00:00:01SPRAGUE: Today is October 14, 2019 and this is an interview with Tiffany Koehler who served in the United States Army Reserves and the Wisconsin Army National Guard from March 16, 1990 to June 2004. She served in units in support of the Gulf War, Bosnia, and Post 9-11. This interview is being conducted by Luke Sprague at the Central Public Library in Madison, Wisconsin for the I Am Not Invisible Project of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Oral History Program. There are no other people present in the room. First off, when and where were you born?
00:00:41KOEHLER: I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in January 2nd, 1970.
00:00:47SPRAGUE: And tell me a little bit about your experience growing up.
00:00:52KOEHLER: Well, I was born in 1970. So the country was really still not as hot as 1968, you know with all the civil rights unrest. But in Milwaukee, 1970, I come from a mixed background. I have one white parent, one black parent. And I often joke that my parents weren't marching for open housing. And they were actually under the bridge making out. And not involved with some of the more serious issues that were going on. So they were really trailblazers in their own right, having an interracial relationship in Milwaukee, Wisconsin back in those days.
00:01:38SPRAGUE: What can you tell me in terms of growing up biracially? What was that like?
00:01:44KOEHLER: Well, unfortunately, my father, he didn't stick around. He, later in life, I found out, and I just recently found out I have four half-sisters. He had several girlfriends during that period. And he was actually studying to library science and information at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He was working on his master's. He had already had a PhD in chemistry. So my father is very, very smart and he has multiple degrees and unfortunately he doesn't have the smarts in fatherhood. But anyways, I have four beautiful sisters, half sisters, and so it was my mother and I growing up. And my mother was adopted by a German family, very upper-class, well-to-do in Milwaukee and. I was not received too well when I was born. In fact, my adoptive grandmother had said to my mother I was an abomination even before I got here. So my mother and I, you know, she was, you knows, said, hey, give Tiff up for adoption and probably be your best route. And she said, no, I don't want to do that. So actually, my first year of life, I was in the foster care system. And a lady who, and her husband, who had said, we're only gonna take care of infants for their first year because that's the most critical year of life. So they gave me that gift. They gave me, that gift and I was with them. And then I was another family until about age three when I was returned to my mother. And I have to note that the first lady was white. There was a huge hoo-ha in the Milwaukee area, whether to place me with a black family or a white family. And I was actually in both types of homes. I was with a black family and a white family.
00:03:52SPRAGUE: And what experiences could you share about that or you're willing to share?
00:03:56KOEHLER: Sure. You know, one of the biggest things, because I reached out to my first foster mom. I did some of my own research years ago and I was able to obtain her name from a court record, juvenile court record. And you know, I just thanked her. I wanted to know what type of baby I was. And she just said that I was very curious. I was quiet and I looked around a lot. And she also shared with me that she had taken me to, it's called the Eagles Club. And her family, they were members of the Eagles Club in downtown Milwaukee. And they ended up pulling their family membership because in those days, the pool keeper came up to her family and said, I couldn't be in the pool area. And she didn't understand why. And they said, well, we don't want blacks in the pool area. And so they were so upset that they had pulled their membership from the Eagles club. And it got out to the the local organizers that have been working on many issues with the Eagles Club, you know, fighting for equality, fighting for membership. They actually picketed legal scope because they, you know, asked the infant to be removed from the pool area. And I know my foster moms had told me, she said, well, she's just a baby, what is a baby gonna do? And so, but I think that was early on how I began being like an advocate for other people. It was just really in my bones because I saw a lot of disparities growing up between the wealthy and the... people that weren't so wealthy economically and also between the black and the white.
00:05:41SPRAGUE: Do you happen to remember where that Eagles Club was?
00:05:44KOEHLER: It was on like 20, I would say 24th and Wisconsin Avenue.
00:05:51SPRAGUE: So you're growing up, what was going to school like during that time as you got a little older?
00:05:59KOEHLER: Well, I also recall a time when I was in kindergarten, I was actually jumped by a group of kids because I was lighter than they were and they circled me and I was, actually, beat up on the playground. And so those are some of the things that I remember, some of them were traumatic events, that I was on the Milwaukee Public School system back in those days. And then my mother worked hard and we moved into Shorewood. And then I was in the Shorewood School District, which is a suburb outside of Milwaukee. It's in Milwaukee County. And I had a number of friends. Other mixed kids are biracial kids like myself, you know, I played with, and they're just regular kids. We just were all in it together, and it was a great place to grow up because race didn't matter. And, you know I was isolated from the outside world until about, I would say 1982 when I was in sixth grade and 220 went into effects in Shorewood, um, and one day a bunch of kids that looked like me came rolling up on the school bus and piled off. And it was a group of African-Americans from the Milwaukee area who were selected to go to school in Shorewood. And I remember that day pretty well because people were you know, saying, this is our school, what are you doing here? And I, people I had played with, you know I saw a different side of them. And I didn't, I was really so confused. I didn't know, you what was going on. But you know I was just happy that, you know, there's just more kids to play with around there.
00:07:46SPRAGUE: For the listeners, remind them what 221 was.
00:07:50KOEHLER: Uh... The two twenty program sorry
00:07:51SPRAGUE: Oh sorry, 220.
00:07:52KOEHLER: Yeah, 220 allowed for students in the Milwaukee public school system to attend like the suburban schools because before there was like choice where you could choose what school you're going to go to or you know different like vouchers they for some reason they thought that the suburban schools had you know more advantage you know academically and resource-wise or and they wanted to also integrate and diversify the student body. So there was many different things that went along with 220. I didn't really understand all of it back in those days, and I know from the time that it was started until now, it was completely different. But it just allowed kids who came from disadvantaged neighborhoods to go to better schools.
00:08:48SPRAGUE: And what was your experience going to high school? What was that like?
