1
50
1
-
https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/f39e6d0f0798b12947d599a99323d3a5.pdf
3441a36ca56ec634e5c766d89afd1fe4
PDF Text
Text
Transcript of Oral History Interview with Staff Sergeant Randall "R. J." Bowers
March 13, 2011
Boone, North Carolina
Michael Braga: Alright, this is Michael Braga, here interviewing R. J. Bowers. Staff Sergeant
R.J. Bowers. It is March thirteenth, Sunday, and we are at R.J.'s house. This is for the Oral
History project for 3824, Military History. Um... so R.J. if you could just state your name and
your date of birth.
Randall "R.J." Bowers: Alright, I'm Randy Darrel Bowers Jr.; I'm called "R.J." My Birthday is
July 27, 1985.
Braga: Alright um... so, what was your rank and branch of the military?
Bowers: Yeah I was in the Army, and I started out as a Private but I got out as a Staff Sergeant,
which is an E-6.
Braga: Alright, and I assume you enlisted, do you remember why you enlisted?
Bowers: It was right after 9/11 and I was getting out of high school, my grandpa was in, my
great grandpa was in and most of my family was in the military so I thought it was just the best
thing to do
Braga: Yeah, Alright. How about your training, where were you trained?
Bowers: Actually, I joined at 17 and my parents had to sign release papers to release custody of
me to the army and I left my junior year of high school I graduated that year left that summer for
basic training in Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri and also, AIT which is your Army school in Fort
Leonard Wood Missouri.
T»
4
�Braga: Alright, Do you remember... Do you have any experiences that you remember from that
or...?
Bowers: Well it was... I just remember, like everybody does, I guess, sitting there your first
week in thinking "oh," you know, "Jesus what did I sign up for?" Cause you know the Drill
Sergeants are yelling and this that and the other, but you know you look back after its all over
and it was kind of like a fun experience in your life.
Braga: So, you served in the Iraqi war right? Or were you in Afghanistan or Iraq?
Bowers: No, Afghanistan.
Braga: Afghanistan, where exactly did you go?
Bowers: Well I was in mostly the south east and south west, I never really went up north much. I
was there between, I think, May of '04 to June of '06 And I was there it was a little either under
or over two years I can't remember. But, I was part of a route clearance package which is... were
21 bravo was the nomenclature for... all we do is we go around and look for lEDs or roadside
bombs.
Braga: Alright, cool. So, did you see any combat?
Bowers: Yeah I mean everybody sees a little bit especially where the combating was. We're
looking, you know for... We're sent before most people because we have the equipment to
locate the lEDs like we have special vehicles, like we have the RG-31, The Husky and the Meer
Cat and the Buffalo These vehicles are Designed to locate lEDs You Know and find them and
help us either blow them in place or disarm them.
Braga: Alright, Cool Cool. So do you remember any particular experiences there that you want
to share or anything like that?
�Bowers: Oh yeah I... there's tons of things you remember, you know most people want to talk
about the good things. Ah... you know the people I was... we were actually imbedded me and
like, my squad which was only ten guys we were imbedded with about 150 Afghans. So, you
know living with them and among them were definitely an experience or whatever. They were a
trip... They would always... I don't know, I'm trying to think of the right word to say... they
were kind of... stupid. (Laughter) They ah... one time, one thing I always tell people was how
most of the time I was worried about getting shot by them more than the enemy. Cause you
know one story comes to mind we were on a patrol and it was, like I said, my squad and two... I
don't know it was like a company and like a couple other platoons out of another company and
we had about 75 guys in front of us and about 100-150 behind us and one of the guys behind us
tripped and shot himself in the leg. And when he shot himself the guys in front of us just heard
gunshots and so they... you know just fell down and started shooting in all directions and so of
course you know we fell... we jumped down cause we were trying to figure out what they were
shooting at and the Afghans behind us heard them shooting and so they started shooting. So,
we're in a (wadi?) which is like an old river bed or a cut out and we're seeing them shoot at each
other even though they know they're there. And so once we got our terps to get on the radio and
get the commanders of both elements to quit shooting at each other there were like seven dead
and like 15 or 16 wounded or something like that I mean it was just ridiculous they... there was
definitely took a long time for them to get the grasp of not trying to shoot each other (laughter)
Braga: (Laughter) yeah, why do you think that was?
