1
50
1
-
https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/2bef6ffa64a39fa4cc68ffd3748e6e07.pdf
05ca53486c547b441240042407bf1c59
PDF Text
Text
Military Oral History Interview Transcript
Francesca Johnson
Asheville, North Carolina
SF: Steven Folts
FJ: Francesca Johnson
SF: Before we begin I would like to thank you for participating in this interview and for your
willingness to be a part of this veteran’s oral history project. I want you to be sure you realize
that if you agree, this interview and its transcript will be made available in the special collections
in Appalachian State University’s library. And finally I want you to know that if there are any
questions you don’t feel comfortable asking or you feel they violate operational security, let me
know and we will move on. Do you agree?
FJ: I agree.
SF: Can you tell us your name, and the date and place of your birth?
FJ: Francesca Johnson, December 14th 1977, Anaheim, California.
SF: And can you please tell us what war and branch of service you served in?
FJ: Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Army.
SF: And what was your highest rank?
FJ: Sergeant.
SF: I want to talk a little bit about what led up to you joining the Army, so when did you enlist?
FJ: I enlisted in, on February 29th, 2000.
SF: Okay, and what initially made you want to join the military?
FJ: I wanted to travel.
SF: You wanted to travel. And what made you choose the army over the other branches?
FJ: My father was in the Army, so I kind of knew a little bit more about the Army than any of
the other branches.
SF: Okay, so what was your first military occupational specialty, your first job you had?
FJ: It was 71L, administrative specialist.
1
�SF: So can you tell us a little bit about what that does?
FJ: Awards, NCOERs…
SF: Whole lot of paperwork and personnel type stuff?
FJ: Yes.
SF: Okay, so why don’t you tell us about your first day of basic training.
FJ: It was… kind of weird (laughs).
SF: Kind of weird?
FJ: Yes It wasn’t what I expected, I thought there would be more yelling, there wasn’t too much
yelling, it was mostly kind of fun.
SF: So what were some of the things you learned while you were at Fort Jackson?
FJ: No, I was in Fort Leonard Wood.
SF: Okay.
FJ: Some of the things I learned in basic?
SF: Yes, what was it like back then in 2000?
FJ: It was probably not that much different than what they’re doing now. We didn’t have
combatives back then. So that’s probably the only really thing that was different.
SF: Okay, so just give us like a basic, the stuff you started at the very beginning, like PT and
moving into BRM, something like that.
FJ: They did start us with PT. You start off, I think they started only running us a mile, and then
they acclimatized us, however you want to say it, so that we could run further and did more
exercises, so it got harder and harder.
SF: Okay. So, do you have any moments that really stood out for you, memorable moments that
you had when you were there?
FJ: I liked the range; I never shot before I went to basic training. I did very well (laughs).
SF: How do you feel about the quality of your training you received there, and the drill sergeants
that taught you?
FJ: I liked it. I thought it was a great experience.
2
�SF: After you finished your basic training and AIT (advanced individual training), where was
the first duty station they sent you to?
FJ: It was Daegu, Korea.
SF: So how long were you at this first unit before you moved or got deployed? Can you tell us
about like, the track leading up to you getting deployed?
FJ: I was sent to Korea, and then I was sent to Fort Polk, Louisiana, then I was sent to Germany.
And then I got out for two years and came back into the reserves, and that’s when I deployed to
Iraq.
SF: So why don’t you tell us where did you first land where you deployed, where did your plane
land?
FJ: It was Kuwait.
SF: Okay. So what, can you walk us through like, your first day overseas?
FJ: Pretty much when we first get there they put us in a room and kind of give us the briefing
about the base and kind of like what’s going on, and the weather, they tell you of course you
need to drink a lot of water cause you’re not used to that weather, and besides that we started
getting ready, we start training a little bit over there. You’re only there like, maybe between one
and two months, at the most
SF: In Kuwait before you went to Iraq?
FJ: Yes. Usually you’re supposed to be there ten days but we were only there for five. They sent
us pretty quick.
SF: Okay. What kind of things do you do in your downtime while you’re overseas?
FJ: Um, went to the gym, or we ran around the base. There really wasn’t that much to do. They
had a Starbucks and all that over there, I was surprised about that. But um, pretty much we just
you know, exercised. I think everybody just exercised or barbecued. That’s about all we did
SF: Did you guys have any way to stay in touch with your families, like internet or phones?
FJ: Yeah, whenever it worked.
SF: Whenever it worked?
FJ: Yeah it was bad, because the generators would go out, but it was ok. It worked most of the
time but usually when you really wanted it to work it didn’t
3
�SF: What year was this?
FJ: 2009? The end of 2009, the beginning of 2010.
