Oral History Program Jonathon Call Interviewed by Jordan Whitaker 28 April 2008 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Jonathon Call Interviewed by Jordan Whitaker 28 April 2008 Copyright © 2012 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Call, Jonathon, an oral history by Jordan Whitaker, 28 April 2008, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Jonathon Call. The interview was conducted on April 28, 2008, by Jordan Whitaker, at Stewart Library. Jonathon recalls his experiences as a student and as a soldier in the Utah National Guard. JW: AII right Mr. Call, go ahead and tell me about yourself. JC: All right. I was born in Hayward California Grew up in Ogden Utah most of my life. I graduated from high school in 2003. I enlisted into the Utah Army National Guard November 2002. Just prior to Graduation I signed up as a field artillery Cannon Crewmember; pretty much just load the guns and shoot the rounds downrange. I went to basic training in the summer of 2003. I Graduated from AIT in November 2003, deployed with the 1/148th Bravo Battery to Iraq in July of 2004, served overseas till November 2005, started going to WSU Spring Semester 2006. I was seeking a Business administration degree; I changed my mind part way through it and am currently seeking a degree in history. JW: So I heard you say that you graduated from school here in Utah, what school did you go to? JC: I went to Weber High school. JW: So you are from around here? JC: Yes. JW: Where did you go to basic training at? JC: I went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, pretty much the army pit of the universe. 1 JW: That place is something else I went there myself. JW: All right, so how many years of service do you have in total? I mean how many years active and how many years in the guard? Because I know when you get deployed it’s counted as active time. JC: In the guard I've got just over five years, right now all of my time has been in the guard. I had just over a year and a half active with the guard. JW: Awesome, that sounds like you've been quite a few places JC: I've been a few JW: What part of Iraq were you in? JC: Most the time I spent was up in a town called Divas, the most exciting time was when I first got there I served in a place Abalooya, which was right there in the city triangle in Saddam's hometown neighborhood. JW: Really? That's cool too. So did you get to see Saddam’s palace and all that? JC: No, but I did see the farm where they caught him. JW: Really? JC: That's pretty cool. JW: So why did you enlist in the Army? JC: Well, growing up I was pretty involved with the boy scouts. I think a part of my family was involved in me being in boy scouts. I don't know once I got out of boy scouts, I just wanted to have a way to be doing the same stuff. 2 JW: That makes sense that from my opinion the army is kind of a glorified boy scouts in a way. JC: We do a lot of Boy Scout stuff, but I think the biggest thing was I just wanted to have the opportunity to serve other people and make the world a better place. JW: That's a great ambition. So, um what was your job as an enlisted man? Tell me how many jobs you've had tell me what you've done while overseas and here. JC: Well when I first enlisted as a cannon crewmember my job was to do what I was told, I trained as a cannon crewmember and gosh it’s been so long since I've done that. Uh we'd get the artillery shells and we'd have to load them into the gun and we'd have to, well before you load them into the gun you got to figure out what fuses to put on, what type of shells where going to be shot from the gun. You’ve got to set everything out, and it was my job to load the gun and pull the trigger. JW: That's awesome sounds like it was quite amazing. So do they just have a lanyard on them? JC: Yeah they um, it's a breach loaded weapon which means you load it from the back and then you load the shell then you put a powder charge in and then you close the breach and you’ve got to put a primer in and then there is the trigger mechanism you hook the lanyard to and that fire the machine. JW: Wow, that's awesome so is that what you did when you were overseas? JC: No, I had a pretty diverse mission when I was in Iraq. When we deployed, when we first deployed to Texas went and the battalion I was with kept its artillery mission but they also had a security mission tacked on top of it so they detached my battery from the 3 artillery mission and my battery was given the security mission instead so the whole time I was in Texas I was training in basic infantry tactics detainee operations and convoy security and things of that nature JW: That sounds quite amazing, so did you ever sit up on top of the Humvee with a fifty Cal and all that stuff? JC: Yeah I was trained as a machine gunner, I learned all about the fifty Cal the m240b which were the two main systems that we used over there during the first half of my deployment I was a fifty gunner and then the latter part of the deployment I was a 240b machine gunner but I also swapped positions with another gentleman in my unit who would rotate