mean we didn't… so there wasn't a whole lot of socializing. Interviewer: Okay. (16.32) So, I really didn't get to know a lot of people personally. I think we got like an hour at the end of the day to kind of square our things away and for the most part we weren't allowed to speak during that time and on Sundays we, I think it was a four-hour block that we were actually allowed to kind of… get the newspaper, use the bathroom at your leisure kind of thing. And so, and usually that’s what I did, I read the newspaper and I used the bathroom so… Interviewer: Okay, now did you have many people drop out? Or have problems along the way or did most of them go through okay? We had a few dropouts, I think there was, there was one guy that ran away during the first phase and then they actually found him during the last phase, and they brought him back. I believe he got actually home, and his father convinced him to go turn himself in and they bring you back to the platoon you- you were assigned to before and then they process you out from there. We had quite a few people get recycled to us. So, if you are you know say you get to third, the third phase or you get to the second phase they, they'll bump you back to the beginning of a phase if you… for medical reason, like if you had a medical injury. You'll go to the medical platoon until you get better and then they'll- they'll put you back in. And actually, we had a guy that I ended up going to comm school with, who had gotten cellulitis and they actually found him with that �on the last day or so of the second phase. So he was actually on his way up the Reaper which is the end hike and then he was, they- the medic found him or the corpsman found him with a limp and stopped him and checked it out and they're like, “oh you got to go- go back,” and he was pleading not to go back because he actually had to do second phase all over again. So, the- the whole exercise that he had done he had to do all over again with us. So… (18.40) Interviewer: Alright so now once you finish that, now what do they do with you? From there I, so, from there I think we got like our ten days of liberty we got to go home and… but after that we went to- I went to marine combat training. Which is if you are other than infantry, you'll go to marine combat training just like three weeks, 27 days of combat training if you're infantry then you go to a school of infantry SOI. And that's I believe a five-week course that they send you through, and it's basically more in-depth on infantry skills. So, you do a lot of bivouacking, a lot of patrolling, learning how to fire a variety of different weapon systems, that kind of thing. A lot of more classes and instructions and stuff. (19.35) Interviewer: Okay alright and then and that was that at Camp Pendleton or someplace else? That was that camp Pendleton. That was, they had the school of infantry and marine combat training relatively the same place out there, so we were out in the Hills Camp Pendleton doing exercise. I think we for the most part we- we'd go out for the week and do our training out there in the field, and then come back on the weekend for a couple days to kind of rest and refit. And then we go out again and it kind of was the cycle for those three weeks. Interviewer: Okay alright and then once you're done with that, now what? �(20.13) Yeah after yeah after that I went to Twentynine Palms for the field radio operators’ course and I'm not quite sure how long that was I want to say that was like a six-week course that I had gone through. And you're pretty much learning how to operate the radios, set up antennas, that kind of thing. Interviewer: So, where is Twentynine Palms? Twentynine Palms is in the Mojave Desert outside of Southern California, it's in Southern California. Outside of San Diego a ways, kind of between San Diego and Las Vegas. And pretty much in the middle of nowhere. One of the largest training areas, we didn't go out into the training area so much we were mostly at the schoolhouse, and they had a space designated for mostly setting up antennas and doing some communication stuff but... Interviewer: Okay and at this point, and so this is mid 2000s here, what… how sophisticated was the equipment you were using? I mean did it look like stuff they used in Vietnam or was it more better than that? (21.20) Yeah so, I think the… we later on I had gotten, we had gotten much more modern radio equipment. In the field, in the radio operators course we were working with prick-104s, prick19s for the most part that’s what we were using. They had for the- the 104 they had a- an encryption device that attached to it. I forget the name of that, but you had to load the crypto on it and then you’d set it up. Field phones that kind of thing. So, a lot of the stuff was- was kind of older and I'm assuming it- the… some of the stuff was kind of at least late Vietnam era equipment. The schoolhouse didn't get the best equipment I think either. But yeah it wasn't nothing modern, later on and we had certain we started getting much better equipment where the- �there wasn't- there wasn't an external and an encryption thing it was all built in, or it could cover a lot of different frequency wavelengths. The 104 was a high frequency radio and the 19 was a VHF radio and then we also had the prick 113 which is UHF so if you wanted to cover different spectrums depending on what your- how you’re trying to communicate you had to use a different radio for each one. (22.52) Interviewer: Okay alright and then what kinds of sort of applications were you learning? What could you, were you being taught to do particular kinds of things whether it's communicating with aircraft or artillery or other things? I think we covered radio messages because there's some standard messages field artillery is one of those things where they definitely have a standard message system that they used. And I think we- we touched on that, most of it was just learning how to put in the frequencies for the radios, set up the radios for communications. So, and we learned how to if you wanted to talk with the aircraft you wanted to use the UHF radio. If you're going to be talking with, in close proximity you use the VHF radio, usually for ground troops and stuff like that, for movement. And then if you want to talk for a long range then use the HF radios. And that was, that was kind of the extent of it. You know they- they, there was actually quite a bit on kind of numbers, and you know the- the frequency ranges and kind of the characteristics and capabilities of the equipment. Which ended up not being that important, but that's what they taught anyways. (24.08) Interviewer: Okay alright and then having finished this do you now get assigned to a unit? Or do you have more training? �Yeah, no I was- I ended up graduating first in the class. So, I had gotten a meritorious promotion to Lance Corporal and then I also got to pick, first pick a duty station. So, they get the list of all the duty stations and I get to take a pick, and I ended up picking a unit in Japan. And it's kind of all they gave us; was you go to Japan, you go to the east coast, you go to the west coast. At the last minute they actually gave me the option to go to Cuba, to Guantanamo Bay for a year and I passed it up. I had wanted to go to Japan, I thought that'd be a good time there. Interviewer: Alright and so that is where you went then? Yes. Interviewer: Okay and now what unit were you assigned to there? And when I got there, I was assigned to 1st Stinger Battery or 1st LAD (low altitude air defense) I think they're interchangeable for the most part. But so, it's a part of the Air Wing and they focus on intercepting low-flying aircraft and to shoot them down essentially. And I think I went there with five other guys that were in the radio operators’ course with me. We all got to the unit at the same time. Interviewer: Okay now where was the unit based? That was on Futenma on Okinawa. Interviewer: Okay, alright and now can you kind of describe what that base was like and what you were doing? (25.37) Yeah so, the so Futenma was the airbase so mostly air wings. So, on Japan they had Camp Butler I think is the system of camps that they have. Interviewer: Yeah. �On Okinawa and so down the road was Foster, and then they had Schwab up north, and they had a bunch of other places and it kind of depended on what you did. So, the Air Wing was on Futenma and they had the air- airstrip there. Foster was the logistics so if you were you know the service support guy you were on Foster and if you were infantry you were probably get with Schwab somewhere. But for- for us it kind of was a we ended up picking up a day-to-day routine with training and stuff. We, our barracks was on one side of the flight line and they had a bus system that would- that would kind of shuttle back and forth. We’d hop on the bus and we'd have to be back after PT in the morning our physical training in the morning. We generally every day do 3 to 5 mile run or something like that. And so, I was attached to the headquarters. It was a company sized unit, and I was attached to headquarters in the in the comm shop and they had two platoons of gunners. And I believe, you know 30 to 40 people are gunners in each of the platoons and they would attach radio operators to the platoons as needed. So, usually there'd be one or two radio operators assigned to a platoon and if they were gonna go out to do some sort of training or something like that they might attach one or two more. And I mean our day to day was you know maintenance on the radios, stocking the platoons with the radios that they needed, and things like that if they were doing training exercise. And then we do our own training and stuff when we were able, so, setting up antennas and… Interviewer: And would you sometimes go out with the platoons on their exercises or did you just stay in the headquarters? (27.41) Well we would go out usually for the most part, well so, the platoons went out and did some independent training, for the most part it was the- the company would do company-wide training. On Okinawa it's difficult to get, there's-there’s limited training areas and stuff so when they do �get a training area it's usually the whole company going, and it’d usually be for about a week or so that we'd go out. And that would you know maybe once every couple months we'd go out and do something like that. And you know we'd set up the headquarters radio command posts with radios and stuff we'd sit there and monitor radios and we set up a rotating watch. And because we had the field phones, we had all of, so all of our radios were remote access, so we'd have our wire running to our remote sets and then our antennas and the actual radio systems. You know sometimes a half-mile away and we'd have field phones running so we can communicate between the two. And then we'd be handling traffic from the gunners and they’d mostly do practice with spotting aircraft so someone would call in saying, “hey there's an aircraft flying this direction.” And they'd have to identify it and they'd call and report it and then engage or disengage or something like that. Interviewer: Okay now do you have a sense of what all of this was directed toward? Was there a likely enemy in mind? Is it the Chinese there or not really sure? (29:25) That was kind of a, one of the points that had kind of been in discussion especially with a lot of the officers and stuff was kind of the relevance of the Stingers. Mostly because in most theaters the US has air superiority so it's not like anyone's gonna be flying aircraft through. And then there was a number of other you know missile systems that could be employed to that effect also. So, and I believe they actually, they may have disbanded them altogether by now. I know there had been talk about that, you know, and I think it kind of goes back to kind of the you know the Cold War era. You know Russian enemy or Chinese enemy kind of the big powers and stuff were the US may not necessarily have air superiority. �Interviewer: Yeah so, it's really a traditional weapon system in some ways, or at least one geared toward a conventional war. Yes. Interviewer: Yeah okay now how long did you wind up staying in Okinawa? I was there for two years and that's generally how long a- a tour is gonna be in Okinawa if you are, if you, if you're married and are doing an unaccompanied tour than they do one-year tours. I did two years and while I was there, I think towards my last, in my second year I was ended up getting attached to the 31st MEU. So, I was assigned to one of the platoons and that platoon was, or there was a detachment made from one of the platoons and then I was attached to the… (31.12) Interviewer: Okay you said 31st MEU, what does MEU mean? Marine Expeditionary Unit so essentially, it's a helo deck carrier and then they have two other ships that go along with it and we pretty much toward the South Pacific, doing training. I think the, one of the- the notable things is, we were actually pulling into I believe Subic Bay in the Philippines; I think it's in the Philippines and we were supposed actually it was just I think it's supposed to be a Liberty port they were going in for and as we were pulling up we were inches away and we started backing up, there was a mudslide in Leyte. So, we moved went over there and we helped with relief efforts there and that was I think the- the most notable event that we participated in with that MEU. Interviewer: Okay and then when that was going on, the relief effort was going on, what were you doing? So what we ended up doing we were in charge of the landing zone, so they had the- the mud site area where they were digging for survivors and I believe there's a school that had, the whole �village I think was- was engulfed with mud and just outside of that area they had set up a landing zone in one of the- the villages right next to it and we were landing in helicopters for you know food and water and that kind of stuff. Actually there was a… one of the locals there was a retired navy, and owned a number of houses in the Philippines and he opened up his house which was just across from the landing zone that we had and allowed us to use that as the headquarters for the- the humanitarian mission. But we would be out in the field you know monitoring the radios, landing and helicopters I think we had space depending on the aircraft a 53's we can land one at a time. 46s we could land two at a time, that's kind of the space we had. Yeah that's what I was doing for the most part. (33.39) Interviewer: Okay now when you were on Okinawa did you get off the base very much and go anywhere? We did, at that time we could get off the base, right now I think they're pretty much not allowed to go anywhere in Okinawa. They had a Liberty card system at the time so when you get there you have a red card which means you have to be back by midnight and normally you have that for a year unless you're a corporal then you could be… there's all kinds of rules and it depends on the unit you're with, kind of what they allow. But I eventually got my gold card then I could go out 24 hours and that kind of remained, there was some, sometimes someone would do something on one of the bases and then they would pull everyone’s liberty cards so we had to stay and that usually lasted about a week or so and then they'd reissue cards. But yeah, I got to go out quite a bit mostly the areas outside of Futenma and Foster. I think my second year one of my buddies had gotten a car and so we were able to kind of travel around the island a bit more. �Interviewer: Okay now at times there's been a lot of tension between American military personnel at Okinawa and the locals. I mean were you aware of that at the time or was any of that going on? (34.59) I mean so areas right- right outside of base were- were very accommodating for the military mostly because they were businesses and they relied on military. Interviewer: Right. And you know I don't, I didn't feel any- any tension or anything with the locals. Now there were places you go, and they said no Americans can go no gaijin, but I didn't feel that was a tension thing I- I felt that was more kind on their want to preserve kind of what they got going on. And it wasn't that there was, they didn't want us there they just didn't want us at their place of business or whatever. But you know most people I you know spoke to especially the younger people going on the bars and stuff we talked to the locals and you know I never felt that there was any kind of animosity or anything. (36.08) Interviewer: I guess a lot of it may have been at times of all the problems where the American personnel does sort of misbehaving or getting drunk or other things like that. Rather than things being really directed to happen by the locals, so if you were nice, they were nice and. Yeah there were and at times were protests right outside of the base and something like that and that would usually be you know you know you know be for a day or two that would go on. You know, and I’d always… so I had heard that this was that a lot of the push to get the- the basis out was not necessarily from Okinawa itself but from mainland Japan. �Interviewer: Yeah. Not wanting the Americans there but the Okinawans actually preferred it, and I think it was a lot had to do with the economy and stuff because there was the US personnel brought all this money in and you know imagine, I can imagine them closing down all the bases there and then pretty much all the businesses right outside of the bases are gonna be have to shut down because they won't have any business. Interviewer: Alright okay so once you get through that that first or two years assignment, what do you get next? From there I get assigned to two- five and so by that time I had actually contacted my- my monitor which assigns where people go and I told him, well I want to go infantry because… and I want to go to the, a unit that's going to be deploying soon. You know I had hoped that I would have, would deploy and I got the 31st MEU and that’s somewhat of a deployment but you know Iraq was going on, there were people in Iraq. And that's kind of where I wanted to go so, I told the monitor I want to go to the next you know that's going to be deploying. So, I end up getting assigned to two- five which is in Camp Pendleton, San Mateo which is north of Camp Pendleton and I get there and you know they're pretty much on a deployment cycle; where they will deploy for seven months and they have I think about twelve months that they're back to rest, refit, and then get ready for another deployment it's kind of the cycle that they're on. And by that time, we were the- the build-up was just starting. So, actually we ended up deploying in 2000… the beginning of 2007 and that's I think we were kind of the, one of the initial units for deployment when they're trying to expand the- the areas. We ended up deploying to Ramadi and we took over an- an army units AO and then we actually got a smaller portion of what they were covering �and then other units’ kind of filled in the gaps. So, they were putting more units in that one space. (38.52) Interviewer: Alright is this part of what got referred to as “the surge” where the number of American ground troops was getting expanded? Yes. Interviewer: Alright now how do they, so I guess what sort of preparation do you get for going over to Iraq? Well this units gearing up to go, what's happening? So for us it was a lot of, we do so they- they for the battalion they do training phases and it's, I mean it was like that for the MEU too because we did training buildups for that where you work on individual training, and then you do unit level, and then you do company, and then battalion level, and then before you go on the MEU then you do a MEU exercise where it's everyone working together to train and qualify for the MEU. For- for