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https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/0db82eb75950c39612c96c32b9e418c7.mp3
9e1d3f09cf046d0989c48d8f0d1f926d
https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/8b028347e5036e950ceac2b1229c46a1.pdf
0438be77f4784f3de41264658926f74f
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Transcript of Oral History Interview with Sgt. Matthew Bulla.
October 6, 2012.
Boone, NC to Charlotte NC
Brian Abdo: My name is Brian Abdo. I’m here with Matt Bulla for a interview on August... I mean
October 6, 2012. This interview is taking place over phone. He is in Charlotte, North Carolina and I’m in
Boone, North Carolina. This is for Dr. Browning’s class on American Military History. Right now he is a
drill sergeant in the United States Army. Alright...Question 1...Sgt. Bulla, When were you…Where were
you born and raised?
Sgt. Bulla: I was born and raised in Wilmington, NC.
Brian Abdo: Alright...This is a question we have to ask. When were you born?
Sgt. Bulla: November 4, 1986.
Brian Abdo: Alright…
Sgt. Bulla: Oh, one question real quick. You’re on the army; I’m not in the army.
Brian Abdo: Ok… which branch are you in, Navy?
Sgt. Bulla: Marine Corps.
Brian Abdo: Marine Corps. Alright. When and why did you choose to join the military?
Sgt. Bulla: I joined in March, 2006 and I didn’t want to be one of the people that complained about our
military and wanted to say at least I did my piece.
Brian Abdo: Do you have a family history of military service that inspired you, or were you the first one
to join?
Sgt. Bulla: My dad is in the army. He is a United States Paratrooper. And then my granddad was in the
Korean War and it was always something I wanted to do and carry it on.
Brian Abdo: Did they inspire you or is it just your own decision to go in?
Sgt. Bulla: It was my own decision to go in.
Brian Abdo: Alright..Do you recall your first days in service?
Sgt. Bulla: Do I recall them?
Brian Abdo: Excuse me?
Sgt. Bulla: What was that?
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�Brian Abdo: Do you recall your like first days in service?
Sgt. Bulla: Oh, yes.
Brian Abdo: What did they feel like?
Sgt. Bulla: It was the worst experience in my life.
Brian Abdo: How about boot camp. How hard was boot camp for you?
Sgt. Bulla: It was basically a life changing event cause you go from being basically a civilian in doing your
own thing all the time to being told how to eat, how to sleep, how to take a shower, how to do
everything their way. A total just life changing experience.
Brian Abdo: Talk about your instructors. Like were there some that you liked a lot, or did you just hate
them all?
Sgt. Bulla: In the Marine Corps, I hated them all. I absolutely despised them. They were just hard, tough
and basically they were just constantly demanding on you no matter what it was. They were just all up in
your face, all the time, for three months straight.
Brian Abdo: Which wars did you serve in or tours have you done so far in your experiences?
Sgt. Bulla: What awards?
Brian Abdo: Yeah…I mean wars. Like…like which experiences have you done so far. Which like… which
tours?
Sgt. Bulla: Tours in 2007 to Iraq. On a Response Team. All we did was we blew up bombs. People
wouldn’t run over bombs. We blew them up. We’d rescue them. We rescued teams going down. We did
a lot of clearing houses and clearing villages and Fallujah, Khalis, Ramadi all different places in Iraq and I
returned from that deployment in April 2008. I deployed again in April 2009 back to Iraq. For the
retrograde of Iraq were we moved to Afghanistan so we moved to more war. That’s where it was that I
received the Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal. As a corporeal, for moving over four million dollars
of equipment I got a Good Conduct Medal, three Unit Commendations, one Presidential Unit
Commendation, and then a National Defense Medal, a Global War on Terrorism Medal, Tala-Action
making, and that’s pretty much it.
Brian Abdo: That’s a lot of medals.
Sgt. Bulla: All my…All the medals that I...Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal my highest award. One
of the highest Marine Corps awards you can receive. Good Conduct medal, Combat Action Ribbon,
National Defense Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, and two...two Presidential Unit Citations,
two…four Letters of Appreciation, four Certificates of Accommodation, and that’s pretty much all my
medals.
Brian Abdo: Which Base Camps did you stay at in Iraq?