00:08:53KOEHLER: Well, high school, I had gone to Shorewood for part of my freshman year. And then my mother, she got sick again. And what happened was, my mother had a chronic mental health issue. And it's put me on a path of strong advocacy, not only for mental health, but also for health care. And, but my mother was not able to take care of me. And one of the social workers at school noticed that I wasn't coming to school very well intact. And they, you know, reached out and did, I guess like a home visit or whatever social workers do. And they determined that, you know, I was a child in need of protective care. So the social worker petitioned the Milwaukee County, Milwaukee County and so this child needs help. You know, her mother is not doing too well. And my mother, she did the best she could, but like anybody with a mental health ongoing issue, they often struggle and they don't realize what they're struggling with. And I didn't really understand what was going on. All I knew is I was being removed from my home. And you know, it was normal for me, so I didn't know any different. And I remember that was a really hard day. When the social worker came and told me that I had to, you know, go somewhere else. And I remember I climbed on top of my, you know our garage and I refused to come down. And she said, you better get down. And I said, I'm not coming down. And she said I'll call the fire department to bring you down. And you know I was just really upset. And finally I came down on my own and I was placed into the system. I remember that it was out at Watertown Plank Road, it was called New Beginnings. And I showed up with a suitcase and within like a few hours of me arriving, most of my clothes were taken. And by the other kids, they had raided my suitcase while I was in the staff office because I left it in the hall. I didn't, you know, I didn't know. And so they went through and they took all my clothes and the staff, you now, ended up shaking down the kids and getting a lot of the stuff back, but it was my first, um, real, you know, I was, it was reality that, you know I wasn't in a safe environment anymore. I had to kind of fend for myself and you know learn, grow up really fast.
00:11:39SPRAGUE: So you're in the foster homes, how do you find out and how do get to being in the military?
00:11:47KOEHLER: Well, um, my adoptive grandfather, he passed away before I was born. And I know that my mother and her mother, my adopted grandmother, you know, she eventually came around to, you know, like talking with me and letting me come over to her home. Um, but for many years, you know my mother, and I were ostracized. We weren't allowed to, she didn't really want to deal with me being half black. And so. she eventually came around, but I remember over in her place, she lived over in Whitefish Bay, um, there was pictures of my grandfather on the wall in his uniform and, you know, I was always really interested in what he did. And I thought the uniform was pretty cool. I had a little bout of being in Girl Scouts while I was in grade school. And I just, I really enjoyed the uniforms. I thought they were cool. I like patches. and then I always was interested in history when I was in school. It was one of my favorite subjects, and then also anything with social studies. So I knew that going through my teen years, and the course of action was either went to school, to college, or you joined the military. You just don't sit around and do nothing. You had two options, and I think a lot of families are like that. So I did enroll into UW-Milwaukee, and I was in ROTC classes, and I really enjoyed them. But I wasn't ready, quite ready for college. I needed to earn my way in life. And I wanted to get away from Milwaukee, and see, you know, go somewhere. I wanted serve my country. And I think it just offered all those things, and. I tell the story to some of my friends and I'm like, yeah, Private Benjamin, you know, if she could do it, I could do. You know, it was this kind of, back in those days, it was a bigger option after high school. You know the recruiters would come around and just knowing that my grandfather had served, I also wanted to be part of that and do something for my country, so.
00:14:13SPRAGUE: CW Milwaukee stands for? What is that? CW, Milwaukee. CW of Milwaukee. You had mentioned it. Maybe it was a school or your high school. Central Milwaukee maybe.
00:14:25KOEHLER: Okay, I'll have to think about that. Okay, no problem. I'll come back to that. C.W. Milwaukee.
00:14:31SPRAGUE: Yeah, you mentioned it as a name. It sounded like it was the name of a high school or junior high maybe.
00:14:37KOEHLER: Yeah, I went to Shorewood Intermediate School for Junior High, for high school. I went Shorewood, but then I went Custer. Okay. Custer High School. And that was on Milwaukee's North Side.
00:14:51SPRAGUE: Okay. Okay. So, when you decide to enlist, tell me about that process of transitioning. You're seeing that you like it, you're seeing your grandfather was involved with it, what's that final step that makes you raise your right hand and take the oath?
00:15:14KOEHLER: Well, I had actually heard a commercial. They were doing a big campaign for the 757 Transportation Battalion. They were looking for people to work in the Army's only locomotive unit. And it was based right on the south side of Milwaukee. And I'm like, Oh, that's interesting. So I called the recruiter and they scheduled to take the ASVAP. And so I went down and begin that process and I scored really high to be a locomotive dispatcher that was like 88 Whiskey. And I was actually shocked I did so well because I didn't, you know, I didn't think I was, you know I would do that well in math, but because in high school, you know high school is just that time in your life where everything just seems so like just wonky and am I good at this? Am I good that? But I actually enjoy math and so I scored high in that area and I was able to be a dispatcher.
00:16:18SPRAGUE: So, you enlist, tell me about that process and about going to Basic. Oh great.
00:16:26KOEHLER: I was down at MEPS, and back in those days, it was downtown Milwaukee. So the recruiter picks me up, takes me down there, do my ASVAB, and then I have to go do a lot of, like, in processing. I remember seeing a bunch of doctors. If memory serves me right, I had to sleep downtown in a hotel because they get you up at the break of dawn to go over across the street to MEPs. And I remember it was... like almost pre-Basic, you know, they had a lot of people to process that day. And I remember just standing in the hall with a folder, didn't really know anybody to my left or my right. And they just told us to be quiet in the hallway. And I was thinking, okay, yeah, whatever. Cause you know I'm a very social person. So I like to know who's around me and everything. But yeah, and yeah, so we saw doctors, back in those days, I enlisted in 1990, and I believe they were still asking people personal questions like, are you gay? Or have you done this? Have you done that? And it's very personal. So when you are down there with all these people, it's a very intimidating.
00:17:58SPRAGUE: So, you go to Basic, where's Basic at and what is it like?
00:18:02KOEHLER: Right, so I shipped out in the spring, March 16th to be exact. That was my reporting date. So I think I left a little couple of weeks before that. I was out at Fort Dix, New Jersey. So they sent us out there. And I believe I was at the reception station for about a week and a half. And I remember getting there. It was interesting because there was a bad snow or excuse me, thunderstorm. And while in MEPS, we saw a double rainbow. And so I thought that was kind of cool. We all were looking outside. Well, it was just like the brightest rainbow I had ever seen. And I just bring up the rainbow because, um. I'm a very like. spiritual person and I always believe you know that's God's sign that everything's going to be okay and so that gave me some comfort before I start basic because at that point they were still being very nice to us. You know they had a pool table, we had a ping pong table, we had snacks, we was really laid back until our drill sergeant showed up. And when the drill sergeants showed up we were immediately yelled at. I had taken this large suitcase with me to basic, and I didn't know, you know, I'm packing because I'm going away for two months, or longer, because then I went to my EIT after that. But, you now, I took this large case from home, and in fact, my mother bought me a set of luggage for my high school graduation, and so I had the biggest bag packed. And I'm schlepping this thing around Fort Dix. And they throw a duffel at me, like they scoop us all up and then we go to another building and they throw this duffle bag at me and it was empty. And then we started going up and down these different rooms where they were dumping boots in. They didn't even ask me what size I wore. They just kind of like eyeballed me, gave me a set of boots, gave me everything I needed. And so I had this huge duffel bag eventually and my suitcase. And I was really struggling because back in those days, the suitcases weren't like the suit cases we have today. Like, you know, they don't have the wheels on the bottom. So I'm lugging my suitcase, lugging the stuff. I'm out of shape. You know, it's not like I was in the best shape. And I remember the drill sergeants just were yelling, yelling at us. And then they dropped us. They said to drop. And we, no one knew what that meant. And they're like, get down, get town. Do push up. And, you know, we all struggled to do that, but it was all women too. So we didn't have any of the guys around. It was just all this woman. And we, it was interesting because I remember a lot of us just became really instant friends. And I have like a pain in my neck for like stress, a stress tension, you pain for like, I would say the first three weeks of basic training. It just wouldn't go away because I was so like afraid to move.