two- five that was the same kind of thing, so individual training making sure you have your rifle qual, your- your PFTs up, and you're your individual, then you focusing on your- your squad or your company, training exercises and then eventually you'll start doing battalion exercises. And then we do culminating events in Twentynine Palms so we're going to go back to Twentynine Palms, yay. And do Mojave Viper which is a month-long exercise in the desert where they have mock villages and stuff like that and in that they also do kind of the, that kind of training where you start with platoon levels then company and then battalion level exercises within that month. (40.23) Interviewer: Okay and was this geared specifically for Iraq at that point? �It was yeah it was- it was, they had native speakers there in mock villages doing patrols and they, by that time they had I believe they were doing the like simulated explosions and stuff and they'd have makeup teams out there you know doing injuries stuff like that. So, they I mean they at that time they were trying to make it is it's realistic as possible to prepare specifically for Iraq. Interviewer: Okay now had your unit deployed to Iraq already? Had they been there? Yes, so the unit a lot of the guys had already been to Iraq in 2006 they were there so they were on the previous cycle and 2006 was a really intense time for Iraq. Especially in Ramadi where a lot of the heaviest fighting was. So, there was a number of guys that had had combat experience and kind of had gone through that day-to-day routine and yeah. So, there was there was, there was a lot of veterans, you know in the units that we are with. So, it was it was pretty veteran heavy going in. (41.49) Interviewer: Alright now how do they get you out to Iraq? We, so we think it was I want to say Anderson, which is in- just is it north of Pendleton we would bus up there and then we take a commercial flight over to - I think Bangor, Maine and then we hop on other flights into Kuwait, and then from Kuwait we bus to a receiving base there, and that's where we get our ammo and a lot of other stuff. I think they give us like three days for acclimatization for the weather and stuff and then from there we ended up we end up I think c-17 it was either c-17 or c-130 into Iraq. And I'm not sure which base we flew in, but we flew into one of those bases and then from there we take helicopters into whatever subbase were going into and stuff like that. Interviewer: Okay so then where do you wind up getting sent to? (42.57) �So we get, we get sent to Ramadi and we're pretty much a sign to the- the- the city itself so when I got there, so when I when I got there I was assigned to Headquarters Company I was, or headquarter… yeah headquarters company I was with the comm shop and weapons company each of the companies had radio operators assigned to them, weapons company being having the most radio systems because they have our mobile, they would have more radio operators, well one of the radio operators broke their arm the weekend before they deployed. So, they were down a man and I actually talked to my lieutenant I said I was- I was a corporal at the time and I talked to my lieutenant I said, “hey if there's a slot for one of the companies that's where I want to go.” And when we got into country, he- he asked me if I still wanted to go and I said yes so, I end up getting assigned to weapons company where I was the company radio operator. There was someone that was the company operator before me, but I took over his spot because I was senior. Interviewer: Right. So we get there and we're in charge of southern Ramadi so we got the it’s actually considered, I think it's in one of the poor sections of Ramadi, the south west and then the there's farmland to the south that’s kind of, you have city and the farmland is essentially how it is split up. (44.31) Interviewer: Alright okay now weapons company what kind of weapon systems do they have? So, weapons company: heavy machine guns so 50-cals, mark 19's which I actually don't think they even took out because using grenade, machine grenade launchers is probably not the- the thing they wanted to do. Interviewer: Right. �So, 50-cals for the most part. In a lot of ways, so they were in charge of the area operations, but they also ran a logistics through, to other companies and stuff because they had all the- the vehicles. Now when we got to Ramadi, we took over for an army unit, and they did, they didn't do any dismounted patrols, all their patrols were mounted patrol. Interviewer: Okay. And this was, so this was right before they… you know I guess the- the sheiks in the area decided, “hey we should stop fighting the Americans and kind of start cooperating.” And I think that happened about a month maybe a month and a half into our deployment is when that transition took place, because it actually when we got there- there was still quite a bit of fighting going on and then about a month and a half into it everything just kind of stopped. And so, we were- but when we got in, we were said we're gonna do dismounted patrols that way we can engage with the- the populace and stuff and have a stronger presence in the city. And we ended up, we also did, so the army units also had one main base and that was pretty much it and then we broke down all of our companies into platoons and had them occupy buildings. So, we occupied a CPO… Iron, I believe it was called, and in the southwest it was like a compound, building compound that we, the headquarters controlled and then down the road there was two other outposts that we also controlled for weapons company alone and then each of the other companies also did that, so there would be I think Falcon was another cop that they had and they broke out into other outposts or platoon would- would find an abandoned building and they pretty much set that up as a compound. So, they're more dispersed throughout the city, covering larger areas. (46.55) �Interviewer: Yeah and it was sort of part of the logic of the sort of strategy was to get into the community, make connections, show your presence and then stay there and not just stay hidden here vehicles or in the big bases. Yeah no we were doing daily patrols out in the community and stuff, some days we would actually get, we do…. So, we do clearing operations and if we did clearing operations so we'd go through and pretty much search you know entire sections of the city that we- we covered and if we were doing that we'd also coincide that with food and water supplies. So, we'd bring in food and water supplies so wherever handing out food and water to kind of get people to come out of their houses so we can go in there and search the houses, essentially is what we're doing and you know bags of flour and rice that kind of stuff we would be handing out. We’d coordinate with the community leaders and let them know what was going on so they can organize how they wanted to distribute the food and stuff because- so there wasn't like a mad rick rack for food. And a lot of it was like large bags of flour or stuff like that and they would know best how-to kind of distribute that to their village and stuff. (48.08) Interviewer: Alright now you mentioned at the beginning there was still a lot of fighting going on, I mean was that, were your people getting directly engaged and was there, were there casualties or? We do not have any casualties, I'm trying to, I think. I think we had I think we might have had one guy in the battalion that stepped out an IED and lost a leg, but I think that we had no, no deaths with the time we were there. You know with fighting and stuff there'd be fire fights you know it was kind of difficult, because and that was one of the things that was most difficult I think when there was fighting going on, is that a lot of the fighting was from it they'd shoot from �a distance and they'd move so it was hard to identify where firing was coming from. And when we were going in it was all about hearts and minds and so it was, if you can't identify the target then don't shoot in that direction and that's kind of what we, had been harped on us is you have to identify what you're shooting at before you start shooting. So, if you get shots and you look in that direction and you're looking where you think you hear it coming from you start trying to find it by that time they're- they're moving to another location and shooting from there, so you're kind of trying to figure out where this firing is coming from. So that was one of the difficult things, a lot of times you’d get pop shots going on a patrol you'd get a couple of shots and then you'd hear nothing at all after that and- and that was for the most part. And even after the, a lot of the fighting stopped and you know- you know once a week or so you'd get shots if you're doing a mounted convoy, you might get shots that you're the convoy from a distance and again you couldn't identify where a single shot’s coming from. And you just kind of look around and throw your hands up and say, oh I guess we’re just gonna keep moving. Interviewer: Okay what impression did you have of the Iraqi civilians in the area to the extent that you saw them? (50.24) The area we were at, a lot of poor people. You know, the-the further in the city there were a lot of nice buildings and stuff. The buildings we were at kind of bare bones you know single room kind of shack looking buildings. They’re all concrete buildings out in the- the- the rural area which it was kind of like here’s a city, here's a rural area there was some more makeshift stuff going on. But yeah mostly poor, so after we had started building up out there, we also started, that's when they started implementing the Iraqi army, Iraqi police and we had our “mitt and pit” teams for police training and the army training. And pretty much what the deal was- was stop �fighting the Americans and joined the police or the army and so it seemed that it was, it was a money thing. I had talked we had… so we had a MiTT team which is the military advising and training team, and we had a section on our, on cop iron that was for the Iraqi army where they would come in and do training and stuff. And I talked to some of those Iraqis and you know, we asked them, “so oh you know what you’d do…” They just joined the army, “but what’d you do before then?” It's like oh “we were placing IEDs on the road, you know a week ago.” And you know it just seemed that the- the thing was it wasn't about you know, they had some sort of hatred for anyone it was mostly a money thing, they would get paid to go put in IEDs. Now they're getting paid to be in the Iraqi army. So, and it was another thing with the Iraqi army and Iraqi police the so the Iraqi police were generally local from the area, and the Iraqi army was generally from, could be from all locations. All over Iraq and they- they relocate them and stuff. So, you'd get that Shia/ Sunni tension between, because a lot of times the- the local population would be one and they'd be importing via the Iraqi army, the opposite group. So, there were tensions between and I'm pretty sure there were shots fired between Iraqi army and Iraqi police on several occasions, that kind of thing going on. So, there's I mean when you have someone that you talked to and they're saying that they used to plant IEDs and you know there's a, and by that time I think there was already reports on friendly fire between Iraqi army, Iraqi police, and US forces so it's you know- you know you'd never kind of never let your guard down even when you're supposed to be on the same side kind of thing. (53.31) Interviewer: Now did you also have interpreters assigned to you that were…? We had, so the, there were interpreters with the unit and the- the MiTT team, MiTT teams they obviously had interpreters. I speak, I spoke every once in a while, to interpreters but for the most �part I didn't do a whole lot of engaging with the local population for the most part. We do, I was the company RO(radio operator) so if our company commander went on and needed to do a meeting with local sheikh or whatever we'd have an interpreter go with us and he would wander off, that's how our company commander was, he would wander off onto a patrol, and he’d just grabbed his stuff and say, “hey we're gonna, we need to do this meeting.” And he just start walking off and while we're like prepping for an actual patrol, because we're the military he would just kind of walk to wherever he's going and we would have to patrol around him because he would be walking and he'd be like, let's go this way now, and kind of divert where ever he wanted to go. (54:45) Interviewer: Okay how effective a commander was he? I mean I think- I think he was I think he was fine you know, maybe a little arrogant in that way. You know he, we would all be suited up and stuff flak and Kevlar and he would be walk out and he'd take his Kevlar of kind of wander around and, checking you know things out, and you know-- you know he seemed to be a great guy. I talked to him on several occasions he wasn't a you know a hard-ass or anything, but the same, at the same time it's kind of one of those things were you know I've always been kind of ‘lead by example’ kind of thing. It's like you want you guys to wear their flak and Kevlars, you should probably wear your flak and Kevlar when you're going out, and you know, luckily nothing happened. I mean at the time IEDs were out mostly targeting vehicles. You know it wasn't to the point where we were using you know metal detectors or anything like that, so it wasn't that serious in threat but you know those things had happened before and it was kind of one of those things like you know, you are the commander you should probably be in line you know with the patrol and stuff like that you know. Or at least �let the point man know you're gonna be diverting because our point man would be going forward and he'd have to keep turning around to make sure that he was going the direction the commander was going which was just a pain because we’d have to yell out, “hey point man we're turning left now.” Interviewer: Alright now what- what kind of living conditions did you have there? (56.30) So, we were occupying these pretty much blown up buildings, there was a lot of rubble, damage, they had rigged up lighting, electrical systems, and they were run on generators. The- the building I occupied, they had brought in you know beds, little twin sized beds that we slept on, if I got sleep. I was actually doing a lot, quite a lot because I was, I was the radio operator, so I automatically made me an electrician also, so anything that was a machine I had to do some work on. So, frequently the lighting system would get jacked up or someone want to put in new lighting so I'd have to grab lights and wire and try to rig something and I'm not the best with electricity I'm kind of afraid of electricity because it can hurt you and I got shocked a number times doing that. Yeah, we… and I it was me… we had a data guy with us because we were running Sipper and Nipper net which is the pretty much the Internet service out there. We had a satellite dish that we'd point and get, so we were able to get internet out there on a small scale anyways for- for operations stuff. So, we had a guy running that in case it went down and then we had people kind of come and go depending on what they did, we kind of were a transient space that we occupied. We had a head guy which is a human intelligence guy came out and was doing operations out of there for a while, we had a wrecker guy that stayed with us for quite a while, there, we had started getting more IED strikes on vehicles so the- the location we were at was best to have him operate out of and because we had actually, we were running all the �convoys so any logistics convoys we'd run. So, they had the wrecker there because he could jump, they can organize the logistics convoy and he could jump on there. Interviewer: Okay and how well-fortified was the compound? (58.51) It was pretty, I mean the compound was walled and then they you know as we were there, as we were building on what was there before us. So, there was already cement structures in some locations as we were there longer, they were building even more so we get more concrete barriers. We'd put those up these giant T barriers we had guard posts at different locations and they would you know the- the battalion XO would come by and say, “let's raise this roof,” and we'd have to take the roof off and throw more sandbags on it and make it taller you know so, it was pretty well fortified. While we were- while we were in the compound flak and Kevlar we can walk around pretty much at ease, for the most part. I did antennas and stuff so all my antennas were on the roof and if anything happened I'd go up there and I'm supposed to have a flak and Kevlar but most times I want because climbing a building and maneuvering antennas with the flak and Kevlar is really a pain butt. I think we I've gotten pop shots up there are several times I don't think anything landed close anyways, but I mean it was- it was nerve-racking because it was on the top of one of the biggest buildings in the in the area, so standing out thereyou know maneuvering this antenna which stretches another 30 feet in the air you know, you kind of saying please shoot me. Interviewer: Right, okay now did they have air conditioning on a base like this anywhere or was it all just... open? (1:00.00) �I- I think they did have a see unit set where they were getting- getting in. I know- I know the second tour in Iraq they had AC units I don't… I think we had to the AC unit I think they had the AC units by then. Interviewer: And where those just be in places where you had to have computer equipment or were they sleeping areas or…? The so the- the COC the command center they would have AC there. I don't recall if our room had AC, I think it did and the ACs would go a lot of times, so they have to be replaced often and because the dust, you know they just mal function, they break down. So, you'd have it for a while, bus and you’d have to try to figure something out. So, I think we ended up at least halfway through I think we ended up getting air conditioning units, I mean you know I didn't spend a whole lot of time in the- the living space. I mean a lot of people talk about downtime and stuff like that but I tried, I stayed busy I was up so I was the- the radio operator for the company, weapons company which had the ability to maneuver around the whole AO pretty easily because we had vehicles. So, I was running all, running on all the logistics convoys and those would occur every day, every other day. I do patrols with the, any company commander, any patrol’s company commander went on I was a part of that but I also was, did any wrecker runs any time there was an ID strike and they need to send a wrecker out there to recover the vehicle. I'd run those and then any time communications that they needed, someone needed support at one of the other out post I'd do a, have to jump, I'd pretty much go into the COC, “who's on patrol right now. Hey, call them tell them to swing by here and take me over to this other location.” And fix that and that was for our company but also for the other companies because I was senior than some of the other radio operators and in some of the other companies. I frequently get requests to �go over to other companies and help them with their communications. So, I would be doing that also, so I pretty much, if something was going on, I was trying to be involved in it. Interviewer: Okay so how much sleep did you get? (1:02.50) I didn't get a lot of sleep and then I mean on top of that when I did get sleep there was a field phone from the COC to my room in case communications went down in the COC because I'd also have to maintain those communications. I mean luckily I didn't have to