Bowers: Aw they're just... I don't know their training I guess wasn't as... definitely not as
extensive as the U.S. military, but they have I guess... Most of them are young. Like here, most
�people are at least over 18, there you know it wasn't uncommon to see like a 16 year old kid or
whatever, but you know it's only two years but it makes a big difference.
Braga: You mentioned that they had about 150 people how many people did you guys have in
your company?
Bowers: Oh well see I mean in my company we had, you know about 150 but we were broken
up into 10 man groups and sent all over the country.
Braga: Oh yeah? Cool. Um... Well how about your life while you were there, I mean were you
able to stay in touch with your family?
Bowers: It was kind of tough because being part of an RCP you're always on the move cause
that's your job, it's to travel, you know, travel the roads and look for the lEDs wherever you're
needed at the time. EOD which is... they...
At this point Mr. Bowers turned off the recording device to collect his thoughts.
Bowers: Alright, EOD is an Unexploded... They deal with the ordinance like you know if we
find shells like any kind of unexploded ordinance, you know anything from mines to old
claymores to... you know, anything just anything that needs to be blown up they're called to
blow them up, but since like there's a scarcity of EOD guys in Afghanistan they'd call us which
is the combat engineers. They'd call us because we had C-4 and TNT and stuff like that mostly
just... mostly C-4 but you know they call us and we'd blow it. So we were always on the move
we didn't really stay in one spot and most of the places we were there wasn't a lot of
communication with the outside world.
�Braga: Yeah, urn so, you didn't really... did you have like an operating base that you would go
back to or...?
Bowers: Uh, no the ah... we had FOBs which are forward operating bases... F-O-Bs you know?
Braga: Yeah...
Bowers: And ah... We... the most ones we left you know um FOB Solerno, FOB Ripley, FOB
Pacemaker, FOB Vegas. You know those are some of the FOBs that we were on missions...
missions out of. And they were all they were really for is so you can go like refuel and get, you
know supplies, ammo whatever you needed and head back out
Braga: So there weren't a lot in the way of amenities or anything like that?
Bowers: No like we're getting... we pretty much lived out of our trucks or Humvees, our
vehicles, you know we had all our stuff, it was always packed up. Slept on the ground under the
trucks or in the trucks you know we didn't...
Braga: So you were on the move a lot...
Bowers: Oh yeah, we were on the move you know, 90% of the time
Braga: Yeah? And you said earlier, you were usually operating ahead of...
Bowers: Yeah
Braga: Of everybody else...?
Bowers: Yeah, the vehicles we were in, like this is... it was called a Rout Clearance Package
because it was multiple vehicles lined up in the package in a convoy the first one would either be
a Husky or a Meer Cat. And what this is it's a one man vehicle and it has... it has these plates
that fold down and scan the road when you're driving and they're metal detectors. And when
they scan over something metal they spray paint in that spot where they detected the metal,
�there's a computer inside that tells the driver. It's a one manned vehicle and it looks kind of
funny it's made by the same people that make like Indy Cars or whatever, it's made to...
Braga: Really?
Bowers: Yeah, it's made to be blown apart and actually, when it is blown apart it's not a big
deal because the sections are made in such, where they're kind of like a big, giant Lego. You
know you can just hook something on, take something off blow this off, blow that off. And stuff
like that, so it makes it... a lot easier when they're like that.