between machine gunner and Humvee driver. JW: Really? JC: So I did a lot of driving. JW: That sounds awesome, so it really kind of sucked (ha ha) so when did you come back from Iraq? JC: I got home on November 18, 2005 I remember that exact date. JW: Do you even remember the time? JC: I do not recall what time I got home, I think it was in the evening when we got back, we flew into FT. Lewis Washington. JW: That's awesome. So when you came back did you instantly want to seek a commission? JC: No, In fact I was scheduled to go to WLC. The summer after I got back, so 2006, I was supposed to go to WLC, but I started attending Weber State the first part of 2006 during the spring semester and one of my NCO, one of the Non-commissioned officers that was my squad leader suggested I look at ROTC since I was going to school anyways. 4 JW: So you got convinced to go to ROTC by someone else? JC: Yeah, it was an outside suggestion; he said he thought I would make a pretty good officer. JW: That's Awesome. And you go to school here at Weber State, correct? JC: Yes, I've been attending since spring semester 2006. JW: You were a Business Administration Major when you first came in to Weber State? JC: Yeah, well, my dad started a family business back in the 80's and I was kind of supposed to take over the family business than I started out as a Business Administration Major so I could set myself up to take over the family business, and oh about a semester into it I was thinking, " you know I could be really successful with this and make a ton of money and take over the business be secure the rest of my life," and hate my job cause I really did not enjoy having business administration. So I kind of stepped back and re-evaluated and decided I really like history. I like learning and writing and analyzing things, and so I decided a history degree would be the better way to go and maybe teach history someday or kind of find a job at a museum or something or other. JW: So what do you want to do with your degree when you get out? JC: I've been considering graduate school; I'm not really sure whether to continue in history or perhaps apply to the national security studies and maybe go for a job with another government agency like the CIA as an analyst. 5 JW: You’re getting your degree in history you've got your sights set on getting your commission now, it’s my understanding that there are 14 different branches in the army and which one of those are you going to choose? JC: I really want to commission into the field artillery honestly because it’s what I know and I've grown to really love it there are a lot of traditions in the FA 1 imagine there are traditions in the other branches but I really like FA it's a brotherhood and it’s called the king of battle. It’s good to be king. JW: So what kinds of traditions are there in the Artillery? JC: Oh, just there's things like a poem called "Fiddler’s Green" where it talks about, it’s from the civil war it talks about infantry and engineers and dying going to hell or whatever and Artillery guys stop at this place Called fiddlers green and just chill so just little things like that I couldn't name them al off for you I haven't been that heavily involved I’ve just got a lot of fond memories. JW: It is kind of a pride of the Unit. JC: Pride of the unit pride of the branch, the fact that it’s one of the oldest branches in the army. JW: Really? So what have been your duty posts where you have been in for five years? JC: Well, being with the National Guard, I’ve been assigned to units just within Utah. Brigham City and Logan have been the places where I've had duties. As far as places I have been, I've been overseas; I made stops in Ireland, Germany; I've been to Katar when I was in Kuwait for a while, and I’ve been in Iraq. 6 JW: It sounds amazing that you've been so many places. So how did you like being deployed? JC: Oh it was certainly an experience Being deployed you go through all sorts of different emotions. I mean you get excited to go do something you’re excited to see new places scared to be away from home and everyone you know. You also get to know the guys you’re with they become almost like brothers. Your squad and your team leads. JW: So it was it hard to adjust to coming back to normal life after coming back? And living with them for fifteen months? JC: Normal life was certainly an adjustment. Adjusting from the wake up and say gosh today could be the day I get shot, today could be the day I get hit with a roadside bomb, then you come home and you have to adjust to today is today. It’s not most people: wake up, say oh gosh today is the day I could get in a car accident or maybe the reality of life and death is in a combat zone much different than the reality of life and death in life at home even though you could die at any moment you could have a car wreck a building could collapse on you or whatever, the odds of being on a car wreck on the freeway are greater than being Killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, but it’s just the fact that it’s there it’s in your face every moment. You’re