Veteran's Oral History Project
Theodros Tarekegne
Interview of James Robinson
The Veteran's Oral History Collection is a collection of interviews performed by students in HIST 479 from the University of South Carolina to capture the perspective of local residents that have served in the military. This website presents the information from the interview of James Robinson, a 50 year old veteran that has been serving in various regions of the world for the past 30 years. A few of his deployments include Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Hungary, as well as others. In this project, key elements of the interview will be highlighted to portray the significance of Oral History as a unique medium for capturing the perspective of a veteran pertaining to life in the military, as well as the the importance of the preservation, documentation, and public release of oral history.
Oral History Association
The Oral History Association is an organization that was founded to present guidelines on the most effective ways to record and document oral histories. The most recently updated guidelines titled Principles and Best Practices (adopted in 2008), replaces the previous Oral History Evaluation Guidelines (adopted in 1989 and revised in 2000) out a number of changes to more accurately represent Oral History in the modern age. These guidelines provide general standards in regards to the "pre-interview preparation, the conduct of the interview, and the preservation and use of oral histories."
Generally, the pre-interview preparation consists of the gathering of background information regarding the context of the interview, as well as securing a repository for the preservation of the oral history as well as presentation for the general public. This also includes preparing questions related to the subject of the project and the informing of the interviewee about the purpose and handling of the interview, as well as what information is going to be asked o them. The interview stage includes the setting up of the recording environment (favorable conditions include quiet, secluded, free of distractions) and the following of any agreements made beforehand with the interviewee. The post-interview stage includes the documentation and transcription of the interview, along with the preserving and publishing of the gathered information to the agreed-upon repository.
This is a summary of objective practices that the Oral History Association has agreed upon to focus the material of oral histories as wells presenting the most efficient ways to capture the subject of these histories in the way that the collection intended.
Introduction to Interview
TT: This is an oral history interview for the veterans oral history project, part of coursework for the Honors College Class History 479, oral history documenting the memories and experiences of those who served as part of the United States armed forces. This is Theodros Tarakegne. The date is October 2nd 2018 and today I'm interviewing James Robinson in Columbia, South Carolina.
TT: So let's start with the early childhood. Would you start by giving me your full name and spelling it.
JR: James Belton Robinson the Third, J, A, M, E, S, B, E, L, T, O, N, R, O, B, I, N, S, O, N.
TT: Where and when were you born?
JR: I was born October 13th 1968, Camden, South Carolina,
TT: Is that where you grew up during your childhood?
JR: The town next door Lugoff, South Carolina. That's where I grew up.
TT: Okay, what was the community like in Lugoff, South Carolina?
JR: I grew up a very small neighborhood maybe 50 or 60 houses on a half-acre lot. I'd say we were below the medium income for families. So we struggled a little bit but my parents worked hard so made ends meet.
Most Oral History interviews are started in a similar fashion to the introduction shown above. The purpose for this is to state clearly for the record the purpose and setting for the interview. Often, the initial questions that follow are structured to provide context on the circumstances of the interviewee's childhood and home community (if pertinent to the lens of the interview). This provides the listener/reader of the interview with general information about the life of the interviewee, as well as chronologically organizes the interview in a manner that makes sense.
The Gulf War
TT: So how did you come to serve in the Kuwait liberation?
JR: So I guess I let the cat out the bag because it's been so long when I was stationed at Fort Bragg. We had a exercise and it was in the middle of the Woods at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina. And the hottest thing they issued us desert uniforms. And the scenario was is Iraq invaded Kuwait and we moved into Saudi Arabia and and we eventually drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. That was the scenario about 45 days before the war started. ,
So about three days before the war started, Pope Air Force Base started getting in C-130, C-141, well not 141s, have got the plane before they started coming into land, and they literally had planes in parking lots. There were so many planes. Then we had a knee injury, which is an alert, put us on alert and we've had many of them at Fort Bragg and you go through line and you draw all your gear, and they issue a decon kit. So you wipe your skin if any chemical agents get on you. And the blue kits are training kits. It's just got isopropyl alcohol in it you when you practice you just wipe isopropyl alcohol you simulate, you know, rubbing blistering agent off of you or whatever, and when I open the kit, you know, I heard everybody was talking everybody was opening up their kits and we look down and we had the green decon wipes, and I was like, I mean, what are you doing, trying to kill us this stuff takes a layer of skin off. He says no, that's the ones you supposed to get, and we were like, something's up.
