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Andrew Nicolaysen
Name:
Branch:
Years Served:
Conflicts:
Date of Interview:
Eric Nicolaysen
U.S. Army
1956-1958
Cold War (Korea)
October 14, 2012
Andrew Nicolaysen: Okay, so my name is Andrew Nicolaysen, and for the record, what is your
name?
Erik Nicolaysen: Erik Nicolaysen
Andrew: And we’re conducting this interview over the phone. I’m in Boone, North Caroline and
you’re in Chappaqua, New York.
Erik: Correct
Andrew: And it is the 14th of October 2012.
Erik: Okay
Andrew: …When and where were you born?
Erik: February 8th, 1933. I was born in Mt. Kisco, New York.
Andrew: Okay, and where did you, or what…branch of the military did you serve in?
Erik: I served in the US Army
Andrew: Was that active duty or National Guard?
Erik: Both
Andrew: Did you serve in active duty first?
Erik: No, what I did is I…joined the… I actually joined the reserves, not the National Guard.
I…the New Jersey…reserve division…When…New Jersey while I was attending Rutgers
University…and over the 3 years that I served with the reserve unit…I made
corporal…meanwhile I was also tracking with the ROTC at college…and I took a commission
upon graduation from college…in 1956…and got a promotion while I was in duty and ended up
leaving the service as a…as a 1st lieutenant. I then spent some time with a signal core company
in Ossining, New York. But then they were disbanded about a year after I got out of the service.
…I then spent about 6 months working with a medical unit and was stationed up…up near West
Point. On the…eastern side of the Hudson…a medical evacuation units, because they were short
officers…and then I…at that point, since they had full, they had official medically trained
officers in, so I was superfluous to them and went to the…ready reserve. And stayed with the
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�Andrew Nicolaysen
ready reserve until I got an honorable discharge and all told I spent about 11 years in the service
in one connection or the other.
Andrew: Do you remember why you joined the military?
Erik: …I just felt there was a duty, there was also a case too that the…draft was in effect at that
point, most people were…or a significant number of people were getting drafted so I figured I
was gonna go no matter what…and…I decided that if I was gonna go, I’d prefer to go as an
officer. ….and I was studying engineering, and signal core went well with the engineering so I
decided to…to…join the signal core unit at Rutgers University.
Andrew: When did you first go to Korea?
Erik: I went to Korea in late 56, stayed there through to the beginning of 58.
Andrew: And what did you do there?
Erik: I was assigned to the 51st signal battalion, and my first job was battalion motor pool
officer. We were responsible for the…secondary level of maintenance…on the battalion
vehicles. We had somewhere between 5 and 600 vehicles of assorted types: deuce and a half,
tractor-trailers, ¾ tons, jeeps…and…we then…and the normal preliminary maintenance was
done with each company, but then the major overhauls…were done by us and then if there was a
real major job the vehicle was transferred to the ordnance department that did the overhaul, but
generally…probably 90 to 95% of the work on the vehicles was done at the battalion level.
Andrew: Were you…
Erik: …then I got…after a while I was transferred…from that to a radio teletype platoon, which
was responsible for…radio teletype communications…between ICOR headquarters and all the
way down to Busan. …and then I…I finished…my last month or so of being in charge of
the…the maintenance unit that took care of the…generators and….welding equipment to smaller
equipment of that nature. And I was in charge of running that…operation for the last month or so
before I was discharged.
Andrew: How did you end up in the motor pool if you were a…signal officer?
Erik: …because when I…got there they looked at…our private work, and I had worked on the
assembly line at General Motors. So there were 3 of us who were lieutenants who arrived at the
same time…and the other 2 were assigned to line companies. By the way, I was trained in
microwave equipment, and the nearest microwave equipment was in Hawaii. But when we
arrived the…other 2 officers were assigned to line companies, basically stringing wire and things
of that nature. And I was assigned the headquarters company because I had worked on the
assemble line at General Motors during the summer, and therefore they thought I knew
something about…trucks. Luckily I had a sergeant who knew what he was doing. Much more so
than I did, that was for sure.
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�Andrew Nicolaysen
Andrew: …Because you were there after the armistice, what was the nature of the combat that
was happening in Korea at the time?