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�Sgt. Bulla: Base Camp in Iraq. My first time was Camp Al-Tacadumn which is about four miles outside of
Fallujah and then we moved to Camp Ramadi which is about twenty miles outside Fallujah. And then my
second deployment was at…outside this huge base and I was tossed out to another base which was
Khalis and then out to..hold on..ommit that…
Brian Abdo: …
Sgt. Bulla: There was another one...yeah Khalis was the big one.
Brian Abdo: Alright..Did you interact with civilians there at all?
Sgt. Bulla: Did I interact with who?
Brian Abdo: The civilians over in Iraq.
Sgt. Bulla: Civilians…Yes my first employment I did.
Brian Abdo: How was that?
Sgt. Bulla: People over there, you got to understand it’s a totally different lifestyle. Like everything we
have here is not. They’re about two or three like thousand years behind us. They have no…like their
running water is like America’s first stage. It’s all pulled out of a river. Like basically little use where farm
beds come out. They have no outer toiles and like plumbing like that is completely different. And the
people over there, like they…they don’t understand. Like our basic things that we do every day driving
cars is not custom over there. They walk everywhere, they don’t have tractors, they…everything they
have is imported from us or from other countries. And it’s just the people over there; there is a huge
respect for the..the men in that culture. Over there, women are just there basically to produce babies
and men are just there to help one another pretty much. And it’s just the lifestyle over there is
completely...it’s like really hard to explain...it’s…it’s totally different. I guess you could say.
Brian Abdo: Yeah, I understand that. Did you see any changes in the attitude towards the American
Military after you got over there?
Sgt. Bulla: Did I see them?
Brian Abdo: Yes.
Sgt. Bulla: What you see on TV is not reality. Cause you here about all the bad stuff that happens but
they don’t tell a lot of the good that goes on over there. They…Like when we read the Iraq…When we
read all the cities that we basically blew up and tore apart. You don’t hear about that. Everybody’s all
about Oh the Marines did this or the Armies done this and so many people got killed but what they
don’t talk about how we rebuilt cities, how we rebuilt road, how we basically just won the hearts and
minds of the people over there. They want us there to keep them safe from the insurgents that were
over there.
Brian Abdo: Alright…Do you have a couple of memorable experiences over there?
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�Sgt. Bulla: Do I have a few memorable experiences?
Brian Abdo: Yeah, that you’d like to tell.
Sgt. Bulla: Nah. I lost two of my good buddies over there my first deployment due to just IED’s over
there. Craziest thing I can say about that is like everybody like complains about how they don’t want
American troops over there but America...The whole eye of America does not see what truly goes on
behind the scenes over there and to see what the Marines do, and the Army does and the Navy and how
we all rebuild everything. How you basically go from nothing all the way to a full city of people who
respect you and want you there. And it’s just...it’s amazing what..how...just a few people that join out of
the military go right out of high school to join the military what they’ve done for like the whole country
and it’s just remarkable to see.
Brian Abdo: After your tours in Iraq, what did you do for a while?
Sgt. Bulla: After two…After my 2009 deployment I got back from Iraq to Camp Legume and I went to
Marine Corps Base Hawaii. I was in Hawaii for three years and I’ve been out there as part of a [Combat
Resistor Battalion 3]. We...we did the whole entire Marine Corps matrix on how to inspect vehicles. I
was on a fire crew team that revamped that saved the military about twenty five thousand dollars a
year. And now I’m down at Marine Corps depot in Paris Island as a Drill Sargent.
Brian Abdo: Compared to your tours, how enjoyable was this job for you?
Sgt. Bulla: How...how...what was that?
Brian Abdo: How enjoyable was this job for you compared to your tours?
Sgt. Bulla: I would rather be overseas because when you here it’s basically just preventative stuff that
you do. Getting ready for war but when you go over there and put everything into action it’s a whole lot
better.
Brian Abdo: Alright…While over on your tours, did you feel a lot of stress dealing with your job?
Sgt. Bulla: On my first deployment, yeah because I was constantly outside the wire and in contact with
insurgents.
Brian Abdo: …
Sgt. Bulla: It’s completely stressfully just for the simple fact of you not knowing what’s actually going to
happen.
Brian Abdo: Were there things that you did to entertain yourselves to relieve your stress?