stand radio watch in the COC they had the- the platoons did rotating shifts they would have a platoon that was patrolling, a platoon that was in a- in kind of work and party mode, and then you have another that was kind of on a, you know relaxed schedule. And they'd rotate through those so that they had those maintained but if it went down and a lot of times they'd call and say, “hey, the radios not working.” Well it’s like, “did you change the batteries?” And they'd say “no.” It's like, “well change the batteries and then gave me a call.” And they change the batteries and they’d call and say, “everything's fine.” But I mean I’d get calls like that; you know all hours of the night also so. (1:03.53) Interviewer: Okay the you mentioned the- the dust being a problem for the air conditioners, did it cause problems for other stuff too? Yeah, I mean radios is one of those things, clean connections and stuff like that. You know they'd be one of those things where I get- I get calls about radios and stuff and it's like well you need to clean them. You need to take them out and clean the port's we'd go through handsets quite a, quite often just because the dust and everything. Weapons would have to be cleaned on a regular basis, the m16. We were… so we had the M16A2 and they are not the best when- when �dirty. They have to be regularly cleaned, so that was another thing with the dust. You know and our base they had, they like a receive, a staging area for vehicles and they had what they call moon dust, was the very fine powder and it would be about a you know a half foot to a foot deep and you'd be trudging through this- this thin powder. That stuff gets everywhere and if the wind picks up and it blows it everywhere, and then you know in the off chance that it rains and then you're walking around and you know foot of mud and you know caking your boots and stuff like that. (1:05.17) Interviewer: Okay now over the course, so how long was that tour? That was seven months. Interviewer: Okay now over the course of that time did you feel like you had made progress or were accomplishing the mission? Or did it seem like you're just going in circles? It sort of seemed… it's hard to tell because you know, they by the time we left we had the- the Iraqi police and Iraqi army in the area. Where pretty much up and running I mean there are problems here and there definitely. We had also started working on public works projects and stuff like that, so employing people to clean the streets that kind of thing. So, I mean there was a progress in that regard, but at the same time it's hard to tell from where I was at anyways. You know by the time I was just in my routine. Interviewer: Right. You know trying to get things done. Interviewer: So, you're just there and doing your job and not worrying too much about bigger picture. �Yeah at that-that time in my career big picture was not on my- my radar for the most part. It was just yeah; I got a job to do and this is what I'm doing. Interviewer: Alright so now we get kind of late in 2007 that tour comes to an end. Are there any other particular events or incidents or things from that first tour that kind of stand out for you that you haven't talked about yet? (1:06.43) No, well so there was, you know I don't know the Battle of Donkey Island which was this island in the south of the city, and they had gotten reports, intelligence reports like 50 enemies occupying this- this reed covered island. Which it wasn't a big island, I don't even know if 50 people could possibly occupy the place, but they had worked on clearing the brush from there and then they did like a company push through the area. And I believe it was on like the fourth of July or the third of July, it was right around the fourth of July and it was I think like a hundred and forty degrees out and they decided to do this in the middle of the day. And we do this push across this- this you know farmland and they have vehicles kind of behind following up and we’re like on-line, you know trying to push out this area. No engagement at all and I think we lost more people, not we didn't lose them, but more people went down from heat exhaustion that day than anything. I mean but I mean it was they had, we had air on station so like that. We had you know a lot of support on this mission and I don't think anything really came of it for the most part. (1:08.15) Interviewer: So, some somebody somewhere was pulling your leg. Yeah, I guess I was like what is going on here? �Interviewer: That but okay alright so now late 2007 now you rotate back home and at this point do you have about one year left on your original enlistment? Or had you already decided to stay in or? Yeah so when I was in- in Iraq I talked my, my I'm trying to think… I ended up talking to my monitor at some point in time when I was in Iraq and I might have been, I might have had emailed him or was talking to a third party or something but I had been communicating to him because my enlistment was coming up. And actually, they were doing reenlistment bonuses at that point, so I was definitely going to reenlist because I think I got like $30,000 for reenlistment and again I told them you know, I want to get back here as soon as possible. This is while I was in Iraq still and so I want to go to the next unit that’s pulling. Actually, one of the ANGLICO, I think it was first ANGLICO was actually doing operations in our area for a week or so and they were actually staying in our building. And I had been talking to them so I talked to the monitor and I said, “hey well you know what's up with these guys, can I go here?” He said, “yeah it's like well which one you want to go to?” Because they have first, second, third and fourth ANGLICO, I think and they’re on different locations and he said that first ANGLICO was going to be deploying again soon. They’re pretty much on a, an on/ off deployment cycle so they go for seven months, they're back for seven months, they go, and they kind of going back and forth that way. It's like, well that's where I want to go and so I had gotten orders there while I was in Iraq to go there. So, I got back and was with two five for maybe a couple more months and then I move it first ANGLICO was actually just down the road so. Interviewer: Okay so back at Camp Pendleton? Yeah. Interviewer: Okay now explain what ANGLICO is. �(1:10.32) So, Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company. Interviewer: Okay. They do fire support so surface fires and air support mostly there, I think 50% of the unit is officers and we get pilots, no blows which are naval gun officers in some sort, and artillery officers, and infantry officers, and they run teams and they do small teams that they're primarily working with foreign militaries or units that do not have- that need the, our capabilities or the US capabilities that don't have them. Or like Special Forces units, US Special Forces units that need a specialized air support. They need someone dedicated for air sport because that's all we do so and we work and they have small teams so generally four or five main teams and they have two or three of them assigned to a section, and then like two or three of those assigned to a platoon, and then three- two of those in the company, in the headquarters company. And I got there I was assigned to a, a fire team or a fire power control team which was a, we had five-man teams by then. So, it's two forward observers or two scout observers, radio operator and a- an officer of some sort. So, four people actually and our officer was a FAT pilot. Yeah and we do we help provide fire support so that's all we kind of train on. Interviewer: Now then, when you join in with Camp Pendleton are you kind of gearing up for the next rotation over to Iraq? (1:12.39) Yeah when I get there, they're already kind of in the stages of a preparation. They had already, they already knew where they were going to be going, or that they're gonna be going because they get all the units get detached to other units throughout the area. So, there- there's no like central like everyone's in this area. They're all over, so Iraq and Iraq it’d be all over Iraq �disbursed and they don't run a, a traditional workup or training plan for Iraq like the infantry battalions do with Mojave Viper and kind of that kind of thing. They do whatever training with who they're going to be working with. I'm trying to think, I'm not sure what we did for… oh yeah, I'm not sure what we did for our workup, we might have gone to Twentynine Palms for, for some sort of exercise, but I don't remember going with them. We had to have done something though. Interviewer: Alright about how long did you have between deployments? (1:14.02) I think it was a year no- no so October I got back and then I went back in March, so October, November, December, January, February, March; five months. Interviewer: Okay yes so not- not too long a time necessarily to just hang around and have that much of a routine necessarily well you’re there. Alright, now why had you been eager to go back as soon as possible? There was, I mean that's why I joined for the most part, so that's why I wanted to do, and you know with, with a deployment there's, it kind of simplifies things. I mean when you're back you got bills and you've got family and friends you're dealing with. In Iraq or even Afghanistan, you just worry about the mission and you know it, things are a little clearer in that way. And you're just busy and you know I enjoy doing that, I was doing my job. I was doing what I had, I signed up to do. Interviewer: So okay now were you married at this time or? No- no. (1:15.21) Interviewer: Okay you probably ought to know what year you got married. �Well I had, a I'm actually, I was married twice so. Interviewer: Okay, alright. There was another marriage in there. Interviewer: Alright and so you've got the better name of you but still there was there, was enough life intervening when your back home that you notice that kind of thing okay. Alright so now going back over then, second time so now what year is that 08 you're going over? Yes. Interviewer: Okay is it the same process as before or do you do something different? No, the in process is pretty much the same. We ended up flying into Kuwait, we stayed there, we get our ammunition, and stuff like that. You know what was the big difference was, I was we were instead of being in Ramadi we were in northern, northwest Iraq so I ended up… our firepower control team was assigned to an Iraqi army unit. I think a battalion north of Al Qayn, which was I think was like 40 kilometers north and it was just kind of in the middle of nowhere they built this kind of base out there and our, their mission was to control traffic or stop AlQaeda from moving from, between Syria and Iraq. So, we were pretty much doing patrols in open desert you know nothing for miles and miles. So, we were doing all, everything was mounted we would drive out and a lot of times we would do two or three day patrols out into the desert. And we'd be attached with, so we, there was a MiTT-team which was helping advise andand train the Iraqi army and then there's us and we were attached to the Iraqi army to provide air support for the most part because there's no artillery out there or anything. It was all air support, so we’d get air on station at different times and we'd scope out places of possible interest before we went out into the area. �Interviewer: Okay and were you finding much? (1:14.43) No, no we would get tips on caches and things like that, so we found a number of weapons caches. A lot of them were really old weapons caches so I'm assuming that the people who told us about him probably put them there in the first place a long time ago and that's why they knew they were there. You know that would- that would happen frequently where we'd get tips on IEDs because that was another thing because we'd have to go down maybe once a month we'd go down to Al Qayn, which was, you know a 40 kilometer movement to get down there to the city so we can resupply, getting you know repairs on vehicles, and that kind of thing. And you know we'd have people that would, Iraqis that would point out IEDs and stuff and a lot of times I'd be like well how the heck did you know that that was there? It's like there was no indicator you know and it's not on the beaten path, it's not like you're wandering behind you- you know sitting in front of you. It's like off to the side somewhere that you wouldn’t know unless you actually place it there. So I mean we'd come into that quite a bit, you know we're pretty sure a lot of people that are spotting these actually had placed in there at some point or another and just knew that they were there, and I think the same was for the weapons caches for the most part. So yeah, we'd and we'd stop we'd drive right through the desert. We'd stop and talk to the locals a lot of bad winds out there so you know people would pile up their tents. There was camel trade so they had caravans that would go back and forth and we'd stop and there'd be hundreds of camels and moving by, and so we'd wait and we'd stop and talk to the whoever was running the caravan, you know and they'd always asked, “do you want to ride the camel?” it's like “no we don’t want to ride the camel but thank you.” But yeah not a whole lot going on out there. (1:19.45) �Interviewer: And what impression did you have of the Iraqi army that you were with? You know so the, some of the officers that had been around a while, some of the senior guys, they had been around for a long time and they were, you know most likely were fighting when they were, you know fighting Iran. So, they had been around a while. A lot of the new guys you know, not a whole, not a lot of discipline that's for sure. And that was one of the things, by that time they had- you had some guys you know had cell phones and they'd be sitting there and we were doing some training or something out and people would be on cell phones and stuff and it's like you know… Interviewer: It’s like teaching a class. (1:20.34) Yeah but, you know and some… but some of the senior guys and stuff they- they would be hesitant to take advice and stuff like that, it's like you know, they had been around the block and they don't need our advice kind of thing. You know some would be more accepting, but yeah, I mean I, on the lower levels I don't think a lot of them took it seriously. I think it was a paycheck for them and they were coming to get paid for the most part and they were trying to stay out of harm's way as much as possible. Interviewer: But at this stage there wasn't a whole lot of harm necessarily. Yeah no not- not where we, where we were at. Interviewer: Okay now aside from the Bedouins do you see any civilians or only in the town or? No not really, there was a few towns that we would go through mostly on our way to Al Qayn because it was a larger town, I think the they had a train station, a power plant right outside of there. But there's small villages and stuff we’d pass through along the way, so we'd see civilians, �but we weren't engaging with those because that was not part of the area that we were covering we were just transiting through. So, no real engagement with the Iraqis at this point. Interviewer: Now this time around did you have any more of a sense of so, the larger scope with a war or what was happening or were you again just kind of doing your job and not worrying about the rest of it? (1:22.09) No I mean I- I knew, I had been, I mean I had been following the news for- for the most part and- and I knew, I mean I knew it when the- the previous deployment we were doing the surge that this was part of the surge and that's kind of what we were. And I knew at the second deployment that we were at a point where a lot of the fighting had kind of just died off in that way. A lot of the, actually so a lot of it went from engaging in the city and stuff and just focusing on so IEDs and IED makers were the largest threat and they were getting better at making IEDs and making more powerful, which is why the military was starting to transition over to the MRAPs over the Humvees and we had Humvees at that time and I think they had just started implementing the- the mine the mine-resistant vehicles because they were making IEDs that could blow up Humvees and so you know. So I understood that that was, that was going on that the threats were kind of changing and it seemed everything that we were doing you know there was some sort of response to it and then we'd have to, it’s kind of back and forth they figure something out – to get past our defenses or you know– to hit us and then we figure out a way to prevent it and then they figure something new to get around that. So, I mean with I- I mean IEDs was always, has always been like a progressive thing where you know, they go from remote, they go from wire command detonation, to remote control detonation where they have cell phones or the Motorola base stations connected to these wireless phones that had like extremely �long distances they can do, and then we started implementing you know the Chameleon Defender systems which would block radio signals around the vehicles so it’d create a bubble so if they, you know press the button the radio signal wouldn’t get to the- the IED they're trying to detonate. But then they'd go back to, they you know try pressure plate ones again or they do a combination of remote and wire command, you know they were getting better at making homemade explosives so they were starting to add additional chemicals into their explosives to make them more powerful or they, you know depending on who they were targeting whether their personnel, IEDs, or you know for vehicles stuff like that. And this, by the time they’re also doing a lot of secondary stuff, so they'd have an initial blast and then they'd have secondary ones off to the side. So these were threats we were all aware of, where we were at, the you know the biggest threat was going into Al Qayn because it was you know became a large going, into a more urban area and there was quite a bit of traffic on the roads we were traveling. We were, our thing in Iraq anyways it was drive as fast as you can, and hopefully the blast will leave you behind. Or you will leave the blast behind kind of thing, so we were pushing you know 55- 60 miles an hour down roads to get we were going. In Afghanistan everything was like four or five miles an hour. Anytime you traveled anywhere it was really slow because you'd have IEDs were much bigger there and it was, you'd have EOD teams and route clearance teams in front of you which would do a snail's pace to get anywhere. (1:26.14) Interviewer: Alright, okay so with Iraq on some level in a conventional sense you sort of had the- the upper hand, but there was still an enemy out there. They were still active, there was still threats. Yes. �Interviewer: Okay alright and again with this- with this second tour again are there particular aspects of that standout for you or distinctive? No, I mean so I think there was a- a murder of some official while we were out there. So, we went to investigate, the Iraqi police went there and did their investigation, but we went to- to assist with that in some capacity. You know I don't remember a whole lot, I, actually no I think we were- we were doing- we were doing a patrol in the desert and we came across, because out on the outskirts towards the border they had like a border teams out there, and the border team was investigating some murder. And so, we’d get to this compound in the middle of the desert kind of area, and there were all these essentially police vehicles out there. So we stopped in to see what was going on and it ended up being a murder or something like that, but you know we were just kind of patrolling through and they, we come across this and you know the border team was taking care of