Erik: Basically there was no formal combat, but the North Koreans…were, still had a propensity
for sneaking through the…DMZ, we were only 10 miles south of the…DMZ in Uijeongbu,
Korea, and we were 10 miles south of the DMZ so…our line companies, who were generally
out…doing a lot of…small…squads stringing along wire and things of that nature. They were
working behind the…sneaking through the…front lines or they would come south, even around
the…water. Even to the east and west coasts, and therefore there were certain
instances…of…attacks by them on…isolated units…although it was more a nuisance than
anything formal because…the activities during the Korean War were such that…that the South
Koreans hated the North Koreans with a passion. And the first…Korean or…farmer who would
spot these guys would immediately run to the nearest police or army station and report ’em
so…although they did pull us…to movement into the field on occasion and stuff of that nature,
they never lasted very long and don’t…to the best of my knowledge, there were few if any
prisoners taken.
Andrew: What were some of your most memorable experiences, while you were in the military?
Erik: It was a job like anything else, I mean, that…you know, I could remember…when I was in
the…still in college, I went to Camp Gordon for summer. The other 2 summers that I was in, I
went to…Camp Drum with the reserve unit…but I mean, that was mainly just training. The
entire time we were there, we were being taught the equipment…small unit…activity for a
supply unit or a support unit rather than a, you know, combat infantry… Probably the thing that
sticks with me the most was …qualification with weapons for the entire battalion and we had
about…we had about, I think about 1800 enlisted men…and then we had about 6 or 700 Korean
troops that were attached…and basically we had to qualify ‘till there was one captain, and myself
and another lieutenant, and we worked…for about 3 or 4 weeks, I’m trying to remember now,
but…qualifying everyone on their individual weapons and then we had…their table of
organization called for half a dozen .30 calibers, we had…oh maybe half a dozen .50 calibers
that were mounted on the top of the…deuce and a halfs when they had a ring to fire with them,
and then we had some bazookas…and…we had 1 or 2 recoilless rifles. So basically we to…you
know, talk through firing for the entire battalion and then individual weapons and then we had
to…do the crew served weapons.
Andrew: Did you make any…close friendships and relationships while you were in the Army?
Erik: Yeah I did, but…because of my age now, I think all of them are dead. I know 2 guys I was
closest to…were dead and I think most of the rest of them that…I was in at that time are also
deceased.
Andrew: Has your service and experiences affected your life? Like, continuing on?
Erik: Oh, I think it made for a little bit better organization…you know, follow through and not
put things off…you know, that carried over, I did…I did do constructions projects after I got
back out, In addition to working in the ...insurance agency. I built…5 or 6 commercial buildings
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�Andrew Nicolaysen
and half a dozen homes and remodeled other homes…and that required considerable
organization to do that as a side line, you know.
Andrew: Well, I think that’s about everything I need, unless there’s anything you would like to
add.
Erik: …not really…you know, there was…I enjoyed the period of time…I remember…one
thing I do remember about Korea was the coldness, when we went out in the field…wind used to
come out of Siberia, and…temperatures below 0…were not at all unusual and…I can remember
crawling under trucks with the old blow torches to release the brakes where they had frozen
overnight, and stuff of that nature, so we could move the vehicles. And…for those kinds of
things, everybody pitched in, officers, noncoms…you know…you know, If you wanted to move
the vehicles and get out of there, everybody did what they could, so…it was…but I do remember
how God awful cold it got.
Andrew: Okay, well, I think that…about finishes it up.
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https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/41cb084ed42d8679e9969932f4a024b3.mp3
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Dublin Core
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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
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MP3
Military Branch
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U.S. Army
Officer Rank
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1st Lieutenant
Creator
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Nicolaysen; Andrew
Nicolaysen; Erik
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Nicolaysen, Andrew
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Nicolaysen, Erik
Interview Date
10/14/2012
Number of pages
4
Duration
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0:12:40
Date digitized
2/6/2015
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fd3c8ae26e98f363cd41cb0dd388f1b8
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300
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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.