SF: Were you given any leave time while you were over there?
FJ: I was sent home early, so I did not take any leave. It was during Obama’s little thing where
they had to send 50,000 troops home so I was one of them.
SF: Could you tell us about your day-to-day duties while you were overseas, what you did in a
general day?
FJ: I worked with finance and I worked with the soldiers if they had any financial programs. I
started getting everyone’s leave forms ready for when they did want to go on R & R. I also had
to do accountability every morning about where our Soldiers were at.
SF: Did you guys do any training while you over there, or was it just your job?
FJ: Yeah, it was just our job; we didn’t really do too much training.
SF: Did you see any combat while you were over there, anyone shoot any rockets at your base?
FJ: Yeah, we got mortared twice while I was there but nobody got hurt.
SF: Okay, so nobody got hurt, or you never saw anyone got wounded or got wounded yourself?
FJ: Uh, no. We had one convoy, our first convoy that went out the wire, hit an IED (improvised
explosive device) but there was only one person that was injured, he got shrapnel to his hand.
SF: The first convoy that went out?
FJ: Mm hmm.
SF: Interesting. Did you have any of those critical incident debriefings, where something really
bad happened and they gathered you all together?
FJ: No, I didn’t.
SF: Did you participate in any joint service operations with the other branches of service?
FJ: No.
SF: Do you have any memories that really stand out, good, bad, extremely boring from when
you were over there?
4
�FJ: Um, the only good one that I can think of is every time, every Saturday or Sunday, a lot of us
got together and just hung out and barbequed and that was a pretty good time.
SF: Were you off on weekends?
FJ: Some of us were, like every other weekend we would take off.
SF: So generally you had like, a seven day week, then a five day, then a seven day? Okay. So
what kind of awards did you get while you were there or right after you got back?
FJ: I only got a good conduct medal since I came back early.
SF: Do you feel like being deployed affected your relationships with your family and friends
either while you were there, or after you got back?
FJ: No.
SF: Do you feel like it affected you personally at all?
FJ: No.
SF: Did being overseas change your opinions on maybe military service or our mission overseas
at all?
FJ: No.
SF: So, did you have any difficulty readjusting when you got home?
FJ: Um, yeah, well the first thing that you have to get used to is not carrying your weapon
around. So I’d wake up and look for it. But besides that no, not really. Because I never really
went out the wire so I didn’t have to worry about driving and stuff like that, but um, that was the
only thing that I had to get used to, and acclimatizing again when I came back, it was a lot colder
than what it was over there.
SF: Do you still stay in contact with people from, you deployed with but aren’t serving with
anymore, they’re in different units?
FJ: No, we’re all still together.
SF: Didn’t make any friends from other units?
FJ: No.
SF: So, what would you say to somebody thinking about joining the military today?
5
�FJ: I would say “do it.” I think it’s great. I learned a lot and I think I’m a better person for it, for
what I did
SF: So where are you stationed right now, and can you tell us a little bit about what you do
there?
FJ: I am stationed in Asheville right now. And I just got a new job as 68W
SF: So tell us what that means.
FJ: Medic.
SF: So you’re a medic.
FJ: Yes.
SF: So, what do you think you’re going do with that, your new job or your career in general?
FJ: I’m still kind of just new at it, but I’d like to pursue something more with it probably. Maybe
go nursing, I’m not sure
SF: You think you’re going try to retire out of the military, do the whole 20 years?
FJ: Oh yeah, definitely. I’m halfway there already.
SF: Alright, so why do you feel, if you do, that it’s important for veterans to share their stories?
FJ: Well, probably just for knowledge, I mean you can always learn something new from
everybody, you know to do something different in a different way, to learn people’s experiences.
SF: Okay, so is there anything we didn’t cover that you might want to add, want to say on the
record?
FJ: No.
SF: Well thank you very much for your time Sargent Johnson, and on behalf of all of us, thank
you for your service.
FJ: You’re welcome.
6
�
https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/1a15bb63240f85ddb0647e7650ef7e11.mp3
ef16a7c36906211a6372f75170e9e970
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.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Folts, Steven
Interview Date
11/14/11
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
0:11:42
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
6 pages
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 Francesca Johnson, 14 November 2011
Subject
The topic of the resource
Iraq War, 2003-2011
Johnson, Francesca
Veterans
Personal narratives, American
United States
Interviews
Description
An account of the resource
Francesca Johnson, interviewed by Steven Folts, was born December 14, 1977 in Anaheim, California. She enlisted in the United States Army in February 2000 and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the interview she discusses her experiences in training and her job duties.
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 (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC).
Language
A language of the resource
English
Francesca Johnson
Operation Iraqi Freedom
United States Army