00:21:17SPRAGUE: So, you didn't go to sick call or maybe you did or?
00:21:20KOEHLER: No, there is no sick call, because if anything was wrong, I also found out real quick, like, if anything was wrong you were going to get it. The drill sergeants would target you, so you wanted to stay off the radar. And I do remember, because I had an ROTC experience, and I had also some college credits. They, you know, picked on me, too, to, I was like a squad leader for a while, and then I rotated around. But I remember our company, or no, excuse me, our platoon didn't have like a name, and I came from the Panthers, you know, UW Panthers. And I said, how about the Panthers? So we were Panthers on the prowl. So that was kind of cool. I got to name our platoon. I'm, you know, even before I got to Basic, I had like a little break before I shipped off. I lived up in Minnesota and I did a movie with Prince. It was called Graffiti Bridge. I was out visiting some friends in Minnesota and a casting director came up to me and wanted me to audition and I auditioned. She's like, are you interested in being in a movie? I said, sure. You know and I didn't know it was with Prince and I found that out. So Graffiti Bridge came out after Purple Rain. So when you get to Basic Two you got to write down your last employer. So I put like Paisley Park, you know, because I had gotten a check for my being an extra. And so I got targeted by that too because the drill sergeants are calling me Hollywood. You know, they didn't understand why I was coming to basic and why I wasn't going to, you know Hollywood and I had a nervous laugh. It was so they're like stop smiling, I mean, you know, and I was like. You know, I couldn't help it. I couldn't help it, I had this grin on my face too, cause you know, I was a little nervous and so my nickname was Hollywood.
00:23:32SPRAGUE: Any other experiences you remember from Basic that were memorable that you'd like to share?
00:23:38KOEHLER: Well, like I always tell my friends too, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I think some of my memories from Basic, usually... And a lot of my friends wrote that in my, they're like, [???] was the best times versus times with you because I was an natural born leader in basic. You know, I was, I was able to really motivate people around me. But I was always too, I think, like I said, the drill sergeants, you know, always had their eye to see what I was doing. So I remember this one time I did something and as the company marched, I had to run around the company. In intervals with my M16 above my head. And as they marched, I had to sprint, catch up to them, run to the back, run around, catch-up, and sprint. And I know I got smoked. And by the time I got done with all that, and I had I keep that M16 up on my head at all times, I remember I was just like, oh my god, this is horrible. You know, so, I think. They they broke me. I think that was the first time I really felt like they could break me down I mean the front leaning rest position was like, okay you know, um But yeah, I think now that did it and then Just I remember the like gas chamber. That was rough. You know, we were supposed to stand in there and I know some of the other troops they weren't like following direction with their social security number, name and all that other stuff so we're standing there all holding our breath and you know they're goofing off like oh you know breaking down crying and stuff and it was just like so I had eventually I had a you know take a deep breath and I inhaled all that and all I remember is I just like went to my knees and it was pretty, it was so toxic, it's horrible. And so I remember getting out of there and, you know, didn't know what was going on. And of course somebody's taking a picture of us coming out and it was like, I think every fluid in my body was coming through my nose and my mouth. So, yep.
00:26:08SPRAGUE: So you get through Basic, you go to AIT, or Advanced Training. Tell me about that.
00:26:15KOEHLER: Yeah, so my advanced training was over at Fort Eustis, Virginia, not too far, about 30 miles, I believe from Virginia Beach, if I remember right. And, dispatcher training was not as long as my secondary MOS that we'll talk about a little later. I remember that it was just a lot of classroom, a lot of, math, a lot of learning about the different type of locomotive, different types of engines, different types of cars from gondolas, box cars, flat cars, all types of different kind of track and rail and you know, it was just a lot of intense. Calculations. So, and we didn't have computers back in our day. We were the computers. So we had these long, I remember they were very, long logs, like longer than a table, you know, and we would just put down all of the maneuvers, you now, and different things that they wanted us to and we had to calculate time, speed, distance, weight. We took into consideration conditions of the weather, because that depended on how fast the rail would move as well, if it was wet, dry, ice, you know, all different kind of things. So it was very, very involved.
00:27:48SPRAGUE: Yeah, it sounds like it. How long was that AIT?
00:27:52KOEHLER: You know, from my memory, it wasn't as long as, like, my behavioral health training. But I believe it was, like six to about six weeks or so. That's what I remember. But it was six weeks every day, all day.
00:28:07SPRAGUE: Very intense.
00:28:08KOEHLER: Every day, I don't even think we had the weekend off in EIT. It was just, we just got through it.
00:28:14SPRAGUE: Anything in particular you remember from AIT that you care to share?
00:28:19KOEHLER: Uh, you know, I just remember, there weren't a lot of us women in there. I, I remember that. I think I was one of the one or few women dispatchers, you know, dispatcher sounds glorious. Like you're just dispatching, you know, units, people over like, a radio, but it's not, it was, there was just a lot involved. And I remember working very closely in tight quarters with a lot of the guys. And it was really hot, because it was like in the peak of summer. Like, I think it was July, August. And we were in these old barracks, too. I remember that. But yeah, we just were in tight corners, and just a lot to cover. And I remember being really tired in EIT because, you know, our schedule was so intense. And I know that they would always tell you, stand up in the back of the room, because if you fell asleep, you're going to be smoked in EIT. I mean, it lessened a lot, you know, from Basic, but you still got smoked.
00:29:36SPRAGUE: How did they do that? Were the women in a separate barracks? How did that work?
00:29:41KOEHLER: Yeah, we were in a separate barracks. Like I said, I only remember there was a few of us there. And I think some of the other women were in other parts of transportation. So we weren't all going to be returning to Milwaukee to the same unit. But from what I remember, there was maybe five of us in a whole barrack during that phase of training, from what could remember. Thank you for your time.