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UA.5018. American Military History Course Records
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48000kzh x 16 bit
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Electronic File
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5018_Nicolaysen_Erik_20121014_transcript_M
5018_Nicolaysen_Erik_20121014_audio_A
Title
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Interview with Erik Nicolaysen [October 14, 2012]
Type
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Oral History
Language
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English
English
Creator
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Nicolaysen, Andrew
Nicolaysen, Erik
Source
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<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
Eric Nicolaysen enlisted in the US Army reserves in 1956, served in the Cold War, and spent some time in Korea. He did not see any combat during his time in the military.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Nicolaysen, Erik
Veterans
Cold War
United States
Interviews
1956-58
51st signal battalion
Cold War
Eric Nicolaysen
General Motors
Korea
radio teletype
reserves
US Army
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Military Oral History Interview Transcript
Captain Richard Meyers
Boone, North Carolina
11 October 2011
DJ: Daniel Johnson
RM: Richard Meyers, Captain
DJ: My name is Daniel Johnson. I'm conducting this interview on 12th October, 2011 in the
ROTC Department at Appalachian State University. I am interviewing Captain Richard Meyers of
the United States Army, whose current position is....
RM: Recruiting Operations Officer.
DJ: Recruiting Operations Officer for Appalachian State ROTC. Ok, let's get the questions
started. When were you born?
RM: When?
DJ: Yes.
RM: October 2nd 1980.
DJ: When did you enlist?
RM: I enlisted in the Army in March; I think it was 14th 2003.
DJ: Okay.
RM: And that was into the Reserves?
DJ: In the Reserves. Were you trying to participate in the SMP program?
RM: I was at Clemson University.
DJ: So you were in ROTC before you joined...?
RM: Yes, I completed my first semester my freshman year and enlisted there in the second
semester of there my freshman year of college.
DJ: Did you go to basic training in the summer of 2003?
RM: I did, yes, in the summer of 2003.
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�DJ: Where did you train?
RM: Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
DJ: And your MOS was?
RM: 21 Bravo at the time. It's now 12 Bravo, which are combat engineers.
DJ: Combat engineers. What interested you in the combat engineers more so then any other
branch at first?
RM: Well, I had a short AIT, which was good for doing while I'm in college, and
also...wanted to do something combat related. And went ahead and did combat engineers.
DJ: Combat engineers. Why did you, what made you interested in ROTC, the Army in the
first place?
RM: Well, when I was high school, I had a young lady who sat in front of me in English
class. My senior year and she asked me what I was going to do after high school and I said
that I was thinking about going to college. And she said, “Were you thinking about doing a
ROTC scholarship?” And I was like, 'What's that?'
So one thing led to another with that and I found it what it was. Went ahead and applied for
one. Had never done any JROTC. No one in my immediate family was in the military.
They all had mixed feelings about it. I did not get a scholarship, but decided I would still do
ROTC while I was in college.
DJ: Were you always interested in the Army branch of ROTC? Army branch more so then
any other branch?
RM: Yes, yes, always interested in the Anny branch.
DJ: Let’s go back to boot camp. Do you remember anything about boot camp, first arriving
there, the drill sergeants?
RM: Yes, I can't remember any of the drill sergeants' names, but I would know their faces
if I ever saw them again. I have seen one of them before at Fort Riley before I went to Iraq.
I remember being on the cattle car, going to where basic training was going to start for us.
After we did all the in processing, I remember getting off and getting yelled out. We had to
unload our duffle bags and get everything inspected. But it was pretty fun looking back at
it, though wasn't fun at the time.
DJ: Through 72-days, you would never want to do it again, but you didn’t mind doing it.
RM: Yes.
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�DJ: Did you have any people to help you get through it or…
RM: Just some other people that were there. I really didn’t need too much help getting
through it. It really wasn’t that difficult compared to other things I have done. But, it's
always nice to have other people to talk to, to vent after the days over with.
DJ: The random people, the battle buddies?
RM: Yes.
DJ: When I went there, I was ok with most of the guys.
RM: Yes.
DJ: Did you ever serve in any conflicts?
RM: I was deployed to Iraq. Left in October 2008, and spent a few weeks in Kuwait doing
more training there. Then went up into Iraq. I think it was early November 2008 when we
arrived.
DJ: So you were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom?
RM: Yes.