it. (1:27.43) Interviewer: Alright and then how common was it for the vehicles in your convoys were to actually set off IEDs or hit them? Because we were operating in the middle of the desert, I mean there was essentially no, because there was no roads where we were going; we were like traveling open desert. There was no, there were some like tracks that had been made and I, you know that seemed to be at some sort of you know at least frequently traveled avenues that they had, but we weren't sticking to any of those we were just traveling the open desert. So, I mean there's no way someone could anticipate thethe route we were gonna be going. Interviewer: So, it's only the occasional trip into town that had an established route. �And we no, we didn't hit, we didn't hit- any have any ID strikes. I know we stopped on quite a few occasions and called EOD, we had found a few IEDs and had EOD come in and disarm and dispose but no IED strikes. (1:29.01) Interviewer: Alright so, okay now when then do you get home from that tour? That was October 2008 is when I was done there. Interviewer: Alright now at this point are you still looking to get another deployment or what are you gonna do next? Yeah so, I had already reenlisted so for me it was, I was planning, and I enjoyed being ANGLICO there much more relaxed, because these had all these officers. They were pretty much lax on kind of the- the menial tasks. If it wasn't something we needed to get done, then we're not gonna do it, we're not just gonna be cleaning for the sake of cleaning. Which some of the, like the infantry units is definitely they want to keep you busy. So, we didn't do busy work we, we trained. By that time, I picked up sergeant, so I was in charge of a, the communications for an, a SALT, which is a support and logistics team. So, we had three teams under us or three firepower control teams and then the headquarters for that. So, I was in charge of the communications and essentially, I was in charge of the team, I was essentially the senior enlisted guy in charge. Also, by the time I had kind of gotten a good grasp on the air and fire- fire support aspects of it and how to set everything up and coordinate everything. And then the and because I had a, the ability to actually get people to do what I wanted them to do in an effective way and the officers listened to me, quite a bit of officers and they took my opinion seriously and I actually kept a lot of things from them so I, I kept training going, I kept things going. I kept everyone on task, so I didn't get bothered by the officers for the most part I let them know what �was going on it's like this is what we're doing. So, the guy that was supposed to be in charge he pretty much said, “hey you just keep doing what you're doing and I'm just gonna sit back,” and that was fine with me because it's you know, I enjoyed taking the lead on that. (1:31.17) Interviewer: Yeah well it is something that an awful lot of officers will say, is that they ultimately depend on the senior NCOs to keep things running and know what's going on and the smart ones by and large will let them do that. So, you basically become one of those NCOs. Yeah so yeah I and I pretty much every morning I'd go in and brief the officers on what our, what we were planning for the day and I’d asked if there's anything that needed to be done or they had anything and then I would implement it into the training plan. And I'd give them training plans for the week and for the month of what we were planning on doing, so I'd set up training areas and I'd set up, you know depending on what we needed to work on. So, if we needed to work on you know land navigation, I might set up a land application course to send guys through. We might need to work on communication setting up radios antennas we might need to work on fire support missions we do that kind of thing and I'd set all the training up andand I you know we'd get input from the officers and they'd get tasking from headquarters and say, “hey these things need to get done.” So, we'd get them, a lot of times it'd be, you know some sort of online training thing that you had to do, or you know everyone needs to go into medical to get screened for shots or something like that. So, I would add that into the training schedule and make sure it all got done. Pretty much if you head things off, before, if you do things before, they tell you to do them then they just stop telling you to do things because they already know you have it done so. �Interviewer: So alright now were you doing that was this Camp Pendleton where you were based, or you go somewhere else? (1:32.56) Yeah this is Camp Pendleton I was, it was Los Flores which is like in the middle of Camp Pendleton along the coast there so we had nice access to the Pacific Ocean right there so we’d often do runs down in the morning to the Pacific Ocean and then do a swim, so we do a run, swim, and then run back and by that time I had, so we the- the section I was with we had been attached to the 11th MEU so we were getting ready for a deployment then. Because actually they weren’t, they didn't have a company. The last deployment we went on to Iraq was a companywide deployment to Iraq, so the whole company went out and detached to all these units. Interviewer: Right. They didn't have a company-wide deployment schedule in the future. They had a- brigade, which is I like a platoon sized unit which was like six teams and the headquarters and stuff like that that were gonna be attaching to units, but they didn't have the company-wide so they had to figure out what they were gonna do with the other companies. Because there was a thing with about relevancy for ANGLICO because this type of thing could be taught to other units, and other units could possibly take over this mission. The commander had to make sure that we remained relevant and we're participating a lot of, a lot of things and stayed busy so that people knew that you needed the unit, because they had been disbanded at one point. So, they wanted to not get disband again so they said, “hey we're gonna jump on the, were gonna send a detachment on the MEU.” So we were the first ANGLICO unit to go on a MEU since… forever, I don't… they had been on in the past but it'd been a long time since they sent the detachment on the MEU, and we detached, so we were part of the headquarters of MEU. And that was actually a great experience �because right off the bat, once we started training with MEU, we had been able to get, established communications really quickly when we got to shore for any operation. So, it became apparent that anytime anyone went to shore we had this an ANGLICO out to shore also because they would have communications for sure, and then they could go around helping other people get communications. Which is great because I'd go out there and I’d set up three or four different nets to talk to the ship so we, by that time we had satellite communications that we could do and I’d have a mobile set up, and then I’d get up and set up field expedient antennas and do HF shipto-shore communications. You know hundreds of miles away. (1:35.53) Interviewer: Okay so when do you ship out you then? You’re at Pendleton you train and get your assignment so now when do you head out? This I want to say was in October of 2009 is when I ended up because it was, I think we had Halloween and then… Interviewer: That’s on October 31st. Yeah so would have been just after November. Interviewer: Okay. And yeah, we again were… I think we were just scheduled to do the South Pacific tour again, but we ended up mostly hanging out in the Gulf of Aden at the, by the Horn of Africa and Yemen. They were doing operations from the ship into Yemen I believe and at, because there was nothing for us to do that's the- the ship operations they were doing operations, we ended up going to Djibouti and working with the French commandos that were stationed there and some of the French Foreign Legion. Our officer really great guy, Captain Comangeon, he didn't like sitting around doing nothing and wanted to stay relevant. So, while we were waiting there, he's �like, “well when we're doing…” Because we’d do these squares in the ocean, “it's like at one leg when we're close enough that we can attack at helicopter and get into the base on Djibouti.” Because there's a military, a US military base there. And so, he started doing air naval gunfire liaison company, we were- we liaison with people so we started, he started working with- talking to the US forces on that base about working with the French forces in the area. So we were able to set that up and then we were able to set up follow-on training for the battalion landing team because they were sitting around doing nothing, so they got to get like two-week training exercise in Djibouti also because we were able to set up that relationship there with the French. (1:38.06) Interviewer: Okay and what impression did you have on the French military? They are pretty good, arrogant for no reason. I don’t know, it was weird because like we- we have a lot of good, we had a lot of capabilities with us. We brought laser target designators which could guide you know bombs from aircraft. We had laser pointers, we had spotters, and range finders and all kinds of great equipment for you know getting bombs on to, on to targets and stuff like that, and the… and we were- we came- we were a very professional team. They, we were kind of a hand-picked group because we were gonna be the first MEU and we wanted to make a good impression, so we were all hand-picked. So, we were working with everyone ourour team were, they were all very mature, very responsible people for the most part. So we came in and we were very professional and you know very humble, like you know “hey we want to help out, and we want to work with you guys, and we want to learn from you guys,” and they were just like they go “oh were so much better than you guys,” and I was just like [Laughter] not really necessary but it wasn't, it wasn't that bad. We worked with the, so the commandos weren't that bad, so we work with them and we didn't really get that a whole lot from them. Then we �worked with their artillery, one of their artillery units and some of the other JTAG so we ended up doing like a combined arms exercise. We had a, there was an aircraft carrier that was going close by, and so pilots need to get certain qualifications. They need to drop bombs to stay current on some of their qualifications, and we were in a position where we had control of a range area and we could, we could do that for them. So, we got to a… we ended up working with the aircraft carrier which has you know dozens of aircraft they can drop bombs and we have our helicopter deck which has Harriers that can you know drop bombs also. So, we did like two or three days of just continuously destroying this range. We were doing like stacks and just flying aircraft in and doing controls for aircraft and stuff like that. And we were working with, we had the French come out with us, so they were you know doing that also because they had JTAGS which is, it's all part of a NATO thing. Kind of a… where there's like a NATO standard for air support and fire support kind of thing. But yeah- yeah, the French they were, I thought they were a little arrogant, but you know they had their wine and their cheese, which they actually did. You know I- I think it's funny because we, I've worked with a number of other militaries and they you know, a lot of especially a lot of other countries drinking is kind of they will bring alcohol on to field ops with them and… but the US is kind of taking a hands-off approach to alcohol. And its, they don't do any alcohol and stuff. So, it's kind of you know funny to see how they'll go out and they'll have, you know at the end of the day they'll crack open the beers and they'll have a good time. And we are just like no we're not, we're we are working it will after our seven months then we'll have a beer kind of thing. But you know… (1:42.09) Interviewer: Alright well they have their way. Alright and so how long did you spend out and in that area? �A month and a half we were out there. Interviewer: Alright and then from there then what? From there… I think that was the most… I know we stopped it a number of ports on the way in and the way out because they wanted to give us, because most of people on the ship didn't get off the ship we were lucky we were able to get of the ship for quite a while, so we were getting towards the end of the deployment. We ended up making our way back towards… or the other way to Hawaii, I think we stopped in Thailand, and maybe Singapore I, we I think we stopped in two places then we stopped in Hawaii and they did a tiger cruise on the way home where they, where family members can- can pick up the ship in Hawaii because they drop off a lot of people in Hawaii that are you know forward advance party so they prepared the- the place to unload equipment and stuff. So, yeah, I think that was for the most part. Interviewer: Okay, alright and then is it just back to Camp Pendleton at this point? (1:43.27) Yeah back to Camp Pendleton. Interviewer: Okay and then how long do you stay there this time? Until so I'm at Camp Pendleton until I think 2011 is when I redeployed to Afghanistan and this was a, this was not a company-wide it was most of the company, but not all of the company. There was another unit that had went to I think Iraq, another section of ANGLICO they went to Iraq, and there was another… we got back, and then they started doing rotations with the MEU so there was another group that went with MEU. And then the rest of the company went to Afghanistan and that was in May of 2012, so we got the summer of, in Afghanistan. Interviewer: Alright so what was your assignment then in Afghanistan? (1:44.17) �There, so we were assigned to the Georgian Army we were attached to the- the Georgians, held a section in… outside of I believe Sangin I think the Marines held Sangin and then to the west of Sangin was another area across the river that the Georgians, the Georgian Army occupied. And we were assigned to them, and actually we did a workup with them. So, instead of doing like they- they there's a special training plan for units going to Afghanistan, usually I think Bridgeport is where they'll go. And I had been to Bridgeport actually several times for training just kind of regular training kind of exercise stuff, but we trained with the- the Georgians and because they were in Georgia and we were in the US we met halfway we met in Germany which is somewhere halfway, but we ended up doing a training exercise with them in Hohenfels, Germany for the workup and then they went back to Georgia and then they deployed to Afghanistan, and then I think we were two weeks before… two or three weeks before they got there, so we switched over. There was an ANGLICO unit with the, I think 33rd Georgian battalion and then we switched with that ANGLICO so we're with the 33rd for like two weeks and then they swapped out with the 31st Georgian battalion and that was the unit that we had been in Germany with. (1:45.53) Interviewer: Okay, and what was that battalion’s assignment at that point? They were pretty much to secure the, keep the area secured. They were running patrols and stuff, the Georgian army. Eventually they wanted to, they expanded on the- they're- they’re AO they expanded West and they include I think it was like 20- 30 kilometers west they expanded to an area that was like known for IEDs that they wanted to clear out that area. So, but yeah, a lot of it was you know clearance kind of and just hold space for the most part. �Interviewer: Alright now by this time you you've seen a number of different militaries from different countries, what impression did you have of the Georgians? The Georgian's they were, they were stuck in Soviet times. Interviewer: Okay. (1:46.54) They were… you know I talk to a lot of guys; I talked to a lot of guys there and they were saying you know that Afghanistan for them was their training to fight Russia. Because the- the- the 2008 deal in South Ossetia had been not too long ago and there was a lot of hurt feelings on that. So, they seemed… and you know sometimes people would joke about those things, it didn't seem like they were joking for the most part, maybe I just didn't get their humor, but they seemed serious that they thought this was training for fighting Russia. You know Georgia is not a large country and they I think three battalions is the extent of their- their infantry so I don't know how well they'd fare; I mean South Ossetia was, it's a couple days. Interviewer: Yup and they might have to borrow tactics from the Afghans at that point, rather than be like the Russians. (1:47.53) Yeah, and but they were- they were a lot of their tactics and stuff were kind of soviet-era kind of conventional warfare’s, what they were looking at, you know the US had been in Iraq and Afghanistan for a while now, so we were kind of, I mean our whole mindset had changed at that point. So, we were trying to keep them on, on par with that. One of the biggest things was trying to convince them not to shoot at everything because that was a big problem, they would be trigger-happy and they'd just start firing away at anything that moved and it's kind of like, don't do that. You know not everyone that you see is an enemy, you know there was a, an old man that �was walking, because there was… we were- we were on COP Sherdvani, which was this outpost on the hill, on this hill and we had you know guard posts all around and it looked down and there's a river, I don't know maybe five- ten kilometers away and then to the north and south there was villagers that kind of spread up and down. Or actually nothing down, it was a desert down. Up is where all of villages spread north and there was an old man coming towards the gate and the- the Georgians were, started shooting at him because they said he was holding what looked to be an IED which, yes he was, he was actually trying to bring them something he had found which was like wires and stuff for making IEDs. We don't know if it was actually being used for anything or what it was, but you know so we had to you know bring the guy and get medical treatment and stuff like that and- and get him to further on care because didn't have facilities where we were at. But yeah so it was it was we had to kind of rein them in like you know this isn't the West, this is, you know you got to be careful what you're doing. (1:49.57) Interviewer: Okay and you had mentioned before that moving around in Afghanistan was a very slow process. Yeah so everywhere we went there was, there were a IEDs everywhere, you know I- I think 50% of the patrols we went on we probably hit, someone hit an IED and most times we went out we had EOD or route clearance that went ahead of us. Most- most was mounted SEF because we were, there it wasn't- there was villages that we you'd stop and you do dismounted, a few of the basis, so we had Sherdvani and there was a smaller base north of us, about five kilometers, and five kilometers north that was another base. Kind of like how it was in Afghanistan or in Iraq where they had them split up. And they would do ones that were, had a village nearby they would do my dismounted patrols and stuff and they'd have mine sweepers with them. And they'd �carry backpack chameleon things which help prevent from remote-control IEDs and stuff. But yeah so, we had, but we there was IED strikes all the time. The vehicles we were using were the M ramps were the mine-resistant vehicles so I mean usually the most damage would be blow off a wheel and someone would smack their head on a hard surface inside the vehicle, or an ammo can would come flying and knock them in the head, or some sort of concussion blast would you know cause an injury of some sort. I think we had; I was doing