00:30:12SPRAGUE: So you come back to Milwaukee following AIT or was there other training in there?
00:30:17KOEHLER: No, we, yeah, we came back to Milwaukee. We reported, you know, to our company. And our company at that time was located in, in Milwaukee off of, like, I would say 68th and like Greenfield. Behind, it was actually, you wouldn't even know it was, like a unit because there was an old Kmart, it was like an industrial park in like West Allis area. And we had some rail that we could use in maneuver on and just like very short distance to practice. Then they moved this over to the south side to Logan Street, which is down more near like where the U S Marines are located, the U.S. Coast Guard, and there we had a lot more wiggle room, but I think they had rented a spot. And I know that. You know, we got close to a lot of the people real quick because that was our unit, you know? And our patch was like a, it was a circle with a dot in the middle and like a crossing of like a rail. A rail crossing, yeah. So it was kind of cool. And we took a lot pride too because we were the only locomotive unit in the U.S. Military. I mean, there was nobody else. We were it, and you know, people, they're like, well, if we're in a war, we don't want to be on a train. And I'm like, when we were out in AIT, we did learn how to do combat roles off a moving train. So, I mean, that's one thing I forgot. Yeah, it was a lot of the rigorous learning in the classroom, but we also did some physical stuff. We learned how to jump off and on moving trains. And... yeah, if you're the enemy, of course, you're going to take out the rail first, because you're moving resources, people, weapons, supplies. But yeah, we always prided ourselves like, well, you might be airborne, but I can jump off a moving train and not kill myself, so.
00:32:32SPRAGUE: So you mentioned both in Milwaukee, or West Allis and Milwaukee, having a little bit of rail to work with. What was that like? And I'm trying to picture that in my head.
00:32:42KOEHLER: Yeah, so, you know, our training schedules and like our drills between AIT are, excuse me, not our AIT, our two-week summer. We would go down to this place called Crane, Indiana, and Crane, Indiana, was in the middle of nowhere. And I remember our commanders, um briefing us. They're like, if you go off base, um especially with the African-American, you troops and the Latinos in there. You know in a unit, you all need to stick together and go out as big groups because that area was notorious for having like racial conflicts. You know, you don't want to want to be by yourself. So, uh we all stuck it together, but, um, in Crane, Indiana, that's where we did a lot more of our actual training and maneuvers. And that it was a naval weapons. So that's where they would keep a lot of their stuff. And I can't get into a lot detail, just for security purposes. But we would take the, again, it was hot, usually in the middle of summer, close quarters, dispatchers. We were in these dusty, moldy, nasty, carved out. Like shacks along the rail. And we would actually drop our line, radio line, to communicate along, you know, our maneuvers. And we wouldn't get it done because like, if you're ever deployed, you gotta drop your lines, communication, do all that, set it up real quick. But yeah, I remember spending many, many, many hours by myself waiting for the locomotive engineers. The rail guys to send the train down the way. And I think hindsight, so much waiting was involved because one, it was the military in your train environment, you're moving this huge engine, locomotive engine, and safety is always first. And there's a few times where things happened where it wasn't so safe for everybody because the person that was running like the engine maybe didn't slow down fast enough or something didn't couple right with one of the cars and people would go flying inside the cars and then everyone gets smoked out again and then you have to do better next time.
00:35:39SPRAGUE: Were the engines United States Military or were they private contractors on post for that reason?
00:35:45KOEHLER: No, we had our own stuff.
00:35:47SPRAGUE: Okay.
00:35:48KOEHLER: We had a lot of our own stuff.
00:35:51SPRAGUE: How about in terms of you talk about using the rails to communicate, tell me a little more about that.
00:35:57KOEHLER: Yeah, I mean, so not to go into too many details. I don't know what people are doing now out there. I'm sure it's a lot more sophisticated than what we had. But yeah, you drop a line down. You got your rail tier, and you just drop it down underneath it. And you have to run a line to properly communicate. And I remember. That wasn't solely like my job because we had all our comm folks, you know, communication people. And so they would do that. And I just remember it was, it was really an all day event, even just setting up the lines to communicate. And so again, you're, there's a lot of waiting going involved. A lot of, yeah, we didn't have walkie talkies either. We had those old radios. But yeah, I mean, we all pulled together and we made it happen.
00:36:58SPRAGUE: What – so did you identify before you had enlisted and went to AIT wanted – you talked about finding out about an engineer – a railroad unit. And once you were in it, how did your expectations compare to the reality of it?
00:37:20KOEHLER: Yeah, I mean, again, I had not thought about anything technical. I was more, like in high school, I was more, I did science. I did, like I said, history. I did like, you know, I was even in drama. I loved theater. But when I got there, you know, I heard the commercial. I answered the call. That was basically it. They said they needed people for this unit. And I know that, you know, the service, no matter what you're doing is honorable. But once I got in, I, I just felt very more, because I'm a people person. I was feeling like more alienated from helping people. And I knew I wanted to do something else eventually. And I've once, you're in and you've like, I had spent four, you know, four years or so. With this unit and I, like your last two years, you can decide if you're gonna go IR, you're going to stay active or, you know, active Reserve. And, but I started asking questions and I had some friends in, you now, the medical unit and they're like, hey, you, you it doesn't matter where you serve as long as you're fulfilling your duty. And I said, oh really? And they're, like, yeah, you should come over to the Guard. And so I actually went over to the Wisconsin National Guard, 132nd Support Battalion, and it was combat medic support. And I had talked to someone over there, and they're like, yeah, we have opportunity. Your ASFAP scores, you know, you would be qualified to do behavioral health science. And I was like, oh, that sounds interesting. And you know, I had a lot of... insight growing up with a parent who had a mental health issue. And you know, they were saying that I could help soldiers and their families and do assessments. So there was some of that like aptitude science, you know testing that I like to do. And I looked more into it and I said, okay. So the commander, you know signed off on it and I went over to the Guard.
00:39:40SPRAGUE: Did you have to return to AIT again for training and tell me about that a little?
