WEBVTT 00:00.360 --> 00:02.880 No , can I get your name and where you 00:02.880 --> 00:05.250 work at Fort McCoy ? My name is Dwayne 00:05.250 --> 00:07.199 Strick , a member of the 107th 00:07.199 --> 00:09.399 Maintenance Company . I work at the 00:09.399 --> 00:12.479 Fort McCoy draw yard currently . Back 00:12.479 --> 00:14.840 in 1991 , I worked at Camp Douglas at 00:14.840 --> 00:16.896 an organizational maintenance shop , 00:17.639 --> 00:19.639 and , uh , we deployed through Fort 00:19.639 --> 00:21.806 McCoy . OK , now you're a Desert Storm 00:21.806 --> 00:23.972 veteran and a Wisconsin National Guard 00:23.972 --> 00:25.917 veteran with the 107th Maintenance 00:25.917 --> 00:28.170 Company , correct ? Correct . Tell us a 00:28.170 --> 00:30.281 little bit about your experience when 00:30.281 --> 00:32.448 you were getting ready to go to Desert 00:32.448 --> 00:34.726 Storm out of Fort McCoy and , and , uh , 00:34.726 --> 00:37.330 how the whole experience went . Um , I 00:37.330 --> 00:39.441 don't remember exact dates other than 00:39.441 --> 00:42.970 obviously , uh , Saddam went into 00:42.970 --> 00:45.026 Kuwait , uh , August 2nd . I know we 00:45.026 --> 00:48.529 got put on alert August 4th . We got , 00:48.540 --> 00:51.409 uh , mobilized somewhere the 2nd week 00:51.409 --> 00:54.130 of September and trained at Fort McCoy 00:54.130 --> 00:56.689 for roughly two months . I believe we 00:56.689 --> 00:58.911 flew out of Camp Douglas either the 9th 00:58.911 --> 01:01.189 and 10th or 10th and 11th of November 01:02.049 --> 01:05.440 and uh during our training here because 01:05.449 --> 01:07.669 we were a local unit , it was kind of 01:07.930 --> 01:10.209 neat that we got to go home at night 01:10.209 --> 01:12.376 and stuff so it wasn't quite as bad as 01:12.376 --> 01:14.919 some of the other units but um did a 01:14.919 --> 01:17.769 lot of training here obviously and uh . 01:19.029 --> 01:22.389 Oh well , what kind of uh preparatory 01:22.389 --> 01:24.611 training were you getting your all your 01:24.611 --> 01:26.945 marksmanship done ? We , we did weapons . 01:26.945 --> 01:29.000 We did , uh , grenade . I remember a 01:29.000 --> 01:31.222 grenade , uh , course . We did a lot of 01:31.222 --> 01:33.989 NBC stuff . Um , we , we , all of our 01:33.989 --> 01:36.089 equipment was rail loaded down 01:36.830 --> 01:38.830 someplace on the east coast to ship 01:38.830 --> 01:40.830 over . So we did , uh , there was a 01:40.830 --> 01:42.997 period of time where all our equipment 01:42.997 --> 01:45.219 was driven onto the railroad cars and , 01:45.219 --> 01:49.190 and helped assist with that , um . Four 01:49.190 --> 01:51.910 of our people rowed the ships over with 01:51.910 --> 01:55.769 that equipment and 01:56.599 --> 01:59.309 am I personally at that time I had been 01:59.309 --> 02:01.253 married 2 years , had a 2 year old 02:01.253 --> 02:04.970 daughter and a son on the way . 