And this is three days before so we hung out on Pope Air Force Base sleeping in the rocks, the grass, the hangars, wherever and then everybody suited up got all their gear ready. They issued live grenades, the whole nine yards, but nothing, you know, no word of anything yet. They had one TV sitting in the jump hangar and all of a sudden that's when CNN got famous. Iraq invades Kuwait. And when that hit you literally, soon as CNN broadcasted, you literally heard the plane start, the engine start going. And we loaded on the planes and away we went and we set for Saudi for 6, 7, 8 months and then the ground war started. Then we moved in to about, when, by 350 400 miles an hour, right, and then that's when it kicked off.
The Liberation of Kuwait
Historical Context
On August 2nd, 1998, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Saudi Arabia requested assistance from the US, who began the operation Desert Storm, setting up a naval blockade to block trading of Iraq Oil. For the rest of the year, tensions escalated as the US sent increasingly more troops to the Gulf. In January 12, 1991, Congress approved the use of force of US troops in order to push out Iraquis presence in Kuwait.
The excerpt from the transcript above portrays the events leading to the main conflict from the first-person perspective of military personnel. Robinson talks about the sudden impact of the news -- "and when that hit you, literally, soon as CNN broadcasted..." -- as well as the escalation of events as the troops mobilized towards the Gulf. Because the interview is from Robinson's perspective, the listener/reader is able to observe the feelings Robinson (and the other troops) associates with this moment, emphasizing the impact of the event.
After Deployment
TT: Would you talk to me about your years of service overall? Just sort of like how your responsibilities changed as…
JR: Well as an E1, E2. You just getting beat up. You’re the guy that washes dishes, you’re the guy that goes out there and, you know, crawls on your back and fixes vehicles, you know, you just flat-out they treat you like a rented mule. I mean you do all the legwork...
TT: E2?
JR: Yeah, that's an enlisted grade, when you first come in you’re an E1, E2 and that goes all the way up to a E9. So I made it all the way to an E6 which is a staff sergeant, it’s more of a supervisory position. So, you know, everybody has to earn their keep you gotta do the hard work before you get the easy job. And then what you find out is is the harder jobs, are the ones that has the more rank because now you're having to deal with people, still get the mission accomplished, and somebody like meeting so anal about doing it right is always worried about is that guy that I've sent out they're doing that job like I want it done. So you find yourself thinking that E1, E2, E3, you know where the worst jobs you can have when in fact they were probably the easiest because we responsibilities levels real low. And then I went... I had an opportunity to go commissioned officer, which is you know, Lieutenant through General and I decided to go to technical field and became a warrant officer. So that's a W1 through W5, I’m a W4 now. And I just got my Fed Rec orders to be a W5 which is high as you can go. So I should get that maybe, probably a year from now if not a little less.
TT: Fed Rec. what was that?
JR: That's a federal recognition what they recognize you as your next rank and then they promote you. So once I make W5 it's truly a staff position where, you know, you advise commanders and stuff in your career field on the best way to do business. So it just it's a decent... I like it better than anything I think I would have went. I mean if somebody said man, we can wave a magic wand and make you a general or W5, I'll take the W5 every day of the week.
TT: You said that big differences between the...