00:39:45KOEHLER: Yeah, so this time around I went to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to the United States Army Health and Science Academy. That was a much longer, intense training. I was down there almost a year before, you know, it was a day. And... you learn every aspect of counseling, every aspect different personality disorders, behavioral disorders. You learn about treatment, whether it's through medication, or just different ways to help a soldier or their families. Because a lot of places that I ended up being stationed where I worked was on inpatient psych units. So I was really able to help. And in my unit, what I would be called upon to do, the company commander or the first sergeant will call upon me or another behavioral scientist and they would say, what should we do with the soldier there? We're concerned about him. Can you check him out, talk with him? And so there are many times, like even when we were in our two weeks. You know, for the summer or just a regular weekend, they would say, you know. Go talk to this person, so. There was a few times where we made recommendations that the soldier would be best if they just went home. We worked on medically discharging some other people. But I really felt that was where I needed to be. I think it was one of the best moves that I can make. Because not only did I have that compassion for others and being nonjudgmental, which you really need to do, because it's very serious when someone's facing a mental health crisis while they're in service. It doesn't mean always that that person needs to be processed out and ending their career, because that's very, that's serious. Or do they need a little respite and they can continue on? You know, cause a lot of times it's situational. Could be anything from relationship problems with their spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, alcoholism, substance abuse, you know, just different things like that. So, and so my responsibility was we usually had one psychiatrist to the whole base. And us behavioral scientists wouldn't have to administer back in those days. It was the MMPI. It stands for the Minnesota MMPI? I will tell you that it's I haven't have to look it up I can't remember that now, but it's like an aptitude test with a battery of different questions Like over like 200 to 300 questions and they just want to look for consistencies. They want to know different patterns and we score that we used to score it by hand. Yeah, so That would give us a lot of insight to see if a person had a personality disorder, if they were having different things. So we would score that, and we would make recommendations to the on-base psychiatrist. And oftentimes, we would be providing that diagnosis to them, because they can't do it all. So I remember during one of our last sessions, parts of training we were assigned to go like off base and shadow like professionals because I guess the army had contracts with local mental health providers as well for some of the more serious cases and you know I learned a lot and it was really disturbing I mean we had some very critical cases where voices were telling people to... you know, harm themselves and harm other people. And, so, you know the army, even though that person was clearly going to be, um discharged out, we still provided any kind of support we could do that individual.
00:44:18SPRAGUE: So during this time, you talked about this a little bit. 91 Bravo, but 91 Golf. Can you bring me up to speed on that?
00:44:26KOEHLER: Sure, so 91 Bravo is a combat medic. It's kind of like the prerequisite for anybody in the medical field. So that's a combat medic. Everybody has to know how to stop the pain, to stop bleeding and to transport. That's kind like an internal model that we had. And because when you're out on the battlefield, you have to be able to control a soldier's pain. If they're bleeding, you have to know how to take care of that and to get them out of there and, you know, to like a, you know, med-vac them out,
00:45:07SPRAGUE: So, during this time, you had been in the reserves and then you were in the Guard. On the civilian side of things, what was that like? What was in that world while you were in the military doing these things?
00:45:20KOEHLER: So yeah, I mean, I worked regular jobs. Um, you know, I wasn't in school at that point. You know, had taken a step back from school. I spent a lot of time though, like doing additional tours of duty.
00:45:37SPRAGUE: Okay.
00:45:38KOEHLER: So it worked out well for me. Cause I still had a responsibility to take care of my mom. She, you know? I wasn't officially her guardian at that point, I eventually became my mother's guardian for healthcare and for finances and, but at that, during those days, I was like in my late 20s, early thirties. Yeah, , I started the process to get back into school and, um, but I did a lot of extra tour duty.
00:46:12SPRAGUE: Yeah, so did one of those involve the Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii?
00:46:16SPRAGUE: Yeah
00:46:17SPRAGUE: Tell me a little bit about that. And was that part of the 132nd or?
00:46:22KOEHLER: Yeah.
00:46:23SPRAGUE: Bring me up to speed or one of the tours.
00:46:25KOEHLER: Yeah, so I'm trying to remember if that was, could have been very possibly.
00:46:30SPRAGUE: Okay.
00:46:31KOEHLER: I'm just trying to remembering the dates. All I know is three days after 9-11.
00:46:35SPRAGUE: Yeah, and you have that here in your pre-interview, you gave that to us.
00:46:38KOEHLER: So ,I had been asked to, prior to 9-11 happening, um I was signed up to go to, it was either a Vincenza in Italy. I had two choices. I could go to Vincenza Army Hospital in Italy, or I could go to Tripler in, you know, Hawaii, Oahu. And so I decided to go, to Hawaii because, while I had been studying Italian, I was like, that would be, you know, something to go to Italy and be able to serve there. You know, and I know most of the people on our base speak English, but I was really interested and I started learning some Italian, but something was like now I just go to Tripler. So I was on active orders, um prior to 9-11, happening and I was due to fly out on the 14th. Which I did. The airplane I flew in was commercial. It was pretty much completely empty. We had flown from Milwaukee to Minnesota, Minneapolis airport, and then Minneapolis straight flight to Hawaii. And it was, it was very scarce. There was hardly anybody on this huge airliner because of what happened in New York. And when I got to Hawaii, I was you know, just stunned by the level of security. They were calling, they didn't know what happened in New York, and they were calling it the second Pearl Harbor. And so, on Oahu, as you know the unfortunate events of Pearl Harbor, the hospital is about a couple miles from the actual site of where the memorial is for Pearl Harbor And, there were big, naval warfighter ships, all I mean like it was they were all over and there were helicopters, there were jet fighters, I mean it was pretty active. To get into Tripler Army Medical Hospital you had to be searched and that included the ambulances so everybody was going through a full search I mean they had dogs they had you know like the mirrors on the sticks to look under your vehicle. We weren't sure if we were even able to leave the hospital. I actually stayed in the officer's quarters behind the hospital, because I was prior service overlooking the South Pacific. So it was really wild. It was like stepping back in time, just with a level of security, from what I've been told for people that had, you know, were closer to that event. And it was, it was a. Intense too.
00:49:42SPRAGUE: Backing up a little, you had talked in the pre-interview a little bit about Fort Riley, Kansas. Was that prior to this or later in your career?
00:49:52KOEHLER: Yeah, this was in the medical unit as well. Okay. I had gone down to Fort Riley, Kansas, to work in the hospital. I was supposed to be working in the inpatient psych unit, but when I arrived down there, they had enough people up there, so they reassigned me. And I was actually in the Department of Urology for, you know, my time down there. So, I learned all the parts of the urinary system real quick. And as you know, in the military, they pretty much throw standard operating procedures at you and say, here's some charts, go figure it out. And so I was able to, I mean, I don't, I didn't do, of course I didn't do the surgery. They had a regular surgeon involved, but I was in the operating room when they did a number of vasectomies. And so that was really fascinating to be able to be there. I was surprised because they do not put a, you know, the person under full anesthesia. Yeah. And so I was able to talk to that person and just keep them comfortable and, you know, walk them through. So it was just interesting, like again, you know, when you're in the service, you really get to experience a bunch of different things you never thought you would be able to do before. So, yeah, working with the urology team for the time I was there, it was really interesting.