02:06.349 --> 02:08.571 So where do you reside right now ? Uh , 02:08.571 --> 02:10.750 Bangor . OK . And I've lived in Bangor 02:10.750 --> 02:12.417 my whole life . Where are you 02:12.417 --> 02:14.694 originally ? So you're a Bangor native , 02:14.694 --> 02:17.350 um , and so this . When you were 02:17.350 --> 02:20.800 activated , um , well , 02:21.389 --> 02:23.500 you said you deployed around November 02:23.500 --> 02:26.110 time frame . OK , right before deer 02:26.110 --> 02:28.429 hunt , yeah , talk a little bit about 02:28.429 --> 02:30.429 when , what , what it was like just 02:30.429 --> 02:32.651 getting there and getting set up . Um , 02:32.651 --> 02:34.651 I know we , I was on one and I said 02:34.651 --> 02:36.762 that we left , uh , boat field in two 02:36.762 --> 02:38.985 different days . I was one of the A few 02:38.985 --> 02:41.040 people that left on the 2nd day . So 02:41.040 --> 02:43.262 when I got over there , the rest met up 02:43.262 --> 02:45.262 with the rest of our unit . Um , we 02:45.262 --> 02:48.600 flew into Daran Airport 02:49.160 --> 02:51.800 and , uh , got taken to a tent city . 02:51.880 --> 02:54.639 It was kind of your temporary city . So 02:54.639 --> 02:56.750 when he got there , I know it was the 02:56.750 --> 02:58.806 middle of the night . Um , my cousin 02:58.806 --> 03:01.639 was in the unit , so he had saved , uh , 03:02.520 --> 03:06.220 a cot for me . So I , I , I don't 03:06.220 --> 03:08.220 really remember a whole lot of that 03:08.220 --> 03:10.498 then just other than , you know , holy , 03:10.498 --> 03:12.720 it's just getting there and getting set 03:12.720 --> 03:14.831 up it snowed the night before we left 03:14.831 --> 03:17.164 and getting there . It wasn't hot , hot , 03:17.164 --> 03:19.387 but it was obviously quite a bit warmer 03:19.387 --> 03:21.750 than Wisconsin , but um . I don't 03:21.750 --> 03:23.750 remember how long it took for I , I 03:23.750 --> 03:25.972 talked to one of the guys that rode the 03:25.972 --> 03:28.220 ship over today , and he said it was 03:28.220 --> 03:30.889 like 24 days or something like that 03:30.970 --> 03:33.248 that they were on the ship . So when I , 03:33.248 --> 03:35.589 then he had left before we did , but um 03:35.589 --> 03:37.811 I don't remember if it was a week . For 03:37.811 --> 03:39.700 two weeks or what it was when the 03:39.700 --> 03:41.756 equipment got there but then we went 03:41.756 --> 03:43.867 down to the port of the mom and and a 03:43.867 --> 03:45.978 bunch of us actually went on the ship 03:45.978 --> 03:48.033 and drove our equipment off the ship 03:48.033 --> 03:51.399 and uh part of our unit actually . 03:53.020 --> 03:55.187 They worked down at the port the whole 03:55.187 --> 03:57.187 time . In fact , our whole unit was 03:57.429 --> 04:00.000 more or less our work site was at the 04:00.000 --> 04:03.820 port of the mom , and a part of our 04:03.820 --> 04:06.098 unit actually worked on the , the port , 04:06.098 --> 04:07.987 and that's they were in charge of 04:07.987 --> 04:10.042 unloading ships when as they came in 04:10.042 --> 04:12.209 with the equipment . And OK . And then 04:12.209 --> 04:14.431 of course we had our maintenance people 04:14.431 --> 04:16.542 and our supply platoon and well , and 04:16.542 --> 04:18.764 being in a maintenance company you guys 04:18.764 --> 04:21.098 obviously can drive just about anything , 04:21.098 --> 04:23.320 um , and I would imagine while you were 04:23.320 --> 04:25.487 here training at McCoy you were making 04:25.487 --> 04:27.264 sure everybody's recertified on 04:27.264 --> 04:29.598 everything that you had in your company . 