JR: The generals are responsible for everything. So if some Joe E5 does something wrong eventually that General is to some degree responsible. So it's that constant beat yourself up. Are you guys doing the right thing and a lot of times I think you lose track and focusing on what your real job is some some leadership has the ability to pull great leaders in position and they're able to function just fine. For me as a warrant officer, I've always enjoyed the technical side of the house, to get your hands dirty, the vocational skills, you know working on electronics and that's kind of warrant officers they’re more of specialty job like the pilots that fly helicopters, they’re all warrant officers and stuff. There's some lieutenants but mainly warrant officers.
TT: So describe to me what your duties are as a chief warrant officer, so difference between a 4 and a 5.
JR: A 4 still is on that technical side of it where they're still training, still advising subordinate soldiers, still managing at that battalion and unit level of equipment. You're still doing some staff stuff, but you're more of the battalion level. So the way it works in the Army is you have a company, company as part of a battalion, battalion is part of a brigade, brigade is part of a core, and it goes on up. So asa W-4 you're at a battalion, some core, some Brigade level, and then as a W5 end up moving up the core tight levels and then you get these specialty jobs. Like they may need somebody like in my MOS, electronic service and system communication searching. They make need somebody to do procurement for what the Army wants to do next for automation. or what they want to do next for communications. So they'll put a W5 that's had those years of experience in that one career field to sit there and help with procurements and hey, yeah, we can utilize this or this may be an issue and so on, so as a W5 you seem to be more, and that's true staff position. So you're looking out for the soldiers, not working with the soldiers.
Robinson describes his occupation as a warrant officer, comparing it to the responsibilities that a general has. While they are both staff positions, as a warrant officer Robinson deals with the technical side of the military -- his main concentration is electronic service and system communications. He describes the difference in responsibilities as a person moves up from W-1 to W-5. While he describes the objective differences between the ranks, such as W-1 officers dealing with grunt work and W-5 officers having "true staff positions," the interview also provides a subjective outlook from Robinson's point of view; he describes how he noticed that although the lower ranks have seemingly tougher tasks to complete, a lot of supervisory responsibility lies in the upper ranks as they have to manage the actions of the officers they watch over, such as making sure tasks are completed correctly. In other words, he must make sure that all operations are moving smoothly and efficiently, managing both his own responsibilities and watching over those of his subordinates.
Reflection of Robinson's Military Life
TT: And to cap it off, overall, what would you say your service in the military has meant to you and your life.
JR: Put a roof over my head. Put food in my family's mouth. It gave me an opportunity to make a lot more money than I probably... think I’ll say that I probably would have if I had went down an IT path as a civilian. I'm sure I'd be making, you know twice my salary by now, but they've, the organization's been really good to me and my family. The GI bill, I utilized the first one. Then when I redeployed they gave me a post 9/11 GI Bill I transferred that to my 16 year old and when he goes off to college in a couple years, he'll, I think once he gets in full-time and he gets, I don't know $1,100 a month. That's tax-free that they'll pay him the entire year for probably two years. So, that's a plus. I'm ninety percent disabled -- know you're sitting there thinking you're disabled but you're still in, so let me say I'm 90% compensated. So in Desert Shield/ Desert Storm, I was, we were hit with sarin gas. So it enlarged my intestines and my heart so I've had all these heart problems and intestinal problems and problems that's got progressively worse over the years and they've compensated me for it.
You hear a lot of bad things about the VA not taking care of soldiers. I can only speak for the VA experience that I've had with Dorn VA in Columbia. Have 0 bad things to say about them. Every appointment I ever asked for I got. Every bit of compensation that I put in for, some I was turned down, but they have their rules to follow. Just like in the military, I have my rules to follow. And I'd say that's probably… the VA has taking better care of me than I would have ever expected any organization to do so. They have, you know just 100% taking care of me. Health care and everything.