DJ: Was there a different name for it by then?
RM: No, it was Operation Iraqi Freedom. But it was just for a year.
DJ: A yearlong deployment?
RM: Y e s .
DJ: What part of lraq were you in during that time?
RM: Well we flew up; when we left Kuwait we went up to Camp Tahji, which is in
Baghdad. And got a bunch of briefings there for a week or two. Then we flew to...think it
was FOB or Camp Spiker, and we stayed there for a few days. That was part of our
movement up north; we were just waiting for our helicopter ride. Then we finally got one
and went to Mosul, and landed in FOB Marez via Chinook helicopter. And spent the night
there and then the next day, and we left the following night to go up to where. We spent
most of our time, which was in Erbil Iraq, with- in the Kurdish region.
DJ: Do you remember when you first arrive what it was like, or?
RM: Yes. I do so...it was hot. It has a totally different smell, especially up in FOB Marez.
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�It’s kind of hazy there all the time that I noticed. Throughout the whole deployment every
time we went there it always seemed like it had a haze over it. Not a very friendly city. I
remember the first night going outside the wire there when we went up to Erbil. I was
supposed to be riding in the back of one of the MRAPs that we had on our transition team,
because we still had the old team there showing us how they did things. And our combat
medic was going to be driving in the 1114, which is the HMMV.
But compared to the MRAPs the armor is not as great. So I switched out with him and
drove. And I remember driving through Mosul at night following the other MRAPs and that
HMMV it just struggled keeping up. It's not made for all the armor it was carrying. But it
was a little; I don't know if it was scary, but it was a good bit of an adrenaline rush at first,
because all of the training you get is, you know, “Hey! Watch out for piles of rocks. Watch
out for trash.” Well on the sides of the streets in Mosul are all those things. So, you’re trying
to look for IEDs...and it just gets to a point where it's like, you know what, whatever. I'm
just going to drive now. I'm the rear vehicle. Just going to keep up with everyone else. So
that was a little nerve racking, but looking back at it, it was good times, nothing happened.
DJ: (Laughing) When you first arrived there. What was your assignment while you were
in Iraq?
RM: We were part of a fire support officer for a border transition team. Never had to call
for artillery or air support while I was up there because we were with the Kurds. Very pro
American, willing to help us. Heck I mean when we drove around they were providing
security for us, you know? A good group of people. But we were just training them on how
to better secure their borders up there. Their regional headquarters was in Erbil, and it had
control over three provinces. Dahouk, Erbil Province, and Sulaymaniyyah province which,
that encompasses a few kilometers of the Syrian border, all the Turkish border, and then a good bit
of the Iranian border. So, we did a lot of driving while we were up there.
DJ: My dad's unit during the Gulf War, their furthest advance was actually Dahouk in 1991. The
82nd.
RM: Yes.
DJ: That's where they stopped and then had to start going backwards. Because they were going
too deep into Iraq and then the war was over back then...Did you take any contact while you were
in Iraq?
RM: No one ever shot at us that I know of. We never shot at anybody while we
were over there that I do know for a fact. The only incident we had a night when
we were going into Mosul. We were following another convoy that was taking
supplies into FOB Marez. And we got held up by a route clearance unit that had
found an IED on the route that we were taking. So we had to wait for them to do a
controlled detonation on it before we could move on. So we were supposed to get
there at midnight and I think we got in probably one or two o clock in the morning.
So...
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�DJ: Did anything really stick out to you from your deployment? Like your most memorable
experience?
RM: Most memorable experience...nothing really stands out. We helped with some of the
schools getting repairs done on them. That was a pretty good experience. You know, doing
patrols with the Iraqis, especially along the Turkish border, whi ch for the most part wasn't
too threatening. But there was intelligence that there was a lot of drugs flowing into Turkey
from that area because it’s an easier way to get into Europe, corning from Iran and places like
that.
So I just remember walking along and....with my pistol drawn through the tall grass and
trees along a river that borders Turkey looking for people with the Iraqi border police. You
know I take it back, one event that really stands out, we were up...I'm trying to think the
name of the city I can't remember it now. We were on the Iranian border and we were
investigating some incidences where the Iranians were shooting some artillery into Iraq.