00:51:33SPRAGUE: In backing up further, I just want to make sure we cover it. You had mentioned units in support of the Gulf War and Bosnia. What can you tell me about that?
00:51:44KOEHLER: Yeah. So when I was in Basic, you know, we were told a lot of different things that we weren't going to go home or directly home. We were going to the, over to the Middle East. We were told all kinds of things, but yeah, my unit had been on alerts a few times, and that's one of the reasons I didn't engage to go back to school because I had signed up again, but then our unit was on alert and so we didn't know if we were going be activated or not. And it was really stressful just knowing that, you know, I could, you know, when I served, we didn't have all the protections with school, like, you know, we do now. And when I serve, um, even when I was in my ROTC classes, you know, at the university, a lot of the professors would say, Oh, here comes Miss ROTC. And I was like a super troop on campus and not everybody shared my patriotism. So it was difficult to begin school and then have to withdraw or have that stress looming, because I remember, when the Gulf War started, I was on the east side of Milwaukee and, you know, the newspapers were rolling out and it says, the war had started and, yeah, we were on, we weren't standby for a long, for, for a while. Like we were going to go. We weren't going to. And so it was back and forth. So they what they ended up doing was they ended up taking certain MOS's to do that but back home we also supported our troops that went over there and it was volunteer only so they were like if we can get enough volunteers to we want to activate the whole.
00:53:31SPRAGUE: And this was with the 757th or?
00:53:34KOEHLER: Yeah. 1151st. Okay. Yeah. There's a number of people that signed up to go, and also with Bosnia.
00:53:41SPRAGUE: Tell me about that.
00:53:43KOEHLER: Yeah, so. We, it was interesting because they had asked for a number of people to go over there in support of, the Bosnian Conflict. And we learned too, that the rail system in Europe was pretty different from our rail system. I mean, and so they ended up sending more of the repair, and not the dispatchers, so, cause they had their, they needed like the strength to keep operations going and not so much the brains, like, you know, I was saying before they would call us the brains of the trains.
00:54:28SPRAGUE: So you had mentioned the 1151st, is that a separate company or battalion within the 757th?
00:54:35KOEHLER: There's a company within the 757.
00:54:37SPRAGUE: Okay. And how about the repairs? Are they in the same company or not?
00:54:41KOEHLER: Yeah, you know, I believe they were with us in the 1151st and then they had like the 1152nd. There's a few companies that made up that battalion.
00:54:52SPRAGUE: Okay.
00:54:53KOEHLER: And now I hear they're like maybe in the Illinois area.
00:54:57SPRAGUE: Yeah.
00:54:58KOEHLER: Because I run into a few people from those days.
00:55:01SPRAGUE: So let's jump back in time, or forward in time again. So you're with 132nd. You mentioned. Tell me a little bit about 2003, Operation Noble Eagle. Tell me about that and if you had any involvement in that or...
00:55:27KOEHLER: Yeah, so I ended up, so in the 132nd, you know, everything was going really well, and unfortunately there was some events that took place that I won't go into right now. And so I end up going back to the Army Reserves. I left the National Guard. And I finished up my time in the 84th Division. I was in the JAG unit in headquarters, and I was doing OJT for 27 Delta, which is paralegal. And so that's where I ended it up. And I was, you know, it's interesting because I was dong paralegal work, but I had a lot of my behavioral health because what they had me doing was I was assigned to do all the like urine. They would call people randomly for their urine test, to see if they were using drugs. And so my job was to be part of that process, make sure it was running smoothly. And then if someone tested hot. We would get a list and we would do like an administrative review. And, unfortunately, a lot of people ended their careers because you have all the way until you actually drop for this, you know, drug test to say, Hey, I, I'm not going to make it. And you will get diverted over to counseling and to, you know, you'll get help. But if you try to like cover it up, you try to, be dishonest, you're going to get. You're going to lose your career. So unfortunately, there was a number of people that thought they could beat the system, which they didn't. And so I was assigned to help the attorneys process them out. And I would take a lot of notes. And we would have the conference call. And we have a doctor who called in remotely. And we were just pretty much go down the line of the people that we needed to process out, because they would have to make sure. Are you sure that it's this person? Yes, you know, I'm 99.9% sure, whatever they would say. And, you now, so that's unfortunate.
00:57:51SPRAGUE: That's interesting that with the drug testing and that involved attorneys, that's interesting. I would have thought it would have involved maybe judicial or nonjudicial punishment at the company grade or at the field grade. But it sounds like there's more to it than that.
00:58:09KOEHLER: Yeah, you know by the time it got to us it was like they had zero tolerance for that stuff and I don't know, let's see that was back in like 2003-2004 and I I know that they were downsized in the military quite a bit . but I don t I just know we have a zero tolerance you know I mean they gave people a lot of opportunity to come clean
00:58:35SPRAGUE: You mentioned during the pre-interview something about maybe Silver Spring, Maryland or Silver Spring?
00:58:43KOEHLER: Silver Spring, Maryland?
00:58:44SPRAGUE: Yeah, something about that in the military justice or...
00:58:47KOEHLER: Oh yeah, that was on Silver Spring, the 84th Division. Okay.
00:58:50SPRAGUE: Is that Wisconsin or Maryland?
00:58:53KOEHLER: No, no, that was in Wisconsin.
00:58:56SPRAGUE: Okay.
00:58:57KOEHLER: So it's on the, um, 84th Division was over on, what street was that? It was like, like 54th, maybe in Silver Spring, maybe even up higher.
00:59:09SPRAGUE: But that's where it comes from, okay?
00:59:11KOEHLER: So it was up higher, maybe in the number, but yeah, beautiful facility over there at Army Reserve.
00:59:18SPRAGUE: And that would have been in Milwaukee then?
00:59:22KOEHLER: Well, they were the Rail Splitters.
00:59:24SPRAGUE: Okay. Yes, I know their patch. I am. Very familiar. How many women were in the office there with the 27 Deltas or as paralegals or as attorneys maybe?
00:59:39KOEHLER: You know, there was, I think, one other lady that was in, and she was on the officer's side. I was enlisted, so I, from what I recall, it was just me.
00:59:55SPRAGUE: What did you think about that job?