When that vehicle, say it detects metal on the ground it pulls forward and the next vehicle
behind it's called an RG-31 it's like a... up armored SUV... you know it looks kind of like a big
Tahoe on steroids it has like port holes and a turret on top, well it pulls up also with the, with the
you know the Husky or Meer Cat to provide security to the front. Well, the Humvees and stuff
they... provide rear security and then the Buffalo, what the Buffalo is it's like a $1.6 million
truck, it's 26 tons it has three axels, it's actually a Mac truck with an independent axle on it and
then the armor is built around it. It has a 30 foot arm with three cameras one of the cameras is in
the arm. So what it does is it pulls up to the... place where the paint is sprayed on the ground
and you just start digging, and then if you find something you try to dig it up, you know, you try
to see what it is, you know if you can... in certain parts of Afghanistan they use certain methods
to blow Americans up, I guess for lack of a better words you know, they use... maybe in
southern Afghanistan they use A/T Mines that were pressure detonated and in eastern
Afghanistan they used... they might use a A/T mines that is command detonated. There's
different kinds of detonations they can use and if you can figure out what kind they're using and
prevent them from blowing it up... it's even better for you.
n
f
�But once you found out what kind it was and if it wasn't too dangerous you'd just, you
know, dig it up, disarm it and then take it with you to wherever you're going or just blow it
somewhere or just save it to blow it later, but if you were kind of unsure, thought there were like
a secondary device. Cause towards the end there they were getting pretty smart, they'd ah leave
an IED out or like one we could see, like trying to just hide it a little bit and so when we found it
we were like "aw we found it!" and so we would go up to... you know, either disarm it or take it
apart or do whatever, that that would be a dummy IED and they'd blow up other lEDs in the
vicinity cause they knew our protocol. They knew that we were, you know, going to try to stay
off the IED X amount of meters, or whatever so, you know...
Braga: Yeah
Bowers: They... they're a lot smarter than people give them credit for, that's for sure.
Braga: Huh, yeah... So... How about your supplies, your supply lines and things like that? were
you guys... you were operating ahead of everybody else, so were you kept up with MREs or did
you have fresh food or... ?
Bowers: Uh Actually it's kind of it's you know, I'm not looking for a pity party or anything, but
there were a couple times where, you know we'd have trips that we'd have to go into villages
and buy goats, buy local food and we would slaughter the goats or whatever we had to do. You
know we had MREs but you know, two years on MREs could kind of turn your stomach.
Braga: Yeah, I'll bet.
Bowers: And you know it wasn't that bad you know there was a couple of times we had air
drops, which was kind of cool, just to be a part of, you know... The C-130 would fly over us and
drop you know, supplies out the back and we'd like, you know throw smoke. They'd drop it out
and we'd go get the supplies and stuff.
�Braga: Alright... So were there any... any events that were... particularly humorous or anything
like that?
Bowers: Oh, Oh yeah. Tons, tons, tons of... and that's what keeps you going too you know the
funny stuff. All the Afghans they, you know... 90% of the country, well no I'm not going to say
90, like 85% probably don't really mind we're there and like us being there; they like that we
overrun the Taliban (dog barks) and stuff like that.. .and so... (Dog barks again, Sergeant
Bowers stops and says to dog) Jeb... So,... it's kind of cool and they're always doing... and I
guess some of its kind of sick humor... the kids... you can get them to do anything for a piece of
candy... we'd get them to box each other and stuff like that or... (As an aside to me) You know I
could send you some of these pictures, that's an A/T mine, that's one we dug up.
Braga: Oh, that'd be cool, yeah.
Bowers: yeah and I'm going to try... here's a 105 shell, and this is what I was telling you about
the thing that goes up front, this is a husky, see it? We hit an IED with it, see it's made to blow
apart, so you can just take those two pieces off and put two new pieces on.
Braga: Oh wow, that's cool.
Bowers: So you know I can send you some pictures of like a route clearing package, if you'd
like. You know the Afghans or even like, the even the Afghan Army guys... that have like
scopes on their AKs but instead of it being like a cross like a normal scope would it'd be an X.
And so they wouldn't have it lined up or anything it was just more for looks than anything. Or...
You know, our sense of like being friends... we're like buddies, we might... hug or something,
but the Afghans... they don't have like a personal bubble.