They said they were targeting P-jact, which is a separatist organized group that fights with
Iran for Kurdish independence.
When we went there we talked to a gentleman whose son was killed by Iranian artillery. And
he still had damage on his house like there was still hole in the roof on it. And he was
showing us his hot water heater, w h i c h was riddle with shrapnel. We walked around there
for a while. Pulled some evidence out of some of the craters that were there. Found pieces of
rockets that the Iranians had fired into Iraq. And then when we left we were back at one of
the Iraqi border forts, probably about 10 miles away. And they carne in running...running
into the room while we were talking to the commander through our interpreters, pretty
excited about something. And the Iraqi commander got up and was telling us to come with
him. And he ran up- went up to the roof of the border fort. And Iran was shelling the same
area we were just at again.
So that event really sticks out to me. I don’t think a lot of people know there are instances on
a regular basis between those two countries that isn’t mentioned in the media here in the U.S.
DJ: Pretty interesting.
RM: Yes.
DJ: Were you awarded any citations for your action in Iraq?
RM: I was awarded a Bronze Star for the work we did up there up north. I was a unit
administrative officer since I didn't really have to deal with calling in artillery for anything.
And I advised the Iraqi border police headquarters on how to better keep track of their
personnel. Make sure people that were injured or killed patrolling the border received- their
family received the benefits that they were entitled to. Just keeping up with that stuff. And
then, also did a little bit of training too with the Iraqis. So...
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�DJ: Did you...how did you stay in touch while you were over there? Was there Internet video
or....
RM: In the later stages I was able to use video Skype. The bandwidth we had over there
wasn't the greatest so a lot of times, I just used video audio Skype. And it worked just
like a regular phone. Set a phone number up before I left to go to Iraq while I was
visiting my parents in Maryland. They got a phone number so they could call me in Iraq,
and if I was in my “ choo,” which is where we lived, our little housing unit.... And my
computer was on hooked the internet the phone would ring. Very rarely did that happen
but I could always call them if we weren’t out on missions.
DJ: Did you feel any pressure while you were over there being in command or was it pretty laid
back considering the area you were in?
RM: I wasn't the highest ranking officer on our team. We had a lieutenant colonel and a
major who got promoted to lieutenant colonel while we were there. One other major who
was our intelligence officer and then myself. And then we had two senior non
commissioned officers, two E-7s, and a staff sergeant who was our mechanic.
I wouldn’t say it was laid back, definitely had plenty of work to do while I was over
there, but I didn't feel any pressure really, that you know worried about someone getting
hurt. Mainly because of the area we were in. And I knew, I mean I was a gunner on one
of the MRAPs while we had them. And we had one of the senior non commissioned
officers and our mechanic was the other gunner. And you know I knew had my back and
I had theirs. But I wasn’t really worried about anything happening where we were.
DJ: Were other parts of lraq hot at that time?
RM: They were. When we would go into FOB Marez in Mosul we would definitely be
packing everything we could. Didn’t mess around in that city. You know I never really got
scared while I was over there; it was more of like a, kind of an adrenaline rush. I mean when
you’re going through those city streets in Mosul, knowing that city is probably the second
worst in Iraq outside of Baghdad. It's pretty real. And you know you’re always scanning the
buildings around you because you don’t want someone shooting down on you, from you a
multi story building. So that keeps it pretty real keeps the adrenaline going, but never really
afraid though while we were going through all that. Looking back on it, it was kind of crazy,
but
I wasn’t too concerned while I was over there though.
DJ: Did anything funny a lot of funny events that happened over there?
RM: Funny events?
DJ: Or something goofy?
RM: We had a bunch of cats on our FOB. Not really sure how they got there but they would
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�eat the trash. They were kind of nasty, like alley cats. They were like rats when it came to
trash. You know they would always be around it. We had a small dining facility that some
foreigners worked in. I think they were from Bangladesh. But they had a little dumpsite for
all the trash and stuff, and the cats would always be going through there. And I was going to
work in our headquarters one morning; I think it was probably a Saturday. We norn1ally
didn't work on Saturdays because the Iraqis didn't meaning we didn’t go outside the wire.