kind of stressed out by it. You’re on your toes all the time. To come back to the states it’s not a reality, it’s not in your face all the time. JW: What was your number one fear over there? Was it roadside bombs or what? Was it being shot at? JC: You know, yeah, you’re always afraid of getting into contact, and you’re always afraid of like getting blown up and stuff, but I don't know if it's the same in the regular army. But 7 in the National Guard these are the guys I have known for five years, but it was to the point where I'd been with them to Iraq I'd been with them 3 years and we were really good friends and my greatest fear was one of them getting blown up. I would lose one of my best friends. JW: That can definitely have a factor. So what were the hardest decisions you have had to make in the Army? JC: Well initially it was to sign up because you’re putting your life on the line for your beliefs and for your country. You’ve got to be pretty confident in what your country stands for, so I think the most difficult decision was deciding to enlist and then the next was deciding to go for a commission because as an officer, not only am I putting my life in the line, but I’m going to be making decision that are putting other lives on the line. JW: So why decide to become an army officer? JC: Well a lot of it had to do with the suggestion of my squad leader, that someone had that kind of confidence in me that they would trust me to lead, but I saw the type of guys that were officer and thought, gee, I could do that. I felt confident that my leadership skills were on par or better than theirs. I felt like I could make better decisions than them. JW: That's a good reason. You mentioned some hard times in the military, how did you handle them? JC: Well the decision to enlist had quite a bit to do with my family, being LDS you either go on a mission or you don't. But I did not feel like a LDS Mission was for me at the time. And I still wanted to serve. I still wanted to make the world a better place, and I felt like I could provide that service through the military because not everything the army does is 8 combat related. A lot of it has to do with rebuilding the infrastructure of countries where we go, and there are things that happen and we relieve the oppressed people. Some people might argue that the people in Iraq might not want to be relieved but they just have their head up their butt. JW: So what was it like to be a member of FA Battery? Have you ever called for fire or been on a fire mission? JC: I've never called for fire, well I've been there for a call for fire, but that was when I was serving as security in Iraq and we were acting in the Artillery battery. But yeah, I've been there and it’s pretty exciting. As FA you kind of roll into an AO and pick up all your shells and primers you roll into an area and all the sudden FIRE MISSION FIRE MISSION and your adrenaline goes. They give you the info and how to do it. JW: So if you could change one thing about your career, what would it be? You've been in for five years now and you have made some career choices, what would be the one thing, if you had to change something what would it be? JC: Honestly there is not much I would change to tell the truth. If I could start college again I would have started with ROTC and not come in a year and a half late because I've been left behind on a few ROTC Classes that I missed during my first year and a half. JW: So what advice would/could you give to college student and more specifically new cadets? JC: I would tell them to take it seriously, this is not a BS Class. It's a good way to pay for college as an enlisted guy the army makes it really easy. They kind of hold your hand through school and if you don't pass you go back and retake stuff, you just kind of just 9 have to be there and as an Officer you have to desire to be there and you have to act on your own, and unfortunately for me I did not realize that until this last semester the advice is get in as early as possible and work hard at it cause you’re putting the lives of other men on the line or in your hands so to speak. JW: So are you going to be staying in Utah or going elsewhere? JC: I'll just stay in Utah as long as I can. That's my intention, by the time I graduate I'll have over six years of Guard time and after that my obligation is eight years to that's fourteen years in the army and after 20 you can retire with full benefits. JW: What are doing after the army? JC: I can have two jobs at once being in the National Guard, so, uh, just my civilian career, but I have not decided what I want to do for a long time. I was looking at being a teacher, but as I get closer to graduating I’m thinking about the type of youth I have to deal with now and I fear for the generation that follows me: the electronics age. I see the way they treat their elders and I see how my little brother treats his elders and because of this I’m looking into other fields and I don't even know if I'll do anything with my degree. JW: Thank you Mr. Call, we've had a great talk about some very important things. 10