Braga: Yeah
�Bowers: Like... Kissing, holding hands, you know, a lot of stuff we would... consider
homosexual they do and it's not homosexual at all it's just their culture. You know, there's tons
of stuff they do, just, it definitely, it's like going back in time almost, going back to biblical days,
cause you know I remember rolling into villages and the they thought we were the Russians...
Braga: Really
Bowers: Yeah, they thought we were the Russians, and you know the Russians hadn't been in
Afghanistan in 15- 20 years or something like that, so... (Laughter)
Braga: Yeah, 25-30
Bowers: Yeah, so I mean so to go into a village and someone like the village elder he'll come
out and like he's pretty upset and stuff and we can't figure it out because you know, nine times
out often when you went to a new village or something like that, especially, we spent a lot of
time on the Pakistan border, you could tell if it was a friendly village or a not-so-friendly village
and... with this one we just couldn't, we didn't know what was going on, we thought maybe
something had just happened cause the guys was, you know, pretty upset and our terp was telling
us that he thought we were the Russians and they had cut off all their beards and stuff like that
and we were like, "Nah, tell them we're here... for helping, we're here as friends and once he
found out we weren't the Russians, and you could tell these people were dirt poor any way like
he was wearing literally rags like had, you know, had his best goat slaughtered and brought us
goat milk and cheese and they eat like a big type of pita bread and rice and stuff and we, I mean
we had a good time with them, we gave them like water and MRE stuff to compensate him for
the goat even though, you know, we really didn't want him to kill his goat but, you know, It's
just, you know...
n
n
�One incident I remember we were refueling at a FOB Oregon E and over the radio the
guys at the front gate said... there's six Afghans out here with a couple goats, they want to come
in here and sacrifice them. And you know it took a minute or two before the company command
to get back to them because they'd never run into that problem before. You know there, they
were in a... it was kind of hostile out where Oregon E is and so... they ended up letting the guys
in the base and slaughtering the goats for a sacrifice or whatever to try and you know keep the
peace with everybody around us but (Showing me a picture) Right here's how far, that tire
weighs 300 pounds.
Braga: Good lord!
Bowers: That's how far it was blown from the vehicle
Braga: That's like 60 feet
Bowers: Yeah, and no one was hurt in it, and this is another and like... when I told you They're
really smart... like right here, this is a saw blade and like have you ever had the battery and you
put a wire here and a wire here and you hit to the light and it turns the light on?
Braga: Yeah
Bowers: Well this is the same thing they're doing with an IED they got a battery source a wire
going to it, going to the IED and they have this and they have this kind of hidden and so this is
hooked to one wire and there's this metal piece hooked to another and when something rolls over
it that saw blade bends and touches it, completes the circuit and blows up the IED
Braga: Smart
Bowers: Oh yeah, so I mean there definitely not stupid people, this is the Buffalo I was telling
you the 1.6 million 26 ton... I did that, I got us stuck for two weeks (the Buffalo is stuck in very
deep mud). But... here's us... I got tons of pictures for you.
Page
�Braga: So what were your dates of deployment?
Bowers: Aww that's what I was trying to remember, I know I was there for 23 months and I was
pretty sure I either left and it was either I left in May or I come back in May and I either left in
June or come back in June I can't remember, you know, but we were only supposed to be there
for like 15 months but the Route Clearance package was fairly new then and so... they ended up
extending us.
Braga: Yeah? And you're still in the military right?
Bowers: Yeah I... well not, not really in I... they pay for my school and stuff and I plan to go to
OCS I finish school this semester, so I'm going to go back to the army.
Braga: Cool, Cool. So were there any... are there any final thoughts that you want us to know
about your time in Afghanistan?
Bowers: I don't know, just... It was definitely... life changing. Especially when we'd role up on
old Russian bases and like actually see the entire base, and I know this is going to be cliche, but
saying like you know, the old Rocky movies like seeing an old base that looked... I'll show I got
a picture here real quick, that looked like that and see actually old MIG fighters, like graveyards
of them. That were still there that are, no one flies them, you can't do anything with them there's
just weeds growing around them and stuff like that, like it's like they just vanished they left, you
know left whole bases intact. You know, when we have to pull out of a base or like a FOB or
something where it's no longer necessary we'd blow everything or destruct, so no one can use it
to their advantage but us. You know the Russians just up and left.