LZ operations when I was there for the most part. I was again doing communications right at the main gate communications with everyone and help fix equipment and- and- and stuff like that but then I, we’d would be running the- the landing zone so anything that was going in and out of the AO came through our landing zone, so any injuries would come to our landing zone, they get pushed out to one of the larger bases with medical facilities or supplies, anything coming in and out. We, we do supply runs every couple days so helicopters would come in drop off equipment and stuff like that. (1:52.21) Interviewer: And so, it was a lot of the movement by helicopter rather than on roads? Yes, every once, I think once a month maybe we had a very large convoy come through and it was great because we'd see them, and they'd be like thirty kilometers out and they'd be moving at three, four miles an hour and so slow. And like you'd see them there and because you're waiting for them to get here because they're gonna come with supplies like, I, you know and they’d have like a mobile PX that they’d bring with them so snacks and that kind of thing that you could buy, and you'd be like, “oh man I can't wait till they get there.” And you'd see them on the map for like two days traveling at the snail's pace and… Interviewer: Yeah alright how much did you see the Afghans themselves? (1:53.08) �Not a lot, we had, so we had an Iraqi army… or Interviewer: Afghan. Afghan army unit that was also on the base so, and I communicate, I would go talk to them because they had, they could get local food and stuff like that so we actually got a goat at one point and we talked to them and they’d go out and they do patrols and if you wanted something they could bring it back. So, we pooled together some money and we got a goat and they fixed it up for us. I ended up getting beans and rice… a bag of beans- a bag of beans and rice and some vegetables and stuff I’d get on a regular basis so I can cook something myself instead of eating MREs every single day. So, I would have some communications with them, but the local- the local people not so much communications with them. You know when we pushed west, we were in an area that was again heavily IED’d and so often the locals would know where everything was because they’d have to know so they can move around and stuff like that. And a lot of the people we were, that lived there were like farmers so it was I mean it was pretty rural- rural area and you know we would, I think we would engage with them for like intel purposes from time to time. You know I was mostly, like I said I was mostly doing the landing zones we’d get locals that were injured so we had several occasions where there was either a firefight sometime before then and you know 20- 30 minutes later you'd have a local coming with a pickup truck and say, “oh so-and-so was- was hurt or injured from fragmentation or from crossfire.” Or something like that and you know it's questionable whether they were in the crossfire or they were the people that were being shot at because they moved from one… like so the Marines in the area of operations adjacent to us, they'd be in a firefight and then because we’d have all the traffic that was you know going on in the area we were monitoring it and there'd be firefight going on and then 20 minutes later we'd have a local come by and say “oh yes someone you know they were �caught in a crossfire.” It's like well we don't you know, we can't tell it's you know we try to talk to the other unit and say, “hey can you identify anyone?” It's like you know you can't identify this guy as being you know your target. Or we get and there’s, we’d get small children sometimes with injuries of some sort. Sometimes they would be related to- to combat other times I think would just you know regular injuries health issues and stuff like that. And we do, we'd send them out. (1:56.18) Interviewer: Now would your teams that you were with, would you have anybody who functioned as a medic and would you get that kind of training? Yeah, we so, we had gotten in… so in, by the time… I had gone I mean in basic training you get medical; you know basic first aid. By the time I did my second Iraq deployment we had do, they had developed a, it was a combat response course where they go through specific training for combat trauma injuries and stuff like that. It's much more in-depth and they had, you know they had changed a lot of things from when they initially had been teaching us. So, tourniquets were now a good thing, in the past it had been pressure dressings and you don't want to put a tourniquet on unless it's necessary because if you put a tourniquet on, they're like “oh you're gonna lose the limb.” Now it was everyone was carrying tourniquets you have people carrying tourniquets for each limb, you know they'd have, you’d carry them up on here and they'd have ones in their cargo pockets you know in case, you know they hit an IED and then you could put a tourniquet on and then it was pretty much standard, it's like if someone is injured throw a tourniquet on it and you know, let the doctors deal with it when you get down the road for the most part. So, we had gotten more advanced combat training. We actually before Afghanistan we got to go to what's called the pig lab which is, they do, they sedate pigs and they do like gunshot �blasts and stuff on the pigs in different ways and then we have to treat those injuries and keep the pig alive so it's a sedated so it's not moving or I can't feel anything but they would do like a shotgun blast to the leg and then we’d have to do like tourniquets on the pig, you know stop the bleeding and that kind of thing. And you were pretty much tested on your ability to keep the pig alive for as long as possible, they’d do lacerations and different things like that. (1:58.28) Interviewer: So, you’re learning a fair amount of sort of wound treatment and so forth. But you guys would not normally have a navy corpsman with you? No, we… I’m trying to think if we had a corpsman with us because we- we would I know on the MEU we had a corpsman with us, and I want to say yes, we had a corpsman with us. Our- our section was attached with the corpsman. Because they wanted us to be self-sustaining so they wanted our- our section with ANGLICO so what, we had our headquarter section and then we had our teams and we wanted that whole entity to be able to go anywhere and be autonomous and not have to rely on the unit to support us. We wanted to be able to support the unit and not have to rely on them support us. So we had to go with everything that we needed so we would bring our own food, we could get our own… so we often we would get supplies, supplied through the unit we were supporting but we can also get supplied through our own avenues, which is great because we had two routes to work for supplies and getting things. So yes, we went with, we did go with our own corpsman and then when we got there, he ended up going into the, they had a small aid station and pretty much work directly for the aid station there, so treating injuries and stuff. A lot of like scorpion stings and bites and stuff like that, often that was kind of an excuse for them to get out and go to one of the main bases and go eat at a- a chow hole or something like that. �(2:00.12) Interviewer: Alright so was daily life there any better or worse than it had been in Iraq? No, I probably- I probably stayed as busy as I had, I mean I, I had more of a routine in Afghanistan than I did in Iraq for that first deployment. For the first deployment I was kind of running around with the chicken, like a chicken with my head cut off where I you know, I didn't know what was going on from day to day. There it was, we had set up a routine, so we were for the most part in the command center, we'd have a shift there running operations. So, supporting units with air, we get air on stations UAVs to kind of do overwatch of any patrols going on. If there was a fire fight that broke out, then we could call air on station quickly, we would, I, in the evenings I mean Afghanistan seemed to run on the- the- the enemy, they ran on a schedule. So, like in the morning you could count like between eight and nine you get a fire fight, or you get some sort of activity going on. Around eleven o'clock things would stop, it's lunchtime no one's fighting, no one's doing anything and that would go on for you know the day, because it was hot all day and then once the Sun started shutting down and it started getting cooler then things would pick up again, and then once the Sun went down then you'd start having people and place IEDs and we’d, so we'd have different aircraft, four different things scheduled like around that routine. So, like in the morning we'd have some sort of attack aircraft that's on schedule and we'd have them fly at a distance so they couldn't be heard or seen, and if something broke out, wewe'd fly them in. In the evening we'd have UAV support you know covering routes that we knew IEDs to be placed in and then we'd have like HIMARS or GMLARS which are long-range missile systems and we do; you know prosecute those targets like that. Or we’d have artillery within range that had I think they had… though they had guided artillery pieces that they were using at that time that we could use. But often we’d do, so we’d have that, and we'd have �illumination arounds so we might do illumination rounds and, so we can do like a BDA on the targets and stuff like that. So it was, but there was kind of a routine setup, and like you know in the mornings I would do you know, we'd switch things around a little bit but for a while as me in the mornings I would do landing zones, and then so I would sit there standby to run down to the to the LZ if there was some sort of casualty that we need to evacuate or something that, I can run down the LZ, aircraft would be inbound I secure the LZ land them. You know assess the- the injured and then relay that information, make sure they're getting treatment that kind of stuff. So, and then in the evenings then I do COC watch and I'd sit up there for a while. (2:03.32) Interviewer: So, was there, did you have much to shoot at? I didn't, well… Interviewer: Target. Yeah- yeah, I mean so you know, small arms fire, not for me because I was on the base. For thefor the most part I mean, I’d go on patrol every once in a while. But you know there's nothing that came to my attention for that, for the most part, but as far as like targets for you know IED in places and things like that or if other units were out getting a smallish fire, I mean that was you know IEDs almost every other day you’d find someone. Small arms fire we'd have ended up finding, yet again we come into a problem with identifying where the- the shootings coming from. Now it's a little bit easier because it wasn't a large urban area that people could hide at, but often it’d just be a couple shots from the distance and you’d get a report on the radio like, “oh shots fired.” It's like “which direction?” You know, “what's the distance?” Like, “well we don't know.” It's like, “well call us back when you know.” It's like, we'll put a UAV in the area and see if we can spot some things out. �(2:04.40) Interviewer: Now was it possible to spot people actually planting IEDs? Yeah- yeah, we’d do that like almost every other night. We, I mean I think it was like a couple weeks straight where it was like the same spot. They were, someone was out there trying to put an IED in for like a week straight, or like two weeks straight, and it was like every night we were like, it's like you would think they would stop putting an IED in right in the same location. Because we'd sit there and watch someone putting in an IED and then we'd hit that target with you know, usually it's the long-range missiles or something like that. And then you know, two hours later someone would go by and try to pick up the, you know they take the body away and they- they do that and then you'd have them, someone else go up there and try to take the IED that they were just trying to implant and try to put it back in and then we'd hit them again. So, it's yeah… Interviewer: So how were you observing this? We had UAVs; I mean we had pretty much we had, could have aerial surveillance. We also had a like an eye in the sky, so we had on- in middle of the base we had this giant camera a FLIR system which does, you know regular color images, black-and-white thermal, so all kinds of neat stuff and it has zoom capability and all that stuff. (2:06.12) Interviewer: So, you could see them at night? Yeah. Interviewer: But it didn’t register with them that you could see them at night? I don't know, I mean because like it would register, like we- they could tell if we had aircraft on station. So, like they knew that if- that if they heard the helicopters that they need to get away, �get out of there. And that's what they did and so we would have to, like if we were doing patrols, we'd have aircraft on station with the patrols going out, but we'd have to keep them at a distance. So, they couldn’t be, couldn’t be seen or heard, so they’d be in, have them in defilade you knowyou know quite a ways a away. So, because if they were on station then they wouldn’t attack so I mean that kind of registered and even with like fixed-wing aircraft; if they were flying too low in way that they could be seen or heard then there'd be no engagement with that. So, we would try to keep them out of the way so we can draw up the enemy and then we’d bring them in and so I don't know why, you know they would keep putting in the IEDs I mean it was like, it would happen- it was like two weeks straight where it was happening on a regular basis at this same location. And we, I mean we kept watching that location because it was where they kept putting them. (2:07.34) Interviewer: Now how long did you spend in Afghanistan? Seven months. Interviewer: Okay and over the course of that time did anything change? Or were things pretty much the same the whole time? No, well we- we did a massive expansion, so we like quadrupled the size of the area that we were covering. I mean most of that area was all desert, we were expanding to this road that was far to the ???? from Iran is where we had gotten, they’d have their identification on them from where they're from. And I think Iran was one of the big places that we were getting people. We were finding, so the people that we hit emplacing IEDs, a lot of times that's where they were from. And so, I don't think a lot of it was local people that were- were doing anything for the most part. I think it was just outsiders coming in and causing disruptions or that kind of thing. �(2:08.33) Interviewer: Alright now this was you last war and deployment, right? Yeah. Interviewer: Okay. Now had you at a certain point decided that it was your time to get out of the Marine Corps? Yeah, I decided, well so when I got back, I was pretty sure I was getting out. And I had extend for a, a month because when you get back from a deployment you have to have at least three months before you get out and I only had two month so I had to extend for a month so I can get out. And I had looked into trying out for the for the- the HUMINT team, the human intelligence team or counter-intel, so I had looked in that and I started the- the process through that. But at that point it was, their deployment cycles, I had gotten onto a pretty frequent deployment cycle by that time. Their deployment cycles were- were pretty much constant. They were always gone somewhere, you know a lot of cases I talked to guys and they- they said they'd get back from a deployment and then two weeks later they'd be back on a plane going to another, for another deployment somewhere. Mind you some of the deployments were short deployments, it was you know. But I had looked into that and but eventually you know, by that time I was also married and had at least one kid, so… yeah I figured it was and I had I mean, I had done a lot by then and- and I had you know, I figured after eight years if I do another enlistment I might as well do 20. And I really was actually kind of fed up with, you know, you got- you weigh the- the good times and the bad times. And I had a lot of great times but there was a lot of times where I was just like this thing, this blow. You know just the- the military bureaucracy kind of system that had going on and it seemed to me you know, I was- I was a sergeant and that I think is the best place to be. If I pick up staff, I'd be doing more of a desk kind of job at that time, and it, it �seemed that a lot of the- the guys that did stay in that's all they really had, you know. We had a lot of people, I got… it's funny, when I was in Iraq it was like anyone who was educated is probably left already by that time. You know the same thing I think I was thinking with the military was like anyone who's smart enough to do something outside of the military has gotten out and is doing that. Anyone left in is, you know, is- they- they're not getting out because they can't get out. They wouldn't be able to do anything else; just it was a lot of that. A lot of people stuck in their ways and… (2:11.20) Interviewer: Was there any encouragement to go and become an officer? No- not really, you know I actually, so when I was on the- the 11th MEU I had signed up for- I had put an application in for the MECEP- MECEP program which is the military to officer, the enlisted to officer program I put an application in for that. That did not go through, I mean they only have so many slots for that and so that was kind of my venture at doing that, but no one really was like, “oh you should go officer.” I mean at that point I was; you know I was out the door and most people kind of knew, I mean, and I had- I had told my officers. you know I said, “you know when we get back from this deployment I got three months.” It's like I'm not doing anything when I get back, it's like I worked my butt off for eight years and I, you know and I'm not gonna quit at the very end, but at the same time it's like, you guys don't, you know, you can handle, you- everyone is, you guys should be able to handle this now. You know I got things to worry about before I get out, so. And they were fine with that and they said, you know, “you do whatever you need to do.” So that was great. (2:12.34) �Interviewer: Okay, now what does the military sort of now do in terms of helping to transition people? You’re leaving the military, to go back to civilian life, whether its coming back from deployment or getting out entirely, do they provide anything for you? Yeah, so they had a weeklong, I think it was-it was either three days or a weeklong, either way They, you’re supposed to do that you can do it up to a year before you get out but you're, so you're supposed to be given an opportunity to go between a year and during your last year up to thirty days. I mean you can do it from any time, but they say you ideally you want to do at least 60 days before you get out. I think I did mine like, I don't know a month before I got out and that was with that deployment, I had just got back from a deployment and I kind of set it up that way. So, I can make, I'm- you know I wanted to make sure I got it done. And they go over a lot of things and they try to specialize it for what you're kind of interested in. If you're looking for a job, they're gonna focus more on your resume and interview skills, and then probably try and get you in touch with, you know people that can help find you a job. If you're trying to go back to school, then they can have people to help navigate the GI bill and you set up for that. If you're trying to open your own business they got people to help with that kind of thing, but yeah I think it was, and they- they say oh you know you could show up in your civilian clothes, you don'tthey try to make it