Sgt. Bulla: We played a lot of spades. We played a lot of card games. Spades is the number one. Basically
just doing a lot of weight lifting and staying physically fit over there. One of the big things is I kept my
mind off of it and all we did was pretty much work out and play spades and wait for letters.
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�Brian Abdo: How...how often did letters arrive? Like once a week or something like that?
Sgt. Bulla: Yeah, about once a week. Kind of get busy, you get about once every two weeks.
Brian Abdo: Alright…What do you think of your officers that were in your overall command?
Sgt. Bulla: First deployment, my commanding officer was a First Lieutenant and one of the most
amazing men I’ve ever met. Captain Hen...His name was Lieutenant Henderson and just an amazing
man. Never ever wouldn’t we leave without him. I mean he was there constantly anytime we had
anything pop off he was there and he wasn’t afraid to pick up a gun at all. He was there beside us every
time. My sec…my second deployment, I didn’t see a lot of my commanding officer because I was the
main one in charge on my second deployment. Retrograde in Iraq. So the second one I really couldn’t
tell you about. He was just there to just supervise.
Brian Abdo: Alright...Did your military experience you’re thinking about war or about military in
general?
Sgt. Bulla: It just inspired me to go back and keep making changes.
Brian Abdo: Alright…
Sgt. Bulla: I just want to constantly give back to the Marine Corps for what they have given me.
Brian Abdo: Alright...This is the last question I have. Is there anything you would like to add that we
haven’t covered in this interview?
Sgt. Bulla: Don’t believe everything you see in the news. The news is just…they just want to show
highlights and they don’t really tell the truth. And if a whole lot did a whole lot more research they’d
figure that out. And they just...What they see on CNN is not always the truth and that’s what a lot of
people believe about the Armed Forces what they see on TV and it’s not the case.
Brian Abdo: Alright…Thank you so much for this interview. I know it was a little bit out of your way to do
this.
Sgt. Bulla: No, it’s alright. You’re very welcome.
Brian Abdo: Alright, thank you.
5
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Appalachian State University American Military History Course Veterans Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
Each semester, the students of the American Military History Course at Appalachian State University conduct interviews with military veterans and record their military experiences in order to create an archive of oral history interviews that are publicly accessible to researchers. The oral histories are permanently available in the Appalachian State University Special Collections. The project is supervised by Dr. Judkin Browning, Associate Professor of History at Appalachian State University and all interviews are transcribed by the student interviewers.
Copyright Notice:
Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project’s audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, University Archives and Records, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC).
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
File size
82.3 KB
12.3 MB
Format, digital
MP3
Military Branch
military branch (U.S. Army, etc)
U.S. Army
Officer Rank
Officer rank (major, private, etc)
Drill Seargant
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Abdo; Brian
Bulla; Matthew
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Abdo, Brian
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Bulla, Matthew
Interview Date
10/6/2012
Number of pages
5
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
0:13:32
Date digitized
2/5/2015
Checksum
alphanumeric code
39a4b270dd051f455918b6bb77f17c23
9e1d3f09cf046d0989c48d8f0d1f926d
Scanned by
Leah McManus
Equipment
Adobe Acrobat XI Pro
Resolution
300
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal; non-commercial; and educational use; provided that proper citation is used.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
UA.5018. American Military History Course Records
Recording rate
A/V rate (48,000kzh x 16 bit)
48000kzh x 16 bit
Format, original
Electronic File
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
5018_Bulla_Matthew_20121006_transcript_M
5018_Bulla_Matthew_20121006_audio_A
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Drill Sergeant Matthew Bulla [October 6, 2012]
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
Language
A language of the resource
English
English
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Abdo, Brian
Bulla, Matthew
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a title="UA.5018. American Military History Course Records" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/167" target="_blank">UA.5018. American Military History Course Records</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used.
Description
An account of the resource
Drill Sergeant Matthew Bulla, born in 1986, entered the Marine Corps and served on a response team in Iraq. He speaks a lot about the civilians he met in Iraq and how they seemed to be "two or three thousand years behind us." He explains that the war is not like how it was reported, and that the US military did a lot of good there winning the hearts of civilians and rebuilding cities.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Bulla, Matthew
Veterans
Iraq War, 2003-2011
Personal narratives, American
United States
Interviews
civilians
insurgents
Iraq
Marine Corps
Response Team