Braga: Yeah
Bowers: And you know when I say 'up and left' I mean we'd, you'd find all kinds of crazy stuff
and some... of it you just scratch your head like man I can't believe they just left all this, you
Page
�know old tanks and stuff like that and Afghan people if it's not bolted down or can be moved its..
They'll take it they're like the best scavengers in the world as far as I'm concerned I mean.
We'd had a Humvee get blown up and... had to come back two days later to try to just retrieve
the skeleton of it and whatever we could, and it wasn't that bad, it just blow off like the back
end of it and when we got back there was nothing left but the actual frame of the Humvee.
Braga: Wow
Bowers: So they had taken the tires, all the metal, everything that was potentially... you could
take off they took off.
Braga: Impressive.
Bowers: You know... when I got... you know I went to drill sergeant school and stuff like that
so I wanted to you know...
Braga: Yeah, well tell us about that; tell us about drill sergeant school.
Bowers: Uh, Drill sergeant school is about four months long or whatever or no it's about three
months long or two months long actually. It's... yeah, it's a two and a half months long and...
it's just like going through basic it's just basic training all over again. You go through basic
training except... once you go through the phase like the phases in basic training, you have like,
you know, red phase... blue phase... (To himself) red, white, blue... No, red phase, white phase,
blue phase, and then you have your like gold and black phase or something like that.
Braga: What... what's the difference between those?
Bowers: Well the phases like the first; red phase is like... the kind of like shock and awe. You
know when you're coming in and you're getting yelled at and if one of y'all screw up the group
screws up, you know if you mess up then everybody pays for it. They're trying to get you to
work number one as a team and also get you to realize, you know the whole break you down and
Page
�build you up thing, that happens in red phase, you know they make it where you're tired they
keep you, you know, you keep them awake, work them out a whole lot they'll do stuff like that.
And then... then it's kind of also like a think of pride you know, if you give them something to
work towards, like you know, they're in red phase which would be the hardest phase they'll have
no... they can't even use the bathroom without asking permission. You know if you give
them.. .you tell them 'hey ya'll have done good for two weeks, two or three weeks, you know
and they graduate to blue phase then they know they've got to step up. They get just a little bit
more responsibility, you know they get a little bit more freedom, not a whole lot more, just a
little bit more and each phase they... they turn more and more into a soldier.
Braga: Cool... um so, in your drill sergeant training was it more difficult than basic training...?
Bowers: Um see and that's... that's the thing and people when you talk to them they'll talk
about the game... and that's all it is, it's a game you know, when I was in basic training I didn't
realize it until later, until we were about to graduate and everybody does, that it's a game to the
drill sergeants, you know, you'll catch them... if you really pay attention, you'll catch them
snickering, or laughing at some of the stuff that... you know that some of... y'all are doing and
some of it might be to teach y'all a lesson or something like that... or you know just... whatever,
what have you. you know they're not... in your eyes they're like a super human when you're in
basic training, but once you complete basic training, towards the end you start realizing that
they're normal too, that they're just like you.. That they're... It's kind of like you know when
you're younger you thought your dad was, you know, superman...
