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https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/38381f82a9cb2b00fa7646c7f824483c.pdf
9af5d0a3a513340fc5ca802eca2a57a2
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Military Oral History Interview Transcript
Steven Crowe
Newton, North Carolina
13 October 2011
SR: Seth Revetta
SC: Lieutenant Colonel Steven Crowe
SR: I am here with Lieutenant Colonel Crowe, retired. It is 13 October 2011. My name is Seth
Revetta, our first question shall be when and where were you born, sir?
SC: Born in 1962 in Valdese, North Carolina.
SR: What type of home life did you have?
SC: I would characterize my early childhood years as probably lower income or upper-lower
class. Mainly rural area upbringing. You know the “work hard then play later.”
SR: When and why did you join the military?
SC: Well, I joined the military because of the values that were instilled in me as a young kid.
There was the work ethic, the honesty ethic, put your nose to the grindstone ethic. Matured and
grew up a little bit more, of course along with that came patriotism and whenever I got to the
point of making the decision about my future I felt like I had to give back to the country, a
country that’s afforded me some privileges that I enjoy.
SR: What made you want go to Appalachian State University to get your commission?
SC: Actually I didn’t make that decision, my senior army instructor at East Burke High School
made for me. I was a young dumb senior and he pulled me in one day in class and asked me if I
wanted to go to college. I moaned around like a normal high school student does and after he
verbally beat me up and got my head straight, him and Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm McDanner,
who was the PMS (Professor of Military Science) at Appalachian at that time basically
coordinated my future for me. And that’s how Appalachian came into the picture.
SR: Where was your first duty station, and what were some of the difficulties you found as a
new officer?
SC: First duty station was South Korea after I finished up Officer Basic and Airborne School.
And the biggest thing that I encountered right off the bat was that being a young officer and
being surrounded by NCOs (Non-Commissioned Officers) who were the same age as me and in
some cases old enough to be my dad. Having them follow me as the leader, and as a young,
green, second lieutenant that was the biggest challenge.
SR: Where all has the army sent you since you first joined?
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�SC: After I left Korea, I came back to Fort Bragg, and spent six years there, and of those six…
three of them were spent in places like Panama with Operation Just Cause, El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Virgin Islands after Hurricane Hugo. You know of course Iraq and
Saudi Arabia and Baharan during the Gulf War and various places like that. After that I spent
time at Fort Leavenworth (Kansas) on two occasions, one for Command General Staff College in
Washington, D.C. at PERSCOM (Personnel Command) twice. I spent another assignment at the
101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell (Kentucky) and I finished out my career back in Korea
as battalion commander.
SR: What were some of the different schools you have been to and give a description of each
school?
SC: Some of the schools, of course, were more local schools for the units. But some of the major
schools that I attended that I have patches or certificates for are Air Assault Course, and that is
basically learning how to rappel out of helicopters, sling loading equipment, fast roping, those
kinds of things. Of course in Airborne School you jump out of airplanes that falls in line with the
vertical envelopment doctrine in our battle.
The other school that I went to was Ranger School when I was in the 82nd Airborne I had the
opportunity to go there. That school involved weapons and tactics and all kinds of things like
that but in my opinion the most important thing from Ranger School I learned was more about
leadership and more about myself and my own capabilities and how far I can push myself. Then
I would say that after that Command General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, the FBI
academy in ’97 and that pretty much sums up all the major schools.
SR: You said you went to Airborne School, have you also been to Jump Master School?
SC: Yes I have. I forgot about that one, not that it’s not important, that was probably the second
hardest course I went through. The washout rate there was over 50 percent for each class. The
hardest part about Jump Master School was actually learning the nomenclature for all the stuff
associated with airborne operations and also memorizing all the technical specifications, you
know for all that equipment and putting it into use along with, you know. Being in charge of the
safety of the plane and knowing the commands and your makers on the drop zone. It’s a really
mentally intense course and but after I got out of Ranger School, in my opinion that wasn’t an
issue because Ranger School to me was the hardest school.
SR: What are some of the best memories that you gained over the 21 years you’ve been in the
Army?
SC: A few stand out, one that stands out is, of course the day I graduated from Ranger School
and got that ranger tab. That was, I’ll never forget that day, I’ll never forget what happened
afterwards, how I conducted raids on Wendy’s and Hardees and Morison’s Café and every place
between there and Fort Bragg. Another good memory was the day I was selected for battalion
command and took command of that battalion, and of course the day I retired.
SR: What were some of the biggest difficulties you faced as an officer?