00:59:59KOEHLER: I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed learning about the military justice system. I enjoyed learning again about human behavior, how people just come up with the craziest stories that it wasn't their urine and all this stuff and it was a mistake. But yeah it's always interesting to learn something new.
01:00:23SPRAGUE: So, when do you decide you're going to leave the Guard or the Reserve and what is that like?
01:00:32KOEHLER: Yeah, so my mother, you know, I wanted to finish school. And I had been frustrated with just upward mobility in the Reserve components. And I said, OK, I'm young enough. I'll return, get my bachelor's, and then come back as an officer, you know, because I thought, seeing what the officers did, I could be an officer and I always felt to like some of the best people that I came across in my career who were officers,, had enlisted time. So having both, I thought it was like, you also gain instant respect from your, the troops because you know exactly what it's like, cause you were on that level and, so my plan was to return to the Army Reserve as in the Chaplain Corps. I was in seminary in 2009. I had finished my bachelor's, went back out and worked, and I was working to get back into school, working on my Master of Divinity. I completed my first year, and I passed my boards with flying colors for the Chaplain Corps and then my mother unexpectedly passed away, which was very traumatic for me, because she passed away like unexpectedly, She had heart disease and so she came home one night and her, she was getting ready for bed, taking a bath and she never made out of the bathtub. And so they discovered my mom the next day. And, you know, by that time being in water all night was pretty tough on the body. And so I had to go into like funeral planning mode, grieving mode, all kind of modes all at once. And it was traumatic because the relationship with my mother growing up was, it was strong, but then it was typical mother daughter stuff. And then, you, know, I was always her protector. And so I took a hiatus from seminary and I can joke now about it because I'll still see my pastors and my friends who I started Divinity School with, they're all ordained ministers now and they're like, hey, when are you coming back? I'm like, I'm the runaway seminarian. And I mean, I have a little time if I decide to, of course, ministry is wherever you are. It's not just. You know, in a classroom learning about how to be a minister, you're actually just, you know, out in the world doing your, you know doing well and doing good for others. So,,,,
01:03:39SPRAGUE: So prior to 2009, backing up just a little bit, you mentioned in the pre-interview a little about Cardinal Stritch University. Was that your?
01:03:47KOEHLER: That's it, Cardinal Stritch, yep.
01:03:48SPRAGUE: Was that your bachelor's degree then or?
01:03:51KOEHLER: Yep, I graduated from Cardinal Stritch University with a degree in political science.
01:03:57SPRAGUE: You also happen to mention, moving forward again, in 2012, being involved with Governor Martin Scribner. Is that how you pronounce it? Schreiber.
01:04:08KOEHLER: Yeah, Schreiber or...
01:04:09SPRAGUE: The Schreiber's PR firm, the firm – the marketing firm, tell me about that.
01:04:13KOEHLER: Yeah, that was back when I first got out of college,
01:04:17SPRAGUE: Okay, that was earlier.
01:04:18KOEHLER: Like in 2006, 2007 or so.
01:04:21SPRAGUE: Okay, my bad.
01:04:22KOEHLER: That's okay. Yeah, it was my first job out of out of college.
01:04:28SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:04:29KOEHLER: The honorable late-great Vel Phillips and Governor Schreiber's father, they had served on the Common Council in Milwaukee together, and she knew I was real passionate about political science, and she's like, well, Governor Schrieber has a firm, you know, you can learn the inside an advocacy side of government and I said that'd be great. So I work with his firm for about a year.
01:04:57SPRAGUE: Tell me about the other political campaigns you've been involved in. Wisconsin Assemblies 58th District, tell me a little bit about that.
01:05:06KOEHLER: Yeah, so I live in the 58th district, and I decided to run for office. I'm very, again, passionate about our political process, about really being that voice. And you know, I see how a lot of things operate on many different levels, especially on the big macro level. And when I was at Cardinal Stritch I was actually a student senator for students with disabilities. We hadn't had a senator for disabled students. And I saw, I created that position. So I knew I could get things accomplished through, you know, going through a process. And the seat, a lot of my friends had approached me and said I should run for office. So I said, OK, I'm going to run for office. I had tried a few years prior doing a writing campaign on the south side of Milwaukee. And, you know, I was a novice. I wasn't sure really how to go about doing a campaign. I had worked on other people's campaigns and so the opportunity presented itself. And I came in second actually out of a three-way primary and I went on to work for the gentleman that won the seat. He called me up and he said, hey, I need somebody, I need a staffer in my office in Madison. So it was very unusual that two political opponents work together. But we had a good relationship on the campaign trail. And so, you know, it was funny because people were like, that's strange, you know, but you know working in the Capitol was great. It was great to, work on behalf of the people and work with a dedicated legislator and all the other offices of their elected officials out there.
01:07:16SPRAGUE: You think you'll run again?
01:07:17KOEHLER: You know, I don't know. I'm in a different place right now in life. I, you know, working where I work with the department on veteran affairs. I mean, I have 30,000 women who serve in the military that live in Wisconsin, um, that are veterans. And so it's a big, it's a big job too. To reach out to them, identify them, because a lot of us don't want to say we're veterans for various reasons. And, but we are, and they are. And I hope that they come out and start connecting with the department, connecting with their benefits, connecting with each other. And, you know, it's exciting times. You know, it's not like it used to be. There's a lot more support out there, a lot recognition for women. We continue to break barriers, you know, we are able to serve in full capacity now in combat roles in all facets. And when I serve, you now, we weren't allowed to do any combat missions or anything like that on the front lines.
01:08:34SPRAGUE: So, changing gears, May 2015, in your pre-interview call, you mentioned coming down with a major challenge in your life. Tell me about that.
01:08:48KOEHLER: Yeah, so May 2015, was just a... we just passed the four-year mark. I was diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is a cancer. And I started losing steam. I was really sick. I had just a couple months to live if I hadn't started an aggressive chemotherapy regime, which I did. And I'm here. Almost four years later, November 13th, I was put into remission of 2015. So that same year, but I was in six months of aggressive chemotherapy. And to this day, I still have many of the after-effects of my treatment, both emotionally, physically, of going through cancer. But I've also, like I have always done throughout my life, I've turned adversity into advocacy and I'm now with the American Cancer Society. I'm the congressional lead for the District 5, which I live in. And I was named the ambassador of the year for the state of Wisconsin back in 2017, because my advocacy efforts.
01:10:15SPRAGUE: Wow. So other non-profit experiences that you have and maybe involvement with veterans organizations locally, tell me about those.