But I went to the headquarters to do some administrative stuff and I heard this noise outside,
and I was like, “What is that?” I opened the door and it was these two male cats, I mean just
fighting. Clawing each other, biting. They were rolled up in one ball. And there was fur
flying through the air. So I had tossed some rocks at them to break them up. And they got off
each other and they were looking at me.
They had fur hanging out of their mouths, they were dripping with blood and stuff, and I was
like, “Oh my goodness.” I ran them off. But, that was probably, I don't know if it was the
funniest thing, but it was definitely one of the craziest things I saw while I was over there.
But, I mean we had quite a few things. When the Iraqis would get ammunition we would have
shooting competitions with some of the border police out on the areas where no one was
living. We pretty much set up range and we just had shooting competitions with them. So that
was pretty fun.
DJ: Once you got back, what did you do? Did you do a deployment drawdown with your unit
or…
RM: When we got back, we went back to Fort Riley where we did our initial training for
the transition team. And we spent I don’t think it was quite a week while we there doing
all of our redeployment stuff. All of our medical and some of our other administrative
paperwork so we could go home. The cool thing about it was that we were put in the front
of the line anytime we were doing redeployment stuff if there was another unit coming
back because we hadn’t seen our families yet.
We flew straight back to Fort Riley and our families were scattered all over the-really all
over the world. So we were waiting to get back with them. So they jumped us to the front of
the line. We were able to out process after we turned in our weapons and everything...in a
few days, and then got us on aircraft to go home or to our next assignments. So that was a
pretty interesting time. I didn't know it at the time when I was going to airport from Fort
Riley to fly back home, my grandmother had passed away that morning. So that was a little
tough to deal with, coming back to that. And it delayed me getting to my next assignment. I
spent a little more time home then I was planning on.
DJ: So after deployment did you automatically get sent to another station or...
RM: They go to their next assignment or go home if they’re taking leave first. It really
varied depending
on the individual.
7
�DJ: So you were part of the 1st Armored or 1st Infantry Division?
RM: I did all the training at Fort Riley through the 1st Infantry Division, 1st Brigade.
When we got over to Iraq we were attached to 3rd ACR at first but they were leaving.
They left pretty much a month after we got there. And then we were attached to 2-1 Cav
the rest of the time.
DJ: What unit were you part of during this time?
RM: More so 2-1 Cav. I mean, because they were the ones that had all the logistical support
for us and the administrative stuff too.
DJ: That's interesting. So what was your next assignment after?
RM: It was here at Appalachian State University ROTC.
DJ: Did you choose to come here?
RM: I did. I was dating a woman at the time who lived in South Carolina before I went to
Iraq. And my plan was try to get an assignment to the Southeast, even if that meant Fort
Stewart, Fort Benning, or Fort Bragg. And then someone mentioned, “Hey you could also
do ROTC?” So I sent an email to my branch manager saying, “Hey look if there's an ROTC
that has an opening anywhere in the Southeast, I'd like to go there.
My first choice is Clemson because I'm a alumni b u t if that doesn't work out I'm open to
pretty much anything.” A few months into the deployment he sent a message to me saying,
“Hey would you want to go to Appalachian State University.” And I was like, “Yes, that's
fine.” So I already knew about it, or knew about the university because Clemson would
compete with them in Ranger challenge and I knew it was a good ROTC program b e f o r e I
got here.
DJ: And Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore and Sergeant Major Arbogast were here at the time?
RM: Correct. Yes.
DJ: That’s pretty interesting...What did you think when you first met them when you first
came here?
RM: I thought they were pretty high speed. Obviously the program, the cadets that we were
commissioning were solid, especially tactically. So, I think they were great people.
DJ: Because I know that’s like way before my time, those early years. Because I really
didn’t start getting involved until they were on their way out.
RM: Yes.
8
�DJ: So...this is your last year and then you move on to another assignment.
RM: Right. After this I go to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for my Captain's career course. Really
I'm behind right now. Had I not gotten an ROTC assignment they were going to send me to
the Captain's Career Course right after I got back from Iraq.
DJ: And the Captain's Career Course is the next step to be appointed to major?
RM: Well, you need to have it for theory you need to have it before you do a command.
DJ: A company command?