04:29.598 --> 04:31.598 Um , what was kind of going through 04:31.598 --> 04:33.820 your mind during this whole time , uh , 04:33.820 --> 04:35.487 just supporting this just the 04:35.487 --> 04:37.869 uncertainty of You know , if , if 04:37.869 --> 04:40.091 obviously war may break out and at that 04:40.091 --> 04:42.859 time . You know , looking back on it , 04:43.839 --> 04:46.006 for lack of a better term , we kind of 04:46.006 --> 04:48.228 kicked their rear ends , but going into 04:48.228 --> 04:50.172 it , nobody knew for sure what was 04:50.172 --> 04:52.172 gonna happen . You just get to come 04:52.172 --> 04:53.950 home or , you know , worst case 04:53.950 --> 04:56.559 scenario stuff , but Yeah , I think 04:56.559 --> 04:58.559 everybody was a bit concerned , and 04:58.559 --> 05:00.337 then like I said , a 2 year old 05:00.337 --> 05:04.320 daughter and so you were tough . You 05:04.320 --> 05:06.431 were talking about the communications 05:06.431 --> 05:08.542 back home . You called once a month , 05:08.542 --> 05:10.598 you said once a week I called once a 05:10.598 --> 05:13.549 week . OK , it was 5 bucks a minute to 05:13.600 --> 05:15.767 call home , so we kept it to 5 minutes 05:15.767 --> 05:17.878 a week and other than when my son was 05:17.878 --> 05:20.044 born and I called like every other day 05:20.044 --> 05:22.559 or whatever , but , but you said a lot 05:22.559 --> 05:26.250 in 5 minutes . Um , which is , you know , 05:26.899 --> 05:29.232 the , the younger generation these days , 05:29.232 --> 05:31.399 you , you obviously talked about Skype 05:31.399 --> 05:33.232 coming out later on . I remember 05:33.232 --> 05:35.343 deploying with Skype the first time , 05:35.343 --> 05:37.455 and it , it really changed . It was a 05:37.455 --> 05:39.455 real game changer for communicating 05:39.455 --> 05:41.510 with your family , right ? Everybody 05:41.510 --> 05:43.788 knew what was going on with each other , 05:43.788 --> 05:45.955 um , that was probably the hardest . I 05:45.955 --> 05:47.955 always figured that the people back 05:47.955 --> 05:47.730 home had it a lot harder , and I'm sure 05:47.730 --> 05:49.952 it was that way with every war previous 05:49.952 --> 05:53.290 to that of . You didn't know . I knew I 05:53.290 --> 05:55.529 was , yeah , OK , and I'm sure you 05:55.529 --> 05:57.862 wrote letters too at the same time , so , 05:58.250 --> 06:01.970 um , but , and I'm sure you got a lot 06:01.970 --> 06:04.026 of letters from home too , which was 06:04.026 --> 06:06.399 good , um , but being a Desert Storm 06:06.399 --> 06:09.950 veteran , it's been 35 years , um , I'm 06:10.040 --> 06:12.373 assuming that was your first deployment . 06:12.373 --> 06:14.429 Um , looking back , how proud of you 06:14.429 --> 06:16.762 have been part of that ? Say that again . 06:16.880 --> 06:18.991 How proud are you to have been a part 06:18.991 --> 06:21.047 of that ? Of course , at the time it 06:21.047 --> 06:24.480 was like , why me ? But yeah , ever 06:24.480 --> 06:26.702 since we've been back , I'm just really 06:26.702 --> 06:28.850 glad to have been a part of it . And 06:28.850 --> 06:31.072 and obviously since you've been working 06:31.072 --> 06:33.239 here at McCoy for so many years , uh , 06:33.239 --> 06:35.239 you've , you've helped with so many 06:35.239 --> 06:37.183 other things , especially with the 06:37.183 --> 06:39.294 other operations and , and everything 06:39.294 --> 06:41.350 since then , so . Thank you for your 06:41.350 --> 06:43.461 service . We appreciate it . Anything 06:43.461 --> 06:42.910 else you want to add ? It is what it is . 06:43.160 --> 06:44.029 Nope , it's good .