01:10:24KOEHLER: Sure. So yeah, I've spent pretty much my whole career, as you had mentioned, and I remember that I work, you know, in government. So I worked for, as a lobbyist, I worked as a legislative aide and unfortunately I would still be in that position, but the gentleman that I worked, for he passed away unexpectedly like two years ago, very similar to what my mother went through. He had a heart issue. And so. you know, by having gone through that myself and my own family, I felt that I was really able to help his family and help our constituents because I had been through it before, because it was so sudden and it hadn't even happened in like state history that a sitting legislator had died in while in office like that. So it was just, it was really interesting times. But yeah, the majority of my career has been nonprofit. I worked on issues of advocacy with like, for mental health. In 2002, a highlight of my kind of life is I, my friend and I, we walked across the state of Wisconsin from Milwaukee to Prairie Du Chien in a hike it-bike it. I am one of...What was it? I am One of Them is a campaign I started. But we had a lot of support. We actually had a press conference with then Governor Scott McCallum over at the Monona Terrace. But it took us about two weeks to get across the state because we stayed in Madison for like five nights. Because a pharmaceutical company had put us and sponsored us while we were here and we were able to lobby a lot of the offices. We received recognition from both the Senate and the Assembly for walking across the State. And it's funny because the lady that I walk with, she's like one of my dearest best friend, she's actually a nun. And they had originally, they had to do another proclamation, but they had put Sister Tiffany Koehler. And I'm like, they assumed that I was a sister. And I told the senator who had asked the speaker's office and everything to do it, to do again and correct it or something. So I have both of them. I have Sister Tiffany, and then I have Tiffany Koehler. So it was pretty funny. I'm like, that's what I get for hanging out with a nun. But yeah, it was a really, it a great time. It was the main focus of that, why we did that, was to break stigma associated with having a mental illness. Because people, and this is before mental health parity really went into full effect, there was a time where you would not be covered if you had a mental health illness. You can see a counselor, you can see the really anybody, insurance companies were covering it and you had to pay out of pocket. But then mainstream media and Hollywood also had these characters that looked like they were dangerous and violent and like if you had a mental health, you were a criminal, criminally insane, all these scary movies that came out. But it wasn't, it's not really like that. People suffer with depression, anxiety. PTSD, all kind of different spectrum of disorders that are in most of those folks that struggle in silence and alone, and they don't bother anybody.
01:14:25SPRAGUE: So what is it meant to you to serve in the military as a woman? Tell me about that.
01:14:32KOEHLER: Well, for me to serve as a woman, I was the first one in my family, the first woman in the military. Then a couple of my cousins went in after me because of my service. They saw me serving and they're like, hey, she can serve, I can serve. You know, it was a real challenging, I think, both for me, I only can speak, you know, of course for me as it was challenging physically. Because I pushed myself to places I didn't think I could go physically. I was actually a great runner when I was in the service. You know, but just being able to finish Basic Training, because a lot of people didn't finish. A lot of the people started off with us, but they weren't able to finished or they recycled. And I remember the day I was standing there, graduating, I had tears coming down my eyes. I was, I think, so relieved that I was done. But it prepared me for life, you know, believe it or not, I am so mission orientated, I carry my army values with me in every area of my life, loyalty, integrity, all that stuff. And I, I execute, I'm like, what's the mission? Tell me, and I go crazy. Like if people aren't telling me what I need to do or what the mission is, I create my own mission and, you know, it's interesting. In the next session. Thank you. You know, I'm grateful for my service. It was an honor to serve. Our country. And people always are like, thank you for your service. And I say, well, I served because you were worth it. You know, it's, we're all, you know, this country is a great country. We're like a big family. We have our, we have our flaws. We have our strengths. But I think, you know, back when Reagan, Ronald, President Reagan served, he said, peace through strength. And, you know, it's something that, a quote that I always kept, you know, close by. We are leaders in this world. And with, you know leadership becomes great responsibility at times. And we have a great responsibility to also, like we used to, protect other countries that were smaller, they weren't as strong. And America, when America showed up, you know, others backed off. And I think, you know, as we go forward, too, we have to have strong partnerships with our allies and always be there for them like they are there for us. You know, that's a great American tradition that we have, and hopefully that will continue. But being a woman in the military, I always felt like I had a higher responsibility as well, not only for the woman that went before me. And all they went through. But for the troops that are serving now, you know, a lot of people are shocked. They're like, wow, you served? Like, yeah, about like 20, 30 years ago, I was in boots, you know? And they're like get out of here. But it's a great honor to serve alongside other veterans and just continue to give back. I mean, I wouldn't change it for the world. And there's days where I wish I could be back in an active duty. There are a lot of days I wish I could just be back on active with what I know now, and not be that 20, 30-something, you know, person in the uniform. I wish i was now back in uniform, you know, so...
01:18:23SPRAGUE: Did we miss anything that you'd like to cover?
01:18:27KOEHLER: Not that I can think of. I know I do lay those options out for younger people now. They're trying to decide what to do with their life. I tell them either college or go into the military. And I know the military gets a bad rap because of political forces. And I always just tell them to think about, it's a great foundation for their life, it's great way to serve the country, see the world, to meet other people. And you know, I really don't think, I said, you know they're like, well, what if I get hurt? I'm like, you get hurt on the streets of Wisconsin nowadays, you know at least, and I always come back to, I say, at least you have the, you now, brothers and sisters in your uniform watching your back. You got great weapons to protect yourself with, you know so, I mean, it's an honor to serve and I try to instill that in a lot of people. And the women that, you know, my position that are, have like, cause back in certain times they were told they weren't veterans or their service was downplayed. And I, it doesn't matter if you were a cook or if you are the general, everybody contributed something to our military. And so there's no shame in not, you know I never deployed to a foreign land, but I have no shame because I know that what I was doing and where I went can help other people. Either to go off to war or when they came home to war. And I continue to serve in all the veteran service organizations I'm a part of. And to the day I die, I'm not going to stop serving.
01:20:11SPRAGUE: What motivated you to do this interview?
01:20:13KOEHLER: Well, I was told I had to do this interview. Well, because I told everybody, hey, you should do an interview for the oral history program with the museum. And so again, I can't tell people to do something I'm not willing to do myself. And I believe in that. My story, it's my story. It's just a little sliver of the greater stories. There might be some more interesting stories out there. But, no, I'm motivated by the sharing, because I think the more women, too, that come out and share, they'll see that, oh, if Tiff can do it, I can do so.
01:20:55SPRAGUE: Well, that concludes this interview. Thank you for your service.
01:21:01KOEHLER: You're welcome. You're worth it.