RM: Correct. Or in my case a battery command. And it also gives you training in how to
be a staff officer as well.
DJ: That's pretty interesting. So after that, you complete that you find out what your next unit is?
RM: Correct. I don't know what my next assignment is yet. I've tried looking into that, but
my understanding is when I get to Fort Sill the branch managers will come and figure out
who’s going where at that point in time
DJ: Is there any other places you would like to go, any stations in particular?
RM: I would love to get back to a line unit, even one that’s deploying. My request that I
sent it before being told, “Hey look just wait until you get to the Career Course.” Fort
Stewart down in Georgia, Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and if I had
to do an overseas one I put Hawaii. I've already been to South Korea. I wouldn’t mind going
to Germany, but for right now I want to hold on because I just got married. So, trying to stay
in the United States for a little bit.
DJ: So you chose artillery? Was that your first choice?
RM: Yes, artillery was my first branch choice.
DJ: Was there anything that really interested you about it?
RM: Just that it was a combat arms branch. Infantry, I didn’t necessarily want to do that. I
don’t know
why now, but I think my second choice was armor. So I was just looking to get another job
like combat engineers.
DJ: Something....
RM: Just had a lot of firepower.
DJ: You could be out there doing the combat job?
9
�RM: Yes.
DJ: That makes sense. So did your service in Iraq affect your life any? Give you more perspective?
RM: It gave me more perspective. When I watch the news now, especially with the Arab
Spring going on, from what it's called anyway. My perspective on the Muslim religion is a
little different. There are definitely Muslims out there who are pro United States in the
Kurds. I still debate whether there are any pro Americans in the Southern parts of Iraq. But
I wasn’t there, I don’t really know. So it gives more perspective when I listen to the news. I
understand the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslim. And why they fight with each
other all the time. I understand that region is very unstable having been there. Probably the
direct effect on coming back was probably my driving habits. Took me a while to slow
down, because I
was used to driving pretty while I was in Iraq.
DJ: Habit always checking the trash and stuff like that?
RM: Well, not so much, but looking for stuff that was going to blow up. We didn't have too
many issues with that but you know the way we drove in Iraq, we just drove fast.
DJ: Fast but safe.
RM: Yes.
DJ: That makes sense. All right. I think that covers just about all the questions Captain
Meyers.
RM: All right
DJ: Thank you for your time.
RM: Yes, not a problem.
10
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Appalachian State University American Military History Course Veterans Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
Each semester, the students of the American Military History Course at Appalachian State University conduct interviews with military veterans and record their military experiences in order to create an archive of oral history interviews that are publicly accessible to researchers. The oral histories are permanently available in the Appalachian State University Special Collections. The project is supervised by Dr. Judkin Browning, Associate Professor of History at Appalachian State University and all interviews are transcribed by the student interviewers.
Copyright Notice:
Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project’s audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, University Archives and Records, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC).
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Meyers, Richard Allen
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Johnson, Daniel
Interview Date
10/12/11
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
29:10 min
Copyright
Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used.
Tag
Army, officer, recruiting operations officer, ROTC, ASU, Appalachian State University, Clemson University, Army Reserves, Fort Leonard Wood, combat engineer, Fort Riley, Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Baghdad, Kuwait, IED, Bronze Star, Fort Riley, 1st Infantry Division, artillery
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Richard Allen Meyers, 12 October 2011
Subject
The topic of the resource
Iraq War, 2003-2011
Meyers, Richard, 1960-
Veterans
Personal narratives, American
United States
Interviews
Description
An account of the resource
Richard Meyers, born October 2, 1980, enlisted into the Army in 2003. Current position as of 2011--Recruiting Operations Officer for Appalachian State ROTC. Served in Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq War) for one year, 2008-2009. In this interview, he discusses his experiences doing patrols and advising Iraqi border police in Erbil, a Kurdish region of Iraq.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Meyers, Richard Allen
Johnson, Daniel
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a title="UA.5018. American Military History Course Records" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/167" target="_blank">UA.5018. American Military History Course Records</a>
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
10 pages
Language
A language of the resource
English
combat engineer
IED
Kurds
Mosul
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Recruiting Operations Officer
reserves
ROTC