Braga: Yeah
Bowers: And as you got older you realize he's just, you know he's still superman to you but he's
just a regular guy, you know he can get hurt just as well as the next guy. It's the same thing with
Page
�your drill sergeants and you learn the game, you know, you learn how to take orders and not
take it personally and that, I guess that's... especially for young guys, you know me being one of
them with authority, you know I had a whole lot of problems with it, and... that's one thing that
basic training taught me to do was you know respect authority and... just, even if you don't
agree with it or whatever, drive on and do it, do whatever you have to do and so when you go
back for, especially as a drill sergeant, you know the game, and it's kind of like a you know a
lose-lose situation for them because they know you know the game. You know when in basic
training when a drill sergeant is yelling at you or like busting your balls or something and tells
you to get down and do pushups you get down and start cranking out pushups till you can't move
until you know, you're shaking and convulsing. Well, He can't... physically make you do a push
up so if you just get down and crank out one or two pushups and then just stay in the push up
position as long as it's the correct position you're in the right, you know. And this is something
you don't know, or don't think of when you're younger either, you just want to... you're
thinking 'do what he said by what he said' so you're push... you know when you're in drill
sergeant school as long as you're making an effort to do a push up you don't have to kill yourself
you just have to do the right dorm, stay in the right position and stuff like that and they know you
know the game, and once... you know they're senior drill sergeants training the drill sergeants,
you know they... once they know you know the game they're not... it's not... going to be worth
their time to fu... screw with you. You know so... it's once you know the game it's really hard
but you know you just got to play the game and know... and be good at it. There's a method to
all the madness, or whatever, you know, the things you didn't understand in basic training...
you're like 'why did he make us do it?' 'Why do we have to do that?' 'That's so stupid' they
Page
�teach you actually some psychology behind it and you know the reason... there's a reason for
everything.
Braga: Well cool... so now... you said you're kind of still in the army are you training new
recruits or...?
Bowers: Oh no no no, when I... I said... kinda... they pay for my school. They pay for my
school and they pay me to go to school, so I'm not really even in the army right now, but...
Braga: But you are going back?
Bowers: Yeah, I'm definitely going back. I went last week to talk to... my buddy, he's actually a
recruiter. He's a guy I spent... the two years in Afghanistan with, he's a recruiter in Hickory
now, and my brother just signed up for the army about a week ago so... and I went with him, and
then I'm getting my OCS packet which is officer's candidate school packet ready.
Braga: Great. Well I really appreciate you doing this man and... thank you so much, any final
thoughts?
Bowers: I'm trying to think and make sure I got everything for you, basic training, I was at Ft.
Bragg before... from Ft. Leonard Wood, after I got through with my basic training, my AIT
which is my... job school I was at Ft. Bragg before I went to Afghanistan
Braga: Okay.
Bowers: And...
Braga: What other forts have you been to? Was it just Bragg?
Bowers: Oh you pretty much you travel to all of them, you now I've been (Cell phone beeping)
to Ft. Jackson, Ft. Bragg, Ft. Knox, Ft. Campbell... and yeah that's it... Germany. I was in
Germany for a little bit but not, not very long. But, I'm trying to make sure I got everything for
Page
�you like (Shows a picture) There's an old Russian base, tell me that doesn't look like something
out of Rocky.
Braga: It kind of does (laughs)
Bowers: And look they built like dams and all kinds of stuff and there's like street posts I mean
it looks like they put a lot of time info this stuff. There's our pet hawk.
Braga: Alright well... I guess that's it for the interview... So once again thank you.
Bowers: Not a problem
Braga: And... that's about it.
Page
�
https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/4ebf16f3440f9ea527b20f273d99cd36.mp3
e990ce35e7b0cdc4c5d02d0a1c2e4016
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.
Bowers, Randall "R.J."
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Braga, Michael
Interview Date
3/13/11
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
0:25:13
File name
2013_063_Bowers_Randall_interview
2013_063_Bowers_RandallJ_transcript
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Randall "R.J." Bowers, 13 March 2011
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Braga, Michael
Bowers, Randall "R.J."
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a title="UA.5018. American Military History Course Records" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/167" target="_blank">UA.5018. American Military History Course Records</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
16 pages
Language
A language of the resource
English
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Subject
The topic of the resource
Bowers, Randy Darrel, Jr.
Veterans
United States
Interviews
Description
An account of the resource
Randall Bowers joined the military when he was 17 and still in high school shortly after the Iraq War began. He went to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri and then Afghanistan where he searched for and dismantle IEDs. He later went on to become a drill sergeant and plans to return to the army after he finishes school.
Afghanistan
Army Staff Sergeant
Fort Leonard Wood Missouri
IED
MRE
Route Clearance Package