relaxed and it's all ran by civilians and stuff like that, you know. I think I went in my uniform the entire time. I think, I- except for the day they do interviews they said don't wear your uniform so it's, I didn't wear my uniform because they told me not to. But I mean… Interviewer: Did they do anything in terms of helping or offer to help people who may have PTSD issues or other things like that? Or just general stuff, but adjusting to life, civilian life and how you have to behave now or anything like that? (2:14.46) �Not, I don't- I don’t remember any, a whole lot of that, you know. A lot of it was just on like your- your benefits and stuff, well big harping on putting in your- your if you have needed to make a VA claim. Putting that, getting like situated and stuff like that but not a lot with you know mental health and stuff like that. Pretty much it's, you know a lot of the, anything medical related was kind of more associated with your VA claim and they're saying you know if you don't have things documented make sure you go get them documented now or make sure you can identify that stuff and put them in, make sure they're in your record so you can do your claim. So you can get compensated for any injuries you have whether they're physical or mental health issues but I don't think there was a whole lot of, you know classes or anything on like adjusting or you know this is how you talk to your employer, you know you can't knife hand people kind of thing. (2:15.49) Interviewer: Alright, so now when do you actually get out? So, I got- I got so I had leaves saved up, so I got out sometime in- sometime in March I got out. I actually got, went, used tuition assistance and went and got my Class A license through a local school and they, so I took leave and did that so I was still getting paid and they're paying for the school at the same time and then I got out and I took the rest of my leave and it so, did terminal leave and then I actually stayed in San Diego until, because my wife was in the Navy so we stayed there until she got out which was another I don't know almost two years. Interviewer: Class A license? All commercial driver's license, I can drive the big semi-trucks. Interviewer: Alright, so is that what you wound up doing while you were there or? �No, well I got out, when I got out I pretty much immediately got an offer or someone was telling me, told me about- so the- the school I went through to get my license they had a placement and they had got word that the VA hospital in San Diego was looking for drivers that are veterans, and so I got a job at, in there… as a- a vehicle, a motor vehicle operator for the VA hospital there. A lot of driving buses and stuff like that. So not semi tracks but buses and so I could utilize my- my Class A license. (2:17.19) Interviewer: Okay, and then once your wife got out, then what did you wind up doing? We ended up moving back to Michigan and then I started working for the Rapid, driving the bus here and I started taking classes. I had actually, so while I was working for the VA hospitals, I was actually going to a local community college and got my EMT certification. Mostly because I was preparing for the move and I wanted to have options for jobs and stuff and because I had gotten an extensive- extensive, I got quite a bit of training in first aid and trauma. I figured EMT I could probably handle something like that but when I moved, I ended up getting a job driving for the bus, so I didn't need my EMT certification. (2:18.07) Interviewer: Alright and so now what have you basically decided to do with yourself? Go to college? Yeah- yeah, I started taking part-time classes when I got to Grand Rapids at Grand Valley and then I switched to full-time and then I changed my major to philosophy and that's what I've been doing. Actually, gonna be going to grad school for philosophy, my PhD and… Interviewer: You’ve also have been actively involved with the student veteran’s organization, what motivated you to do that? �Well so even when I was at, so I was at the VA hospital working as a driver I was also volunteering at the DAV. Helping coordinate transportation for veterans to get to their medical appointments and so, and then when I got to Grand Rapids, I was actually actively seeking out volunteer opportunities with veterans and I worked with Buddy to Buddy Program which is a peer mentoring program. And so I have tried to maintain, be active in the veterans community, you know mostly because I- I get veterans I you know, have that common experience but also because I know there's a lot of issues that veterans have and I've been fortunate; I don't have any mental health issues or anything like that. So, it's something I can- I can do, I can try to be that voice in some way or try to help out where I can so. Interviewer: What kinds of issues or problems do you see be fairly common among returning veterans of your own generation or even younger? (2:19.43) A, one of the big, I mean mental health issues I think is prevalent and I think it's also, also has to do with society in general just being more aware of mental health issues; that we can identify these things. But transitioning in general I think is one of the hardest things I think veterans are dealing with is how to go from the structured military life and you know, then going to this group of people that just don't identify with that. You know, a lot of people just seem out of place, you know with mental health issues you also get, a lot of times you get drinking and that kind of thing and that again may lead to some sort of spirals where people's life just kind of goes haywire. Interviewer: You’ve managed at least yourself. Yeah. �Interviewer: Kind of how to go along, how to deal with that. And now going off pursuing graduate school, philosophy, I mean do you want to become a university professor? Or do you not really know what you would do with it? (2:20.52) That's the yeah, I mean that's- that's the idea at least in- in the Marine Corps I got to teach and I got to lead and I feel I can, I enjoyed doing that, I mean I think that was one of the best parts of you know, having a group of Marines that don't know something and then teach them how to do that thing. I think that was, that was probably one of the best experiences I had, and I enjoyed it and so I think teaching philosophy in the same way; teaching something to someone that doesn't know would be a great experience. But also just the research aspect of looking into kind of some of the bigger questions, you know I'm mostly interested in political philosophy myself right now but I also have like some of these issues related to the conflict in combat that- that weigh on me as far as you know why some people are affected by combat and other people are not or, or trauma. And you know when you know, kind of when is it right to go to war when is it you know when can I kill people when can I not kill people, or when should I, when shouldn't I? That kind of thing, I mean I think those are questions a lot of veterans grapple with and you know a society is, we I think we're gotten to this point where people get back from war and we've- we've taken this about-face from the Vietnam era where you know, they weren't given their just respect for what they did and now people are getting back and it's like everything you did was great and you're infallible and you- you can't, you know you didn't do anything wrong. And I don't think a lot of veterans feel that way like, you know you can't just, you know say “I did nothing wrong and that's the truth.” I mean maybe what I did was wrong you know, I don't, but we're not having that kind of conversation. �(2:22.48) Interviewer: Now to sort of thank you for your service, which might have been a good thing to say to some of the Vietnam guys, but a lot of younger ones are not always sure what to do with that. Yeah. Interviewer: But you’ve sort of moved on now, to the big picture and really thinking about that on a level that maybe you hadn’t so much when you were on your first deployment. You found out these larger questions, you’re engaging. I want to kind of close this, but just asking; what do you think you wound up taking out of the Marine Corps experience? What did that do for you or how did that affect you? (2:23.17) I mean the biggest thing for me was like there's a lot of things I can do and even when you think you can't do things, like you cannot imagine the- the- the physical, the mental strain that you can you can go through. You know personally I mean I think one of the reasons I joined the military in the first place, the Marine Corps, was because I wanted to test myself and I think I did just that. I mean when I'm struggling with something mentally or physically nowadays I kind of look back and like, it's like, I've done this and so much more already. I mean there's- there's a lot of, there's very little I- I don't think that I can't do. I'm you know, I can do more than I think I can, and I think that's, I mean that's, I think about what it's given me, you know. � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 RHC-27_OudbierM2130V Title A name given to the resource Oudbier, Matthew (Interview transcript and video), 2017 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-06-15 Description An account of the resource Matthew Oudbier was born in Bremerton, Washington and grew up in a Marine Corps family. He entered the Delayed Entry Program in 2004 and went to Twentynine Palms, California, for its field radio operators course. Oudbier was then assigned to 1st Stinger Battery or 1st LAD in Futenma on Okinawa, Japan, before being deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, in 2007 where he was his company's radio operator and participated in heavy training. After reenlistment, Oudbier became first ANGLICO, returned to Iraq in 2008, and joined a support/logistics team. He also reenlisted for tours in the Gulf of Aden in 2009 and Sangin, Afghanistan in 2011 where he was assigned to the Georgian Army. After leaving the service, Oudbier got his Class A license and worked at the VA hospital in San Diego before moving back to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Oudbier, Matthew Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Veterans History Project collection, RHC-27 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401. Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b11f91896cbb0cf85847ba0f30b9c88c.pdf 22aa47f8b4cae9a10966d0d6b7dcb353 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Jim Oudman (student interview) Vietnam War 44 minutes 23 seconds (00:00:10) Early Life and Basic Training -Born in California, but “married into” living in Grand Rapids Michigan. -Drafted into the military with two friends. -Had basic training at Fort Knox Kentucky with said friends. -After basic training, one of the friends was sent to Germany, himself and the other sent to Vietnam. -Most were flown to Vietnam, however he was sent on a “nice” trip via a ship. -Trip was 22 days long on a troop ship. -Army, Marines, and Navy all cohabited. -His role on ship: four hours of guard duty, four hours off. -Shipped out from San Francisco, first stop was Pearl Harbor Hawaii. -Next arrived in Vietnam. -Ship was the USS Breckenridge. (00:06:00) Vietnam -Napalm, tracers, and signs of war were observable from the deck where ship docked. -Those going ashore were doing so “Normandy style” – rope ladders and vehicles. -Water was chest height. -Landed at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. -Desert like environment. -Extreme heat. -Food: WWII C-rations from 1941. -The year was 1965-1966. -Aforementioned friend was assigned to Military Police. -Back at Fort Knox basic training, he was in Fifth Tank Battalion. -After basic training, he went to Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Fort Story Virginia. -On the rifle team. -Someone approached him to go to sniper training before Vietnam. -Disliked the idea of being alone in Vietnam in a sniper role, so declined. -AIT lasted about eight weeks, then sent to Vietnam. -Turned 21 while in Vietnam. -Encountered sniper fire while in Vietnam. -Several incidents during his time in Vietnam: -Bumped (literally) into a man that turned out to be outfitted with explosives. (00:20:00) -Riding with a vehicle that accidentally injured a local. -A man decapitated by pressurizing a tire without the typical restraints. -Incredible monsoons. -His time in Vietnam lasted a year, from 1965-1966. �-Discharged in June of 1966. -After returning to the US he was so acclimated to the heat he was shivering in typical warm weather. -Communication with home usually in the form of letters. -Washed laundry in water in their helmets. -Monsoons did great damage to their encampment. (00:30:00) -Recreation: swimming. The Cam Ranh Bay was so salty it was easy to float. -Required guarding from sharks. -Disassembled a fork lift and created a motor scooter from the parts. -At that time in Vietnam there was no real infrastructure, roads etc. -Affixed Napalm to wing tanks on F-4 Phantom planes. -Received blister scars on the hands from the napalm residue. -Has neuropathy in the legs due to exposure to Agent Orange. (00:35:20) Post War Life and Misc. -Earlier in life, took art throughout high school. -After leaving military used the G.I. bill to attend Kendall School in Grand Rapids. -Studied graphic art and advertisement design. -Got into advertising as a career. -Advice to younger generations: a more victory oriented mindset required in war policy rather than being restricted and prolonged. -Viewing imagery, such as on TV/movies, reminiscent of Vietnam can be difficult because of the instant emotions and memories it may bring up. -One instance: received a warm and unexpected thanking from a local Vietnamese American tailor. � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 RHC-27_OudmanE1825V Title A name given to the resource Oudman, Edwin James (Interview outline), 2015 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-05-26 Description An account of the resource Jim Oudman was born in California, and now lives in Grand Rapids Michigan. When he turned 18 he was drafted into the Vietnam War, and received basic training at Fort Knox Kentucky where he was in the Fifth Tank battalion. At Fort Story, Virginia he put his skills to work on the rifle team during Advanced Individual Training. Thereafter, in 1965, he was sent to Cam Rahn Bay Vietnam on the USS Breckenridge. During his time he worked on a number of jobs for the Air Force and Navy such as affixing napalm wing tanks to F-4 Phantom planes. After a year in Vietnam he was discharged from the military in June of 1966. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Oudman, Edwin James Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mortenson, Sarah Jane (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. ArmyOral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/26d0e3a22a6c545504d0e59021de0a3c.m4v 648a7aaf8912e64964c8908833397eea https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/241f1ca11efc099af46173a9c5fbb433.pdf 228d24f7da00e6d7ca1700bb6d6bfab8 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Jim Oudman Vietnam War 1 hour 14 minutes 54 seconds (00:00:40) Early Life -Born in Palo Alto, California, on July 28, 1943 -Moved to Michigan at a young age -Born in Michigan because his father was stationed there during the war -Parents were originally from Michigan -Moved to Michigan in 1944 or 1945 -Father did woodworking -Worked for a lumber company -Did home repairs and cabinetry -Graduated from high school in 1962 and got a job (00:02:50) Volunteering for the Draft -One friend received his draft notice -Prompted Jim to volunteer for the draft -Presenting himself to the draft board instead of waiting for the notice or enlisting -Enlisting meant three or four years of service while a draft meant only two years of service -Volunteered for the draft in the fall of 1964 (00:04:15) Basic Training -Received basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky -Did a lot of training with tanks -Loading and firing the tanks’ guns -Caused hearing damage -Went on marches and had physical training before they ate breakfast -Drill sergeants forced the recruits to eat quickly or not at all -Strong emphasis on discipline -You were fine as long as you listened to orders from the drill sergeants -Helped give him some direction in life -If you disobeyed you were given extra guard duty or extra kitchen work -Usually lost leave time too -Never punished with physical violence -Basic training lasted eight weeks -Worked on tanks for the duration of basic training -Trained on the rifle range with the M-14 rifle (00:07:12) Awareness of Vietnam War -During basic training he could’ve been deployed anywhere -US presence in Vietnam had not reached full, wartime levels -There was the chance to be deployed to Vietnam -Didn’t follow the news about Vietnam that closely (00:08:03) Advanced Individual Training -During advanced individual training he saw some men training as part of a rifle team -Appealed to him -Tried out to join a rifle team and outperformed every man on the team -Sent to Fort Story, Virginia, for advanced individual training �-Near the coast -Received training for truck driving and material handling -Could be placed in the infantry if necessary -Heard his unit would be sent to Vietnam -Asked if he wanted to go to Sniper School -Knew if he went to Vietnam as a sniper he would be one man against several hundred -Declined the invitation -Assigned to the 565th Transportation Company -Jeeps, ten ton trucks, semi-trucks, tankers, ¼ ton trucks, ¾ ton trucks, and 2 ½ ton trucks -All stick shift vehicles (00:12:02) Deployment to Vietnam Pt. 1 -Deployed to Vietnam in October 1965 -Didn’t receive a leave home before deploying -Sailed on the USS General JC Brekinridge (AP-176) -Sailed out of Oakland -Had Army personnel, Navy personnel, and Marines on the ship -Took 21 days to reach Vietnam -Soldiers were put on kitchen duty or guard duty -He was assigned to guard duty -Passed under the Golden Gate Bridge (00:14:00) Arrivals in Vietnam -Remembers being off the coast of Vietnam -Four hours on guard duty and four hours off guard duty -At night he saw napalm explosions and tracer rounds -Marines made amphibious landing, and on the third day the soldiers went ashore -Watched a Huey fly over and fire rockets at targets -Went ashore in a landing craft -All he knew was the beachhead was secure -Ramp dropped and the soldiers got off into chest-high water -Went ashore at Cam Ranh Bay -Sandy and no piers (00:18:03) Establishing a Base – Cam Ranh Bay -Built a camp inland -Dug bunkers and filled sandbags -Set up wooden buildings -Navy construction battalions (“Seabees”) and Army engineers came to help build the base -Crushed rocks and used that to make a road -Rock shards damaged the truck tires -Lived in pup tents for a while then set up squad tents (20 soldiers per tent) -Made makeshift wall lockers out of wood -Had 105mm and 155mm howitzers firing at enemy positions across the bay -Experienced monsoon rains -Watched a solid sheet of water move across the bay and hit their camp (00:22:52) Convoys & Other Jobs Pt. 1 -A few days after landing at Cam Ranh Bay they started running convoys to other bases -Took sniper fire on the convoy runs -Drove to Nha Trang (about 20 miles from Cam Ranh Bay) -Traveled on established roads, so they drove at top speed -Helped evade enemy fire �(00:24:05) Booby Traps -Leftover mines at abandoned French barracks, so everyone stayed away from that place -Told about Viet Cong booby traps -Informed about punji pits, and pressure-triggered bullet traps (00:25:45) Convoys & Other Jobs Pt. 2 -Drove on quite a few convoys -Did a lot of jobs in Vietnam -Used a tanker to gather water -Used that water and empty gas drums to make a shower system (00:26:54) Base Security -Base was mostly secure