So out of the military as a whole, I've just gotten a lot of thank you’s. I go to places, some place and eat while I'm in uniform, you know, somebody's going to buy your meal and here we are getting per diem, you know, money to eat. And we just sit there going “oh no, somebody bought our food.” And so it makes you feel a little guilty that the armies even paying for your food to go out and eat at Outback. So what we always do as a rule of thumbs is whatever our bill was that somebody paid for it and they owe everyone of a tip a waitress to we look it says, okay. What was the amount of our bill and they tell us like if it's $40 bill for me. So I knew I was going to pay $40 at least and hand the waitress 40 bucks. So a lot of times even though they take care of some citizen bought us our food, which is is another benefit from being in the military. No matter how you look at it. It's a free meal. If we're on per diem we take that money immediately and hand it to the waitress. So if there are 7 or 8 of us sitting there, she just got a 200 dollar tip. So it makes its a civilian doing something nice for Uncle Sam we turn around and give it right back to a civilian.
So it just builds a respect for you. You get a lot out of it. I'd say the biggest thing is it teaches you diversity is okay, because a lot of people grow up in small towns are kind of just in their little bubble, you know, really got out much and I don't want nobody else in my bubble. So when they shove you in the Army, your bubble just got busted and you're now in somebody else's space and you either learn to cope with it or your butt's going to be going out. So you've learned to… not just accept diversity, but at the end of it you know that America is truly a Melting Pot and everybody that is a citizen here.
So you appreciate... I guess that's the biggest thing feed my family providing for me and given me some morals and ethics that I can teach my kids and hand down to them. So I would say if the military I didn’t have joined, I may still be in that little, you know, bubble I lived in Lugoff up until I was 17 years old. So I think that's probably the biggest thing that has done for me.
In the above excerpt, Robinson reflects on what he's gained from his experience in the military. He touches back on topics such as diversity, service to the people, and appreciation for the life he's been able to live. To Robinson, as well as other military personnel, the military represents America's ideals and principles put into action. For example, America is a melting pot, meaning that the military idealizes acceptance of others. Without tolerance, the military, as big as it is, would not be able to carry out its operations smoothly and efficiently, and would lose the image of the country's morals realized. Moreover, Robinson's military experiences take place during a monumental a shift in the world relating to ethnic relations and diversity, taking place not too long after segregation in the US as well as during the apartheid crisis in South Africa, although he was not directly involved. With the inclusion of several short successive wars around the world in this time period, ethnic tensions were at a high. It shows that the members of the modern military are trying to represent something greater, and are basing their actions on how they would portray that image. It stands to show how people in the military are trained to respect each other, and live out their lives based on a moral and ethical code to serve the people of the country.
Final Points
What is the value/impact of documenting oral histories and providing free/open access?
In the book Doing Oral History, the phrase "public memory" is mentioned. According to the text, public memory "involves symbols and stories that help a community define and explain present conditions according to how it remembers (or wants to remember) the past." When an Oral History collection is created, the congregation of histories within the collection contains many similarities about certain events or communities, but can also contain many contradictions. By comparing these histories, historians can gain insight as to perspective from multiple communities/people about a particular event or subject. Regarding this interview, Robinson's experiences during active and inactive service bring a unique perspective on the military, such as what it felt firsthand flying to the Gulf to prepare for Desert Shield/Desert Storm, how he noticed the difference in treatment of the troops depending on the location of his deployment (Croatia being hospitable vs some Afghan regions being exclusive), as well as his experiences a warrant officer and his day-to-day commitments. In combination with other interviews from class HIST 479, a more cohesive and wholesome history is created and provides the public with those histories.
Citations
Principles and Best Practices. Retrieved from http://www.oralhistory.org/about/principles-and-practices-revised-2009/
Ritchie, D. A. (2015). Doing Oral History. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Tarekegne, TA. (2018, October 4). Personal Interview with [JB Robinson].
Welsh, WE. The First Gulf War: Timeline of Events Retrieved from https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/military-history/the-first-gulf-war-timeline-of-events/