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�SC: The biggest difficulties was learning to adapt to the various leaders that I encountered over
the years, some were very hard to work for. Some, in my opinion, were incompetent, but you
learn very quickly in the army how to adapt and develop different methodologies, work around
some of the problems that you perceive. So I think self-development wise that was one of my
hardest ones. As far as the other challenges, I would say that not quite as many as one would
think once you’re in the army, but near the ladder half of my career I started noticing a change in
the quality and caliber of the soldiers coming in and I was a little disappointed that it seemed like
their values were waning and lacking compared to earlier generations.
SR: You said that you found it difficult to work for some leaders and that you had to adapt, how
exactly did you adapt sir?
SC: A lot of that really centered on me, not them. I naturally have a “Type A” personality, I
want to take charge and get the job done. Get things organized, etcetera, etcetera and when I was
working for people that weren’t like that I had to learn some self discipline, some self restraint
type techniques and to be quite frank with you one of the biggest ones was physical fitness. A lot
of times I would do a lot of working out to get rid of that pent up energy and frustration. The
other thing I did is I had a mentor that I worked with and they knew exactly what I was going
through and they gave me some coping strategies, such as how to address a problem with that,
my superior in such a way that they would come around the way I wanted then to make a
decision and kind of a manipulation technique so to speak.
SR: What were some of the factors that made you want to retire?
SC: Only one. I was single throughout my whole career, I came home on leave, I met my
wife… my now wife, at church. She was my high school sweet heart as a senior in high school
and I hadn’t seen her in twenty years. She happened to be at the church and we started dating,
and we decided to get married and after that, with two step daughters in the picture, that was the
only decision I had to make.
SR: What exactly made you want to teach JROTC (Junior Reserves Officers Training Corps)?
SC: One reason, to pay back what Colonel Wilson, my SAI (Senior Army Instructor) did for me
at East Burke High School. Hopefully put somebody on the track to success like I was placed on
the track.
SR: How exactly did you get the Senior Instructor leadership role at Fred T. Foard?
SC: Once I made the decision to retire, I had to make another decision on what kind of post army
career I wanted to pursue and basically, throughout my whole life, I’ve always been thankful for
Lieutenant Colonel Wilson for what he’s did for me so it wasn’t too hard to arrive at the
decision. I’d like to get back here and pay him back in my own way. So what I did was
Immediately went to the ROTC website, JROTC website online while I was in Korea and looked
for vacancies and there was one open in Fred T. Foard High School and I remember we played
them when I was in high school and it wasn’t too far from where I grew up. Well, I went on the
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�website, emailed the principal, found out it was a brand new program that was being started; I
would be the first SAI. I wrote her an email, she called me up and the rest is history.
SR: When do you plan on finishing up your time at Fred T. Foard and where do you plan on
going after that?
SC: I’ve been planning on retiring every year since I’ve been here, but one thing here or there
has canceled that or delayed that but I guess realistically my mark on the wall is ten years. So if
I can make it to say 2015 that might be the year I decided to retire. When I do get there I would
like to, I defiantly don’t plan on pursuing anymore work, but I’d like to maybe address maybe
some hobbies and interests that I have been putting off for a few years like, maybe trying to write
a book and getting involved with some organizations that I have been wanting to get involved
with.
SR: Which types of organizations would those be sir?
SC: Mainly church and civic organizations, kind of volunteer work, you know giving back.
SR: At this time I have no further questions. Is there anything that you would like to talk about
that I haven’t asked you or anything that you would like to expand upon in a question that I
asked previously?
SC: No, I think we pretty much covered it. I like to see that my students continuing to succeed
at Appalachian like yourself and I always like it when you guys come back here and even when
you’re talking to me about this, the other students get to see you. We like to breed success here
and it’s good to see you’re continuing your success and we’re proud of you.
SR: Well sir, thank you for your time.
SC: Thank you.
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https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/bdd2acee34b1cc417a921e0da93ada1d.mp3
8a1f421d498aae10ca591908dcd22abd
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
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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.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Revetta, Seth
Interview Date
10/13/11
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
0:12:06
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
4 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 Steven Crowe, 13 October 2011
Description
An account of the resource
Lieutenant Colonel Steven Crowe, interviewed by Seth Revetta, was born in Valdese, NC in 1962. He attended Appalachian State University for Military Science and entered the Army as an officer and graduated from Airborne School. His first station was in South Korea. Mr. Crowe discusses his training, which also included Ranger School and some of the difficulties he faced as an officer.
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).
Subject
The topic of the resource
Crowe, Steven
Veterans
United States
Interviews
Language
A language of the resource
English
Airborne School
Appalachian State University
Ranger School
Steven Crowe
United States Army
Valdese NC