at Cam Ranh Bay -Pulled guard duty at day and at night -Had trip flares for illumination -Viet Cong never tried to infiltrate the base during his time there -He was paranoid at first, and after three months adjusted to that feeling -Friend was stationed at a missile battery about seven miles away from his base -Drove over to visit him, and nothing happened -Unsecured road left him vulnerable to sniper fire and roadside bombs (00:29:57) South Korean Troops -Had South Korean and South Vietnamese troops at Cam Ranh Bay -South Korean soldiers guarded the fighter jets -Tough and intimidating men (00:30:47) Chemical Exposure Pt. 1 -Mixed napalm for bombs used on Phantom jets -Took some of it, balled it up and threw it into a fire to see what happened -Landed in the fire and made a small fireball -Produced napalm by mixing a chemical powder with gasoline -Air Force used Army personnel to help get tasks done -Exposure to napalm scarred his hands -Government used Agent Orange in his area -Trying to defoliate sides of the roads and create better lines of fire -Caused severe nerve damage to his legs -Has no feeling below his knees (00:33:25) Interactions with the Vietnamese -He was leery with of the South Vietnamese troops for a while -Went to a Vietnamese barber -Never knew who was friendly -The barber used a straight razor -Could have easily slit Jim’s throat -Civilians sold bottles of ice cold water and Pepsi for 50 cents a bottle -Learned to “chew” the liquid before swallowing -Sometimes the Viet Cong put crushed glass in the bottles, and it was fatal -Saw it happen to soldiers -Usually encountered the Vietnamese in Nha Trang -On one convoy they accidentally hit a boy on a bike and killed him -Incidents like that happened all the time (00:37:00) Deployment to Vietnam Pt. 2 -Had no dramamine on the ship and they hit rough seas -He got sick and ran for the bathroom �-Guards were blocking the bathroom -They allowed Jim to enter the bathroom and throw up -He vomited in front of a colonel and a major -Had no appetite for a week after landing at Vietnam (00:39:05) Living Conditions in Vietnam -Ate C-Rations canned in 1941 -Tried Vietnamese food -Went into a restaurant in Nha Trang and ordered a pork dinner -It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad -Street vendors sold meat covered in flies -In larger cities the Vietnamese had buildings -Hotel rooms in Vietnam had a bed and a hole in the ground that served as a toilet -Most people lived in shacks made of corrugated sheet metal (00:41:52) Drugs & Prostitution in Vietnam -Aware of drug use and prostitution in Vietnam -There were a lot of prostitutes in Nha Trang and around the base at Cam Ranh Bay -He didn’t smoke marijuana, because smoking didn’t appeal to him -Got caught smoking as a boy and his father made him smoke an entire cigar -Never wanted to smoke again -Warned about venereal diseases -One man had venereal diseases all the time (00:43:12) Politics of the Vietnam War -Knew that it was a war and not a “police action” -Politics limited the actions of soldiers -Rules of Engagement: Only allowed to shoot in defense -Had to break the rules just to survive (00:44:15) Enemy Contact -Viet Cong shot at convoys from positions in the jungle -Hard to pick out targets -Remembers walking through a village and bumping into a Vietnamese man -He took a few steps then heard a scuffle behind him -A South Korean MP and American MP had apprehended the man -South Korean MP pistol whipped the man -Found explosives on the Vietnamese man and a detonator -Planned on getting near the US troops and blowing himself up (00:46:45) Mission to Da Nang -Went up to Da Nang for one mission -Flew up there instead of driving -Delivered some supplies to the base -Usually didn’t go that far for missions (00:47:36) Morale & Relationships between Soldiers -Men formed cliques on the base -Didn’t apply during convoys -Worked together when the situation called for it -Some officers were good and others were incompetent -Some of the officers were overzealous with their command -Remembers a soldier coming into his tent, drunk, and firing his rifle into the air -An MP wrestled the rifle away from the man -Got drunk on 200 proof grain alcohol �-Had a refrigerator from the ship and had 3.2% beer -One soldier had his father send over a case of fifths of liquor (00:52:25) R&R -Sent to Nha Trang for his R&R -Given one week of R&R -Stayed in a hotel in the city -Guarded by South Vietnamese troops -High walls topped with glass surrounded the hotel -Didn’t feel any different than being on a base -He actually felt less safe and relaxed being in the hotel in Nha Trang (00:54:48) End of Tour & End of Service Pt. 1 -Stayed in Vietnam for one year -Had four months left of his enlistment -Got an early discharge from the Army (00:55:05) Memories from Vietnam -Remembers pulling guard duty overlooking a valley -Saw two Phantom jets fly over -Eerily quiet for a moment then the sonic boom hit him -Viet Cong tricked children into being suicide bombers -Taught them to get a crowd of US troops around them and then pull a detonation cord -Children didn’t know what they were doing -Knew a man killed in a situation like that -Ordered to shoot first and ask questions later -He was riding in a fuel tanker and the driver lit up a cigarette -Made a hard stop and gas splashed on them -Fortunately, the cigarette didn’t ignite the gasoline -Got in a minor car accident -Wound up with a chunk of glass in his forehead (00:59:40) Chemical Exposure Pt. 2 -Agent Orange caused nerve damage in his legs -Patches of his skin are losing feeling -Has lost feeling in his fingers -The VA has finally recognized Agent Orange-related health issues in 2008 (01:00:25) End of Tour & End of Service Pt. 2 -Flew out of Cam Ranh Bay on a C-130 -Flew to Saigon to wait for an airliner -Saw a Vietnamese Beatles cover band -Spot on impression -Flew back to the United States in an airliner -Quite a few men from his unit left at the same time -Held their breath until they got out of Vietnamese airspace -Landed at San Francisco -Encouraged to reenlist -It didn’t appeal to him, so he declined -Stayed in San Francisco for a day -Flew to Grand Rapids, Michigan -Parents picked him up from the airport (01:03:50) Antiwar Protests -He flew in his uniform �-Protesters in San Francisco spit on him and the other soldiers -Came as a shock because the Army didn’t warn them about antiwar sentiments -Frustrating experience -People treated him normally on the cross country flight (01:05:15) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder -Suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder when he returned from Vietnam -He had nightmares, flashbacks, and unconscious reactions -Didn’t know what to call it at the time -Army didn’t warn him about the possibility of PTSD -Goes to group therapy sessions with other Vietnam War veterans -Chance to talk with other men that had similar experiences -Felt a sense of isolation when he first came home (01:06:54) Life after the War -Got home in the middle of June -Relaxed for a bit then got a job -Went to Kendall School of Art & Design in downtown Grand Rapids -Used the GI Bill to pay for his education -Studied there for three years -Got into advertising and illustrating -Started with 30 people in the class -By the time he graduated there were only six or seven students remaining -Got a job at an advertising agency -Worked as a graphic designer -Still does brochures, business cards, and corporate designs part time (01:09:22) Readjusting to Civilian Life -Went to see the film The Deer Hunter with his brother -Came out of it feeling tense -Whenever he sees a picture of a jungle he can still feel it and smell it -Friend asked him what it was like to kill a Viet Cong soldier -Jim told his friend to shoot the can they’d set up as a target -The friend shot it and said it felt like just shooting a target -Jim replied that it felt the same way shooting an enemy soldier in combat (01:11:03) Weapons in Vietnam -Assigned the M-16 rifle after being in Vietnam for a while -Had originally had the M-14 which fired a .308 round -Viet Cong had the AK-47 which fired a .30 caliber round -Powerful enough to shoot through bricks -One shot, one kill type of weapon -The M-16 fired a .223 round which meant it took three shots to kill someone -Able to carry more ammunition, but it required more ammunition to kill -Suffered from technical problems -Had to clean it every ten shots -Didn’t have to do that with the M-14 (01:13:30) Reflections on Service -Taught him discipline at a young age -Turned 21 years old in Vietnam -Gave him experience -Able to connect with other Vietnam War veterans -Has visited the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC, and it was a difficult thing to see � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 RHC-27_OudmanE1927V Title A name given to the resource Oudman, Edwin James (Interview outline and video), 2016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-02-25 Description An account of the resource Jim Oudman was born on July 28, 1943, in Palo Alto, California, but he grew up in Michigan. In the fall of 1964 he volunteered for the draft. He received basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, then received advanced individual training at Fort Story, Virginia. While at Fort Story he learned how to drive trucks and handle supplies, and was assigned to the 565th Transportation Company. In October 1965 he deployed to Vietnam with the 565th and got there via the USS General JC Brekinridge. He landed at Cam Ranh Bay and helped establish a base there. For a year he went on convoys to nearby bases to deliver supplies with most convoys going from Cam Ranh Bay to Nha Trang. After a year in Vietnam he returned to the United States and with four months left in his enlistment he was discharged early. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Oudman, Edwin James Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) WKTV (Wyoming, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Language A language of the resource eng Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b0c44551cad0ecd0c0cc8b51d76bd11d.mp4 97b4673756b6e3dcc86dfc37ae009a1a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7a706a1e9ba42de09205dc5001544627.pdf 0b37cb3473974ee475f2544fddd0c233 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Calvin Owen (50:25) (00:20) Pre-service Born Columbus OH went to HS in Granville OH DePaul University, took French classes Trans OH ST took ROTC summer '41 deferment until '43 Involved in construction of Fort Custer lockmern AFB lived in Frat house Worked as cost accountant, and time keeping duties. AJ Bolthouse subcontractor out of Norwalk, Ohio (4:45) Service Initial training Camp Claiborne, MS Sent to Fort Ord, CA, to be sent to New Guinea with the 533rd Engineer Boat and Shore Battalion Shore battalion worked construction Boat battalion transport 37mm gun crew Bulldozer, (D4) building jetties, developing storage areas for munitions storage (8:45) Applied OCS 3 officer interview, recited formula for velocity of a free falling Object. Applications closed, but one interviewer brought him to s-2 intelligence ops Shipping out 10:00 5 day overseas journey on SS West Point, 15,000 troops, w/ o escort Destination Milne Bay, New Guinea (13:45) NEW GUINEA Took tablets to avoid sickness Became Reg Ops NCO by Japan Landing, assault planning, objective was cliff, 85% casuality rate anticipated Gained and lost material such as trucks and jeeps (18:00) Beach Landings (Philippines) Regimental CO = Beach Master Shore Battalion provides perimeter security �Boat ferries supplies Received harassment from Jap mobile howitzer on RR tracks concealed by day in a hut Landing beach was no-fly zone, ground artillery fired on anything in the air that moved, including friendlies (22:30) Japan 95th Div for landings in Japan, stationed in Hawaii, had A-1 pass. Atomic bomb dropped, landing was peaceful, Yokohama to Kure Jap reception warm, but girls turned their backs in the street in disdain/fear of GIs Made Friends with boy, had dinner with boy’s family. Visited Hiroshima, witnessed described desolation over wide expanse. Employed by merit of his experience to design fallout structures. Frank McKay had him design fallout shelter in Silver lake for cottage his cottage Created steel reinforced secure structure with toilet facilities. (31:06) Supplies/ Logistics General impression was that supply functioned adequately Corruption mitigated by organization, MPs CO became deputy director of CIA (34:25) Back to Hiroshima and Manila Visited Hiroshima by Jeep month after bombing Most of rubble/bodies previously removed Manila relatively unscathed, minimal rubble (38:00) Back to Ohio, Then Grand Rapids Returned to OSU Tuition was 38$ a quarter Worked for OAK Project Engineer Keebler Building John Hekman Was a great guy, took crackers seriously Earned 75$ a week Involved in various commercial development projects Involved in construction of St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, E. Grand Rapids made various ecclesiastical contacts. (48:10) Roosevelt’s death, politics Not very important �Father was a banker, Roosevelt closed his bank Republican Family, supports Bush (50:25) Reaction to PH Was home, heard it on the radio.   � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 OwenC Title A name given to the resource Owen, Calvin (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Owen, Calvin Description An account of the resource Calvin Owen is an Ohio native. Owen saw action various locations in the Pacific theatre of WW II while serving in the 533rd Engineers Boat and Shore Regiment, an army unit involved in amphibious landings. He describes the occupation of Japan and describes the devastation wrought on Hiroshima. He later catalogs his occupational experiences in various projects across the greater Grand Rapids Area. He discussed his views, personal and political on Roosevelt and current administration. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-07-05 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d73323d5d7c7033dd9309abcebe2e115.mp4 1b5566afe9bc62731a7413632fb9d9aa https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/33533107be4288122dde7798d9e7f66e.pdf 0c3988f92a3e3fd1256d1dc4b1e1994d PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Allan Owens Cold War 39 minutes 23 seconds (00:00:33) Early Life -Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1940 -Grew up in the Dearborn area outside of Detroit -Moved to Belleville, Michigan before high school -Attended Monroe Catholic Central -Father was a meat cutter and owned a butcher’s shop -When the shop closed they moved to Belleville and he opened a tavern -Had two sisters growing up -One has passed away -Graduated from high school in 1958 (00:01:20) Enlisting in the Air Force -Tried college -“Loved college, but didn’t like the classes.” -Attended Marquette University -Ran track while there -After college worked at a full service gas station -One night after work in 1961 he pulled into an Air Force Recruiting Station for no real reason -Cold War environment, but pre-Vietnam War -Enlisted in February 1961 -Enlisted on a Wednesday and left home that Friday -Told to report to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas for basic training (00:02:55) Family Background -Father had had a deferment during WWII because of being in the food business -Volunteered in Dearborn to be an air raid warden -Patrolled their neighborhood and the surrounding streets during air raid drills (00:03:38) Basic Training -All pre-deployment work was done in Fort Wayne, Detroit, Michigan -Left for Texas via train -Trip took two days and he got to see the undeveloped western U.S. -Arrived in San Antonio, Texas to go to Lackland Air Force Base -Greeted cordially by trainers -He was made a class leader because of his age (21) and college experience -Surprised by how relaxed it was compared to what he had heard about other branches -Key was to just pay attention and follow orders -Taught how to march in formation -Given firearms training -One day of “dry” (no ammo) fire training, one day of “live” (ammo) fire training -Training was scheduled to last six weeks -Ran obstacle courses a few times, but the main focus was on classroom work �(00:05:47) Tech School -Sent to Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado for technical school -Flown to Lowry AFB from Lackland AFB -Designation was to be an armament mechanic -Job was to load missiles onto aircraft -Training lasted six to nine months -Attended classes 6 PM to midnight -While not in class he cleaned the grounds, marched, and engaged in physical training -First part of the course was learning electronics -The base had a classified “black hangar” with mockups of all types of U.S. aircraft -Trained how to load missiles and bombs onto them -Extremely educational and professional environment -All of the trainers were NCOs (noncommissioned officers) (00:08:20) Conditions at Lowry AFB -Given a Class A pass because of his age (21) and class leader status -Got in trouble with sergeant for taking his class to mess hall via a shortcut -Got to know the sergeant better because of this -The same sergeant that he got in trouble with offered him a job tending bars in Central City -Worked that job on the weekend -Hands on training in the military suited him better than theoretical training in college (00:09:14) Deployment Orders -Deployments were based on class rank (higher class rank meant better choice for deployment) -Two men in his class were married -Rest of class decided to let those two have the two stateside deployments -He picked APO 132 because he wanted to see Europe -He was given APO 132 because of his high class standing -The rest of his class was sent to South Korea and Japan -Given a month of leave and he drove home -Stopped at Marquette University for a week to visit friends -Had to report to McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey in November to be flown to Germany (00:11:16) Bitburg, Germany-Overview -He was assigned to the 525th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Bitburg, Germany -F102 Delta Daggers -Part of Air Defense Command -They were a tenant unit to the 36th Air Wing -The 525th Squadron was mostly independent -Part of the largest firepower base in Europe at the time -525th Squadron alone had fifty F102’s -Ground crew was massive -Each aircraft could have up to twenty soldiers working on it -Being in Europe during peacetime was a phenomenal assignment -Base is now a commercial airport -They were part of the chain of bases that made up border patrol -Ironically enough their runway faced west instead of east �(00:15:00) Assignment and Conditions in Germany -Part of his duty was to safety wire the fire switches by soldering them -During scrambles they came back broken -Showed the urgency and organized nature during alerts -He was astounded by the level of professionalism that existed -Even younger soldiers operated well and with a high degree of professionalism -Soldiers came from a myriad of backgrounds and worked together well -Unit was largely white, but there was no racial tension with the black soldiers (00:17:41) German Civilians -Bitburg village was very friendly and welcoming with American soldiers -Every July 4th the base would have a festival and an open house -Germans were welcomed to come and celebrate -Thousands of civilians would show up -Two breweries operated in Bitburg (00:19:02) Traveling Europe -Bitburg was five hours away from Paris -Very close to Luxembourg -Traveled around Europe multiple times -Bought a 1952 Dodge from an officer for $400 -Every May he and four other soldiers would take a month of leave and travel -First trip they took they went to Rome, Italy -Met up with girls that had attended Marquette University -Whole twenty seven day trip cost $111 -Got gas at American bases for 11c/gallon -Camped out in tents and bought food at general stores on the bases (00:20:34) Playing Sports -Played on an organized basketball team for his base and traveled Europe with them as well -Assigned their own C-47 transport -Air Force Champions in 1963 -Army defeated them in a landslide victory in 1963 -They were supposed to play the Continental Championship in England -Cancelled due to President Kennedy being assassinated -Remembers being in a pub in London when he heard the news -English were sympathetic and extra friendly to Americans afterwards (00:22:25) Cuban Missile Crisis -Conditions on the base always changed during crisis moments -Alert siren went off at 2AM one morning -Aircraft were scrambled -Reported to his position and hooked up nuclear weapons to aircraft -Stayed in hangar for three days unaware of the situation until after the fact -The base was prepared for anything and he understood the severity of the Cold War (00:24:36) Security on Base -Trained for, and acted on, security breaches (7-Highs) -Occasionally someone would be caught trying to get into a locked down area -Remembers a colonel didn’t have the right paperwork and was jailed -He was taking pictures of the aircraft one time �-Air Force police approached him and he was put in jail for security reasons -Officer in charge was his basketball coach, got let out because of that -Film was confiscated and most likely destroyed though -No one was sure what the Russians were going to do and they wanted to be prepared (00:26:50) Visiting East Berlin -East Berlin was barren and depressing -Allowed to visit East Berlin as a part of a military tour -Never left the bus, but took pictures of the city -Given their tour right after an East Berliner was shot trying to escape and the Wall went up -No activity, no people, no public transportation -He and the other soldiers were afraid of being taken hostage -East Berlin was heavily occupied by communist soldiers -Compared to East Berlin the West German economy was booming and thriving (00:29:10) Reflection on Serving in Germany -Spent three full years in Germany -Considers himself lucky to have such a good deployment and getting to play sports -Always functioned rapidly, efficiently, and professionally as a unity -Everyone did their job well (00:29:46) Ramstein Basketball Game -Remembers wanting to go Ramstein, Germany to play in a basketball game -Could not go because of having alert duty -Base commander approached him while on duty and ordered him to go to Ramstein to play -Felt bad for the NCO that had to fill his position, apologized to him -After the game he was placed in charge of new soldiers, basic maintenance, and alert back up (00:31:48) Relationship between Soldiers -He and the rest of them were treated extremely well by the officers -Everyone met in a hangar each month to drink beers -Rotating tab (a different group paid each time) -Close knit and fairly equal community of soldiers -Some new officers tried to flex their rank but were quickly shut down by their superiors -He and other crewmen had closer contact with pilots than with administrators (00:33:44) Leaving the Air Force -Pressured to re-enlist when his enlistment was up -He declined -Wishes that he stayed in, but is also glad that he didn’t, especially with Vietnam starting -He was ready to go home when his enlistment was over -Reunions with his basketball team began in 1991 (00:35:12) Careers and Life Post-Military -Returned home and got a job working for the Great Lakes Steel Company in Detroit -Worked on a blast furnace -After the steel mill he worked for the piping industry -Worked in the steel mill for seven days a week from Thanksgiving 1964-March 1965 -Tried to go back to college -Veteran status got him into jobs quickly -Moved to Grand Rapids in 1966 to set up new branch for his company -Worked with that company for six years �-Biggest customer needed a replacement and he took the job -Worked in the piping industry for thirty four years all toll -Worked for GVSU in athletics part time as well and still does -Married his secretary -Been together for forty six years Reflections on Service -Military had a great effect on him -Helped him get on track with his life -Organized his life when there was a lack of organization -Feels lucky being in the right place at the right time for his service -Has tremendous respect for the veterans that saw combat � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 OwensA1531V Title A name given to the resource Owens, Allan (Interview outline and video), 2013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Owens, Allan Description An account of the resource Allan Owens is a Cold War era veteran born in Detroit, Michigan in 1940. He attended Marquette University for a time and enlisted in the Air Force in 1961. He took basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, tech school at Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado and he was deployed to Bitburg Air Force Base, Germany. He was assigned to the 525th Fighter Interceptor Squadron and was a weapons crewman. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he was placed on alert for three days and ordered to load nuclear weapons onto the aircraft. During his deployment he was also able to tour East Berlin and be witness to the desolation of the city. After he left the Air Force in 1964, he returned to Michigan and worked a variety of jobs, including with the Athletics Department at Grand Valley State University. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American United States. Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2013-10-01 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9ba88397cda0e842dece570f7d22ff8d.m4v 0ac9c3396ab3cc259e1d1130a27f5cd6 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/51c49294fa8a6ca0451fd465b61ed3ce.pdf 0961a82e5979f6d2046dd4c28632b856 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Phil Owens Iraq War 43 minutes 5 seconds (07:10) Early Life, Boot Camp and Training -Born on December 31st, 1984 in Grand Rapids Michigan. -Served in the Marines with the highest rank of E5 sergeant. -Mother is a teacher, and his father is an automotive engineer. -Siblings – an older sister and a younger brother. -Enlisted in the military out of high school. -Wished to join the military since he was young. -Father and his brothers were both in the Marines. -Basic training in San Diego lasted 13 weeks. -Graduated in October of 2003. -Supply operations and administration schooling at Camp LeJeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. -Then returned to California to be stationed with an infantry battalion he was with before. -Role and duties: continuing training Marines with infantry, gear inventory, tracking serial numbers of weaponry gear and food, and budgeting. -Instructors are intense but serve their purpose. -Living in barracks, similar to dorms. -One or two roommates. Based on a squad. -Food is basic, not bad but not great. -Made good long term friends socializing. -Deeply trusting. -Physical training (P.T.) everyday from a variety of exercises. -Running, squats, etc. -Needed to be able to haul an 80 lbs pack of supplies 13 ~ 15 miles. -Went to machine gunner school. -Such as the 50 caliber, mk 19 grenade launcher, M240 machine gun. (18:20) Fallujah and Haditha Iraq -Sent to Fallujah, Iraq from 2004 to 2005. -The Second Battle of Fallujah, or Operation Phantom Fury. -Second tour was at the dam in Haditha, Iraq. -Locals were more present in the Fallujah area. -Atmosphere was like the Wild West. -Seemed similar to Vietnam in terms of War similarities. -Citizens were not necessarily reticent to assist the US military. -“House to house”, little by little approach. -Battles were very intense. -Considers that the American Sniper movie was fairly accurate in terms of battle portrayal. -Played soccer with some of the locals. �(25:00) -Recreation: watching movies, internet cafes, listening to music, video games, pranks, working out. -Making use of the limited things available. -Being part of the supplies crew he was able to direct exercise supplies to further remote bases with less options. -Family and friends would send food they couldn’t otherwise receive on base. -During holidays attempted to make do. To make wherever they were feel like home. -After two tours in Iraq, he extended his time by six months. -His battalion went on a deployment by ship. -He stayed in the US in order to direct supplies to them quicker. -Also took funeral detail. -Has respect for the colonel and sergeant major he worked with during the Battle of Fallujah. -After the first tour he was able to meet with his family in California. -Continued to see them here and there during 10 day spans of time. (33:35) Discharge and Returning to the US -Discharged from the military in 2008. -Re-adjusting to civilian life can be difficult to “turn off”. -He is part of the VFW, Wounded Warrior Project, and Disabled American Veterans. -Recently started a reunion with others for a 3rd Battalion reunion. -Post discharge, worked at a machine shop for a while. -Received his degree in athletic training. -Worked as a clinical athletic trainer for a hospital. -Now planning to work for the State Police. -Always been a very athletic personality. -Participated in football, track and field, wrestling, and gymnastics at the junior Olympic level. -Sports and medicine seemed appealing. -Married six months before being discharged from the military. -Married for a little over six years until divorce. -While the conflicts are over politically, the lingering effects of the War are a common problem for military members. -Wishes to live in a way that justifies the struggle of the conflict and the deceased. � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 RHC-27_OwensP1827V Title A name given to the resource Owens, Philip James (Interview outline and video), 2015 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-05-24 Description An account of the resource Phil Owens was born in 1984 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He enlisted to the Marines and undertook boot camp in San Diego, California. After graduating in 2003 he was educated for supply operations and administration at Camp LeJune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. His role involved training, keeping track of inventory and serial numbers of gear, and budgeting. Additionally he trained to use specialized weapons in machine gunner school such as the MK19 grenade launcher and the M240. Owens returned to the 3rd Marines battalion in California before being sent on two tours of duty to Iraq. From 2004 to 2005 he was situated in Fallujah where the Second Battle of Fallujah was taking place. The second tour was located in Haditha Iraq. In 2008 he was honorably discharged from the Marines and continues to participate in a variety of groups for war veterans and working as a clinical athletic trainer. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Owens, Philip James Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Houser, Bryce (Interviewer) Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ef383c8e51e0d56385ae463b4cf2fe91.jpg 1b28dc912d4e6d856f27c6a4cd460ed1 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource "Old Smokey" Pottery Shop Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of an outdoor pottery studio at Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan. In the photograph, a woman wearing a summer dress is walking outside the studio nestled in the woods. The name "Old Smokey" is painted on the right side of the lean-to shed building and several thick branches make up a fence with a sign reading "Pottery Shop." Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Art school Buildings Pottery Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c5b318db0ef6ec38f744f24eef020536.jpg 9adaba5495d64bab68d64246e286e5ea 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource Ox-Bow Waterfront Store Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a wooden building along the Kalamazoo River at Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan. In the photograph, a young man stands atop a balcony stairwell and hand-painted drawings decorate the exterior of the building. A clothesline can be seen tied to the scaffolding of the balcony and a hand-painted sign appears to read "The Store." Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Art school Buildings Painting Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/52a15abaec7f17656ba3cd90f396e6dd.jpg 3d70ba694bcd6759f375a02166ba74cb 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-03 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource Litho and Etching Studios at Ox-Bow Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the Litho Studio and Etching Studio at Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan. In the photograph, there is a wooden building with an awning and closeline out front and signs that read "Litho Studio" and "Etching Studio" hung on the siding. Several people of various ages can be seen standing or walking in front of the building. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Art school Buildings Lithography Etching Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b0991b5f2ab06a92c800ceb90f08bd71.jpg c9e57b1f47304d679637d822fd388852 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-04 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource Wooden Waterfront Buildings at Ox-Bow Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of wooden buildings along the Kalamazoo River at Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan. They appear to be the studio buildings at Ox-Bow. Several large trees can be seen framing the buildings in the foreground and a hint of the river can be seen in the background. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Kalamazoo River (Mich.) Art school Buildings Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/90eee4d5c31d8c3ef70fa7c9033ee8c6.jpg 904153c4ba632850535b754fc0b818dc 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-21 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource Young Man Painting Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a man in a white tee shirt and glasses as he paints on a canvas in what appears to be the outdoors of Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan. The photograph is blurry and the gentleman appears to be seated on the ground while painting on a canvas. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Art school Painting Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/45b15739277d811b7e6cf1c1b0721532.jpg 1adad0f0af2edb2b523e25c636f66f90 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-23 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource Coastal Dunes at Ox-Bow Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the West Michigan landscape of dunes and water as seen in Saugatuck, Michigan. The photograph is blurry and appears to be taken along the Kalamazoo River at Oxbow Lagoon. Several trees can be seen lining the coastal dunes. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Kalamazoo River (Mich.) Sand dunes Lagoons Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/54bf2a09470842a72a74056f24bbf1a0.jpg ddeaeb4548aa15e71360bb6341efd0d2 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-24 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource Group of Participants at Ox-Bow Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a group of people at Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan. The group of nearly twenty-five people are standing outdoors on the Ox-Bow grounds and pose for the picture in front of several trees and buildings that can be seen faintly in the background. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Art school Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/263b74c66e8ecffae6873c6909262a30.jpg 19f3ba06c943ed4710c34d0ea7894b36 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-33 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958-10 Title A name given to the resource Dockside Plein Air Painting Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a group of people painting dockside along what appears to be the water of Lake Macatawa near Holland, Michigan. Plein air painting in Macatawa, Michigan was a tradition for students attending Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan. In the photograph, one woman can be seen painting while seated on the dock while another stands and paints on an easel. The other three individuals can be seen painting while seated along the shore on various rocks and driftwood, while parked cars and boats can be seen in the background. A handwritten note can be seen on the left hand side reading "Mae Naber Van Ark, In shorts and Hotter." Circa October 1958. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Kalamazoo River (Mich.) Art school Docks Plein air painting Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5528ae40c67a515d592b1353c08925d9.jpg c93b248c287daccf8a8e6cdbba3d8b7e 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-34 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource The Ox-Bow Inn Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the nineteenth century landmark building known as "The Ox-Bow Inn" located at the center of the Ox-Bow grounds in Saugatuck, Michigan. The historic inn is known as the heart of the campus and is nestled among the trees at the edge of Tallmadge Woods. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Art school Buildings Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/faea0d73e79b003eb8b2e22e6285d0ef.jpg c86cd23e7b995b363e9f786e5d15d31f 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-35 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource Aerial View of Ox-Bow Environment Description An account of the resource Black and white aerial photograph of the Oxbow bend of the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck, Michigan. In the photograph, the art school's campus can be seen from a bird's eye view of the Kalamazoo River, Oxbow Lagoon, Tallmadge Woods, and the surrounding Lake Michigan coastal environment. Trees can be seen lining the shore and several buildings are nestled in the center of the photograph. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Kalamazoo River (Mich.) Aerial views Art school Buildings Coastal forests Lagoons Sand dunes Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dbb0263f7a24fc5089d07511aff95d0c.jpg f1e2f5a73eed2a1ccadde439fdbe3089 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-36 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource The Studio Buildings at Ox-Bow Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a man walking toward wooden buildings that appear to be the studios of Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan. The buildings are partially obscured by several large windswept trees and the water of the Kalamazoo River can be seen in the background. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Kalamazoo River (Mich.) Art school Buildings Trees Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bbe256220d1a155949fac5632553fe3a.jpg 21dda01c6a3a23fd6204766ff326b3fc 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-37 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource Northern View of Ox-Bow Grounds Description An account of the resource Black and white aerial photograph of the wooded grounds of Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan as taken from above the northern shore. In the photograph, the historic buildings of Ox-Bow can be seen including what appears to be the Ox-Bow Inn and the studio shacks located along the Kalamazoo River at the edge of the Tallmadge Woods. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Kalamazoo River (Mich.) Art school Buildings Coastal forests Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives