Oral History Interview with Bridget J. Sanchez

[Interview Begins]

SPRAGUE: Today is April 1st, 2023. This is an interview with Bridget Sanchez, who served in the United States Marine Corps from 1991 to 1994. This interview is being conducted by Luke Sprague at the Manitowoc Public Library for the I Am Not Invisible Project for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Oral History Program. No one else is present in the room. Okay. Bridget, could you please tell us where you grew up?

SANCHEZ: I grew up right here in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And what did your family do?

SANCHEZ: Well, my mom, while I was growing up was a stay at home mom. And my dad worked for our trucking companies.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And what schools did you attend?

SANCHEZ: I went to St. Mary's for kindergarten, and then St. Paul's for 00:01:00elementary, and then Roncalli High School.

SPRAGUE: And do you have family members or other people who served?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

SPRAGUE: Tell me about that.

SANCHEZ: There's several of us. They're all male. [Laughs] So they, they don't live in in Wisconsin. Most of them live in the Chicago area, Texas, that have gone into the Marine Corps as well. Actually, I was inspired by my oldest sister, who always wanted to go into the Marine Corps but never was able to go in. She took a different direction and actually was one of the first women to work in construction.

SPRAGUE: Wow. Okay. Was all of your family just in the Marine Corps or were they in other services?

SANCHEZ: Just the Marine Corps.

SPRAGUE: Okay. So a strong family tradition--

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm, yes.

SPRAGUE: --serving in the Corps. So obviously that influenced you to join the 00:02:00Marine Corps, I would say.

SANCHEZ: It did, yeah. A lot, when I was little, I didn't know about other families really going into the Marine Corps. I mean, it might have been mentioned or something, but there was nothing like a real big gathering for it. My sister had a poster of the United States Marines on her wall in her bedroom, my oldest sister. And every time I go in her room, I'd see that poster and she goes, "Yeah, I would really like to go in." But, you know, she there was some issues to why she couldn't. So and I was, I really loved the uniforms and just, you could just tell by the look on their face in the poster there was something behind that. And I was like, wow, I was just a little kid. I mean, I was like maybe seven, eight years old. I knew that's what I wanted to do.

SPRAGUE: Wow. So, what did your family say when you decided you wanted to join?

SANCHEZ: [Laughs] I didn't tell them.

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: I did not tell them. No. I had gone down to the recruiting station by 00:03:00myself. Recruiters had come to high school, and I was so ecstatic about them coming through. But, you know, recruiters came in for the Army, Navy, you know. And so, I was like, well, I thought, well, I want to meet them on their on their own terms. So I went down to the recruiting station here on Eighth Street. That's where it was at the time. And I stopped in, and I talked to the Army guys. They were kicking back and laughing and talking. I'm like, "Oh, okay, guys. All right, I'll talk to you later." And then there was a, there was a Navy guy. He was already talking to somebody else. And I went in and I spoke to the Marine recruiter and he gave me his full attention and just, he was serious. He was business. And I was like, yeah, that was like the look on that poster.

SPRAGUE: Wow.

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm.

SPRAGUE: So did you say you were 18 when you went down to the recruiting 00:04:00station? Or you were still--

SANCHEZ: Yep. I was eight--I was 18, but I didn't join just then.

SPRAGUE: Okay, so what happened?

SANCHEZ: I went to college.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: I my, my sister wanted me to get out of the small town feel, and she actually helped me choose a college. So I went to Adelphi University in New York on Long Island. So she paid for me to get there. I went to school for about a year there. Kind of ran out of money. And then I came back home. Kind of like with your tail between your legs. I'm like, "Oh, I'm going to New York," you know? And then, it was great. I met the best people while I was in New York, and I felt, it felt like home in a strange, odd way. It felt like that's where I belonged. And then so when I came back here, I worked at a hotel, and then I worked at a nursing home. And then from there I was like, there's got to be more 00:05:00to life than this. Where are my dreams? Where, why, why, why did I let my dreams kind of fade away, when I'm too young to feel like this. So then I, I walked down to the recruiting station once again, there was a new recruiter there, and I--He welcomed me in. He goes, "What can I do for you?" And I said, "What can I do for you and our country?" Because that's exactly what I said, "Because," I said "I feel lost." He goes, "You found the right place."

SPRAGUE: So it sounds like a connection there, like--

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it was.

SPRAGUE: Wow.

SANCHEZ: And of course, I had to lose a little weight before I went in because, you know, I had, gone off to college, gained that college 15 and stuff like that. So. But yeah, that was when I, he agreed to work with me. He had some, he had another female Marine that had gone to boot camp. She was gonna be home for 00:06:00a while. He had me start running with her up in, uh, in Lincoln Park by the zoo. And then that was the beginning of that. And when I went home and I told my, my mom and my dad, my mom was all for it, she goes, "You need to get out of this town and see what you can do with yourself," okay. My dad cried and he said, "You go down there right now, and you tell them you made a mistake, that, that you're not going in." And I said, "Dad, I already signed. I'm not gonna go back down there and tell him I made a mistake." I said, I've, this is one of the things I was ever for sure about, was the best thing. So, yeah, he cried. It was one of the times in my life I ever saw my dad cry.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: My dad was almost drafted into Vietnam.

SPRAGUE: Yeah?

SANCHEZ: My mom was pregnant with my sister. I have four sisters. Was pregnant 00:07:00with my sister Barbara at the time, so he didn't have to go over whatever, however reasons that happened. But he knew what, how things could get bad, you know? So even though he didn't go, he had friends, he knew people. And I think that was his biggest fear.

SPRAGUE: Mm hmm, okay. Tell me about your arrival at boot camp.

SANCHEZ: Oh, gosh. [Laughs] Every time I see those yellow footprints, I'm like, I'm not falling for that again. [Both laugh] But yeah, it was quite the wakeup call. You grew up probably about 2.5 seconds once you get to boot camp. They break you down, they bring you back up the way you want, they want you. So I 00:08:00wouldn't change it for anything in the world. I'm a better person for it.

SPRAGUE: Mm-hmm. And where did you go to boot?

SANCHEZ: Parris Island.

SPRAGUE: Okay. I have to ask, was it a mixed gender or was it all female or male?

SANCHEZ: Oh, back in that time, it was females on Fourth Battalion and then the males on the rest. So.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And what was your experience like? People from all over the country. What was that like for you?

SANCHEZ: It was great. It really was. That experience in New York was good because it opened me up to a lot of different people and cultures I haven't met before. So it was, it was good. But then again, having that many females together, that can get kind of crowded, too. But, you know, I already had four sisters, so I was like, oh, well, I just got like 30 more. So. [Both laugh]

SPRAGUE: What were some of the things that you remember from boot that stick out 00:09:00in your head?

SANCHEZ: Oh, the drill. I loved the drill. Absolutely loved it. And then, funny story is, we were PTing one day, well we PT a lot, you know, in boot camp.

SPRAGUE: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: But one day, this particular day, we were PT-ing and, this, I was running and one of the other recruits said something to me. And I'm like, something about racing from one point to the next or whatever. We're just doing little short drills or whatever. And I said, "I don't run." And then all of a sudden, the drill instructor took after, took, took chase after me. [Laughing] I ran that day. It was bad. I didn't know she overheard me. So. Yeah, I was running. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: And how many D.I.s, or T.I.s the Air Force calls them--

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: How many per platoon or per detachment?

SANCHEZ: We had a senior drill instructor and then two other drill instructors bef--besides that, for each. So I was Platoon 4006. When I graduated, I dropped 00:10:00down one Platoon because I did get injured in the first platoon I was in. So I went to medical for a while and then rejoined another platoon to graduate.

SPRAGUE: So you actually remember your platoon number?

SANCHEZ: Oh, yeah.

SPRAGUE: Okay. So help me out with this because I like putting people on the, if I can, on the field.

SANCHEZ: Okay.

SPRAGUE: So you were in in December '91. When did you report for boot? In '91?

SANCHEZ: Um, let's see here, no, it would have been November, November.

SPRAGUE: November '91.

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: November 18th in '91.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Okay. And then how, you said Platoon 4006.

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm.

SPRAGUE: Was it organized by platoons or could you also, or could you also tell me the company and battalion or regiment or just the platoon number?

SANCHEZ: Oh gosh, that I gu--I'm trying to--Well, it's 4th Battalion.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: That was that was the females. I can't remember My company number. Hmm, you got me on that one.

SPRAGUE: No, that's okay.

SANCHEZ: [Laughs]

SPRAGUE: The 4006 thing is actually a really helpful memory because that, that can place us right there. Okay. Wow not everybody remembers all the stuff from boot or from basic in terms of what unit, training unit, what they were in.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Do you have a particular D.I. that sticks out in your head that you liked, or you felt was a good mentor for you?

SANCHEZ: Staff Sergeant Warren. Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Warren. She was, she was from the islands, so she had like, a like a Jamaican accent. It was super cool. She was very stern, but she was fair. And I thought that was the 00:12:00best thing about her. She didn't play favorites. And when you asked her, or when she asked you to, not really, when she told you--

SPRAGUE: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: --to do something, you, you wanted to already do whatever she was going to say before she even said it. That's, there was just some--there was like a glow around her. You wanted to always please her, and not because you were worried about any kind of consequences or anything like that. It was just you had so much respect for her. You didn't want to let her down. And, you know, try to think ahead of what she might want done, you know, that kind of a thing. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Do you, and I bet you don't but, do you happen to remember Staff Sergeant Warren's first name?

SANCHEZ: I don't.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: No. I do have a picture of her at home. My whole platoon.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Wow, nice.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: Doesn't have her first name on it though.

SPRAGUE: Oh, nope. And I suspected not--

SANCHEZ: I'm pretty sure it was Staff Sergeant Warren. Now I'm just trying to think if that was her. Yeah, I think that was her.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: My senior drill instructor.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: Because now you got me thinking.

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: But I got it at home. It's, it's all, I have a picture of myself, and then everybody that was, that graduated together.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. Nice. Those are great photographs, by the way, that--

SANCHEZ: Oh

SPRAGUE: --looking back on that and seeing your peers.

SANCHEZ: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Any issues in terms of racial discrimination or anything like that?

SANCHEZ: Hmm. Let me think. I mean, there was two girls in my [laughs] that were in my barracks that didn't like each other, but I don't know if it was racial or that their last names were similar. So then when, they were called, there was a [Dotsen or Dotson??] and a dot--[Dotson or Dotsen??] or something like, it was real close. And when, you know, they would call the name and you were supposed 00:14:00to run up to the front and they'd both run up there and then they'd look at each other and then they would, "I was called up here." "No, I was called up here." Well then they would both be digging, you know, they drop. [Laughs] Because they didn't know how to talk to each other. So, yeah, I don't, I don't, I know I didn't have a problem with anybody. I, not that I was making friends with everybody, but I was able to, I don't know, just I don't want to say assimilate either because that's not the right term. But I was able to get along with everybody.

SPRAGUE: Mm-hmm.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, we were all there for the same goal.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. Was your family there for graduation?

SANCHEZ: Yes. [Laughs] I was, I was shocked because there was like five or six of us females and that didn't get any letters from home right away. And so I don't know what that was about, but because we were called and were like, Hey, why or did you get any correspondence yet, we're like, No, ma'am, you know, and 00:15:00then, they must have done something on their end. Maybe they were routed somewhere else wrong, or maybe nobody wanted to write at the time, I don't know. But then eventually got a flood of letters, so. But yeah, they did show up for graduation. I did not know that they were coming. I didn't--I just expected to have to take a plane home or something. I, I really didn't--or the bus. I had no idea. So it was, it was nice. It was nice to see them there. And they told me after, after the ceremony, after graduation, they said "we knew, we knew where you were exactly on the parade deck." And I'm like, "How in the world did you know I was, where I was on that parade deck? We all look the same." They're like, "Nope. We could tell by your lips." I was like.

[Both laugh]

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: What, uh, what were the--Were there specific grooming standards for 00:16:00female gendered soldiers at that time?

SANCHEZ: Oh. Grooming standards?

SPRAGUE: Yes. Grooming standards.

SANCHEZ: Oh, yeah. 30 of us in a shower in the [laughing] barracks shower. Let me tell you, I will never, I will never forget those. Because you lose all modesty in a heartbeat. And, hey, you know, they tell you to pack certain things and stuff when you are preparing to go to boot camp. And I did, I packed some things, but I mean, you're going to grab whatever soap you can grab, grab whatever, you know, washcloth you can grab. You're, you don't have time to shave your legs while you're in the shower. You do that when you have your, like little downtime once, because once you take a shower, you quickly get dressed, get called back online, and then once you're online, you get your senior drill instructor comes and talks to you and, you know, says whatever she's got to say, and then you're dismissed for about a half hour to do whatever you want to do, write letters or whatever. So at that time, you can take your time to go back 00:17:00and shave your legs and stuff like that. They did expect you to stay clean, not smell. So there were no beauty standards, there was no putting makeup on or anything like that. You're lucky you could get enough lotion on your skin so you weren't ashy in the morning. So usually us females, when you're training that hard, you don't have your menstrual cycle the whole time you're in boot camp. They say it's, that's very, very common. You don't have it because of the stress your body's going under.

SPRAGUE: Okay. How about in terms of the hair?

SANCHEZ: The hair. I was one of the two out of the 30 that kept their hair long, [laughs] so I learned to French braid my hair in 5 minutes flat. Didn't look pretty, but it was braided. Our drill instructors told us because, you know, 00:18:00they come up in the morning and they're like "Get out of the rack, get out of the rack," you know, and making as much noise as possible. And when you get out of the rack, you don't have time to stretch your arms out and pop your back. No, you're already in your, you know, your tee shirt, your, your, your shorts. You jump online real quick at attention. I mean, your hair better be done. So you always woke up ahead of time in the morning, braided your hair and just laid back to sleep. Now your braid can be down, but when you're getting your [cammys??] on and stuff, you have to be able to pin it up really quick. Otherwise your marched down to the beauty parlor where they'll conveniently and cut it off for you.

SPRAGUE: Wow, that seems pretty drastic to me.

SANCHEZ: Lot of guys are mad because they think we should have our heads shaved just like them. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong. I don't know. I think if you're able to keep your hair up and it's appropriate for training like we 00:19:00were at that time, I don't see a problem. I didn't have a problem with it. Like I said, I did not know how to French braid, but I learned, 5 minutes flat. And then after, you know, when we had downtime, you know, a couple of the girls was like, "You do it like this to make it tighter," blah, blah, blah. So yeah, we really depended on each other, you know, which was great because that's what all this was about, how to learn to trust each other without really knowing each other, but you knew, each other had each other's backs, at that time.

SPRAGUE: How about any particular memories from while at boot camp? PT?

SANCHEZ: Yeah. [Laughs]

SPRAGUE: What are some good ones or bad ones?

SANCHEZ: Well, here's some good ones. So we were running. We were running, I think we were coming back from the O-course or something. Part of one of the training courses we had, there was names for all little ones that, depending on which one you went to, and we were supposed to do a run against the guys. There was, I don't know if the drill instructors had a bet going or whatever, but so 00:20:00we were told that we better not let one male Marine pass us. So, we didn't. [Laughs] We had to run and there was a specific course that we had to run on and all of us females had to get past those males before those males got past us. So that was, and we did it, I mean, because I didn't want to dig, I, my--every time somebody messed up in my [laughs] in my platoon, it seemed like, they're like, "Sanchez, get on the ground." I was always in the sand pit. I was in the sand pit so much I developed hives. [Laughs]

SPRAGUE: So help me out here. Tell me a little bit more about the sandpit. Is that doing pushups--

SANCHEZ: Oh, yeah.

SPRAGUE: --or digging a hole or what is that?

SANCHEZ: Oh, yeah. No, you're in the sand put--pit doing pushups. Let me tell you, this is, this is South Carolina. There are sand fleas in that sandpit. And I got bit so bad. I had welts, I was swelling. You know, I'm like, "Ma'am, this 00:21:00is really, this is really hurting." "Dig." You know, and you just, just keep doing those pushups until they tell you to stop. Pretty much. Yeah. But it, I got to the point where I was like, when somebody screwed up, I was like, "Yes, ma'am." Without them even saying anything. And I'd walk out the door and just start, so.

SPRAGUE: That's got to be tough because then you've got sand on your hands and in your uniform--

SANCHEZ: Oh yeah.

SPRAGUE: --and you're trying to probably keep your uniform clean while you're training.

SANCHEZ: And you're sweaty.

SPRAGUE: And you're sweating.

SANCHEZ: [Laughs] Yeah, yeah.

SPRAGUE: Wow, that's gotta be nasty.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, but there's a, there's a bigger reason for it, you know, they're, they're trying to teach your, you know, a lesson. They had some of the girls that screwed up stand there while me and a couple of other girls were in the sand pit pushing--doing pushups because of their mess up. So they were trying to get it in their head that, you know, you mess up it, it affects everybody else. So sometimes not a good way to make these girls want to work together sometimes, 00:22:00you know, because in a way, you know, you could be like, we're going to get her later, you know, [laughs] kind of a thing. But, you know, I didn't hold anything against anybody because I thought, dang, my, my arms are going to look great after this. You know, it's just a whole mindset. You got you got to put yourself in a different state of mind because the training is really different from the other services.

SPRAGUE: Can you tell me about jumping back to graduation? What, what that's like to become a marine?

SANCHEZ: Oh my gosh. I felt like I could fly. It was incredible knowing I had gone through all that time. You know, cause it's supposed to be three months, but I was there a little bit, no four months I think, because of the injury I had. And then, being able to complete the training and know that they were confident in the training I received to be able to earn that title as a United 00:23:00States Marine. You know, we have a cover pinning ceremony. I don't know if the males go through it as well. I know the females do. So they take off our cover and they put them the Marine Corps emblem on there, and then they replace your cover, and your drill instructors do that for you. And, you just feel, you feel like a total different person. It's, it's like you're, it's like an out of body experience almost. Maybe not for everybody. For me, that's how it was. I just, it was something I accomplished that I had wanted to accomplish ever since I was like seven or eight years old. You know? Yeah.

SPRAGUE: And help me out on this. They call that the Eagle Globe and Anchor?

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm, yeah.

SPRAGUE: Tell me about the meaning behind that.

SANCHEZ: Oh, God. No, you got me. Now you got me mess--

SPRAGUE: Uh-oh, no, no stress. No worries. I just remember hearing that from a 00:24:00number of Marines about--

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: eagle, globe, anchor. And I'm like, "What are you talking about?" They're like--[both laugh].

SANCHEZ: There, there is a lot of significant meaning behind it. I, you got me all, like--

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: --messed up right now. I'm just thinking about the pinning ceremony.

SPRAGUE: Oh, okay. If you want to talk more about that.

SANCHEZ: No, because, I mean, basically, that's what that pinning ceremony is. It's just you finally earned that emblem that stands for the Marine Corps. You know, because we have such rich history and, you know, with the Navy, you know, we're Department of the Navy, and we travel all around the globe. I mean, there is nowhere that we won't go, you know, and we fight for freedom. So hence the American eagle. So, yeah, I mean, we are though, we are supposed to be the world's finest fighting force, and we're expected to live up to that. Be ready within 24 hours to deploy anywhere.

SPRAGUE: What, what do you do on the Marine Corps birthday? Do you do anything 00:25:00that day?

SANCHEZ: I went to, I went to one Marine Corps birthday celebration when I was in. The first one, and then I didn't go back after that. It's people get together, they eat, they drink. There's dancing to music, you know, just hanging out with people that you might not normally be able to hang out with. But yeah, I've only went, I only went to one. I haven't been the one since.

SPRAGUE: Okay

SANCHEZ: You know, there's, well there's, you know, none around here. [Laughs] You'd have to really travel. I've been invited, but, you know. Yeah, they are big to do. You dress up if you can fit back into your, your blues, you wear your blues [laughs]. Otherwise, you know, formal wear is usually a good attire. I'd love to go back to one. Yeah, I would love a do over. I think I could have a do over, huh?

SPRAGUE: Oh, absolutely.

[Both laugh]

SPRAGUE: Okay, so you graduate from boot, you become a Marine. What happens next?

SANCHEZ: I got to take, like, 30 days of leave. So I came back home, and then I needed to report to my first duty station, which was my schooling.

SPRAGUE: Mm-hmm.

SANCHEZ: So I went to Norfolk. That's where I went. So it was a little amphibious base, and I was sent there for a logistics/embarkation. So basically learning to, how to properly load and plan, getting our troops and our equipment wherever we needed to go. So that was the 0431.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And was that in Norfolk? Was that like Little River or what was the name of that base, do you remember?

SANCHEZ: It was a little amphibious base--

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: --in Norfolk. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. What, I was curious and reading about this, what, in 1991, what, was there, was there a computing? Was there an automated system? How did the Corps plan to load the amphibious craft? I mean, were there, was there like templates? Was there paper? How did it work?

SANCHEZ: It was all paper. It was all paper back then. I mean, in school while we were in school, that's how we were learning. We'd go to classrooms, we'd have these thick books with all the like sch--not, not complete schematics, but like schematics of the sizes of the ships, aircraft. You know, we'd have to learn what each of those were, what could be loaded on, what couldn't be loaded off, our--on or off. So basically weights, things like that. Yeah, I can't remember 00:28:00how long school was, though. I'm thinking it was at least, 12, 16 weeks at least, I'm thinking.

SPRAGUE: Oh, wow. Okay.

SANCHEZ: It was long.

SPRAGUE: Wow.

SANCHEZ: It was a long time. There was a lot to learn. I mean--

SPRAGUE: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: --because if you don't balance something right [laughing] you can cause all sorts of problems, though. Yeah. Was interesting.

SPRAGUE: So help me out with this. Traditionally, the logistics/embarkation specialist, do they work under, in the Army we call it the G4 or S4 or log E, and on the enlisted side, they would have, they'd be doing the work and planning it, or how does it?

SANCHEZ: S4.

SPRAGUE: S4? Okay.

SANCHEZ: S4. Yeah. I didn't go to S4.

SPRAGUE: Nope, yep, we, I heard about that.

SANCHEZ: [Laughs]

SPRAGUE: Yep. Yeah. So we're going to get to, I'm with you there.

SANCHEZ: [Laughing] Okay.

SPRAGUE: I'm cur--before we get there, though--

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Any particular reason? I'm curious why you chose logistics.

SANCHEZ: I didn't.

SPRAGUE: Oh, okay.

SANCHEZ: I did not choose logistics. When I was signing up. And I, you know, you go to MEPS [Military Entrance Processing Station], you go through all your medical and stuff like that, and then, you know, they talk to you about where the need is. It's not exactly where you want to go, it's if they find a need, a billet, if you will, that they think you'll be able to fill, then they'll suggest that that's where they're putting you. [Laughs] That's how that 04 came about.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: And I specifically remembering table with like four guys sitting around and they're like, look, 0431s, they get promoted pretty darn fast. So this, this will be a good one. This will be a good one for you. And I'm like, "I don't know anything about, you know, ships and, you know, helicopters." And they go, "Well, you'll learn." [Laughs] So yeah, that was, I was like, "Okay. Well, if that's where they need me." Because again, when I walked into the recruiter's office, I'm like, "You tell me what you and my country needs me to do." I was gonna do 00:30:00what they told me to.

SPRAGUE: What were the classes like?

SANCHEZ: Long, Long. Because you're trying to get all this information into your head. You're trying to PT, and you're trying to make friends while you're at this new school, you know? And then you got all these other people that are around you. I mean, you're, you're fresh out of boot camp, you know, and you're just trying to find your way out in the fleet now, because you're in the fleet, and things aren't the same as they were in boot camp.

SPRAGUE: Help me out here. What does, being an Army guy, what is, what does it mean out in the fleet? Help me out.

SANCHEZ: When you're out of boot camp.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: You're actually in the mix of it.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And then, so what was the discipline, discipline like at that advanced training? What was that, versus at basic? Was it more relaxed? Was it 00:31:00more strin--

SANCHEZ: Oh gosh, it was way relaxed. You pretty much had to police yourself. We did have a sergeant that was kind of like, a platoon sergeant that was in charge of our class, which it was, it was okay but, me and the other two females that were in the class, we were not used to having to take orders from men. So he didn't seem like he knew how to give orders to females. It was, it was weird. It really was. It was almost like he was asking at times, and kind of just give him a look like, you know, it was it was odd. It was very odd.

SPRAGUE: And what were you, how were you expecting him to give you orders?

SANCHEZ: Tell us what to do. You know, just like our female drill instructors did. But he seemed a little taken aback, you know, by having to deal with some 00:32:00females, you know, that were under his watch, you know. So that was, that was different. But I don't know if that was just on him, or if most males are like that. I wouldn't think most males are like that, but who am I? I don't, I don't know. You know.

SPRAGUE: And you said you were, the two females out of the entire class?

SANCHEZ: There was three of us together.

SPRAGUE: Three total, out of how many total roughly?

SANCHEZ: Oh, gosh. I want to say that there was maybe 16 of us. 15 of us? Yeah. I can't quite remember.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: There's, there's, there's a couple of them that I do remember, but yeah.

SPRAGUE: Any memories that stick out in your head from that experience and going to that school.

SANCHEZ: Oh gosh, we didn't PT with the guys. There was a track across from where we were staying on the base, like a running track. So me and the other two 00:33:00females went over there, and we would run the track. But when it came time to go like, we called them field trips, when we had to go different places. We'd have to go, they'd always take us like in a five ton. So they would help us up into the five ton. It was kind of cool. It was kind of like riding in the back of a truck, you know, back in the day. [Laughing] That's the way we kind of looked at it [inaudible] said, "Oh, wonder where the beers at." You know we're, kind of laughing and joking and stuff like that. But for the most part, the guys that were in my class were, they were all right. You know, they were just like normal, everyday guys, you know? Yeah. So nothing really stands out too much from that.

SPRAGUE: Okay. So tell me about your first duty assignment. Your first station.

SANCHEZ: [Laughing] Oh god. So this is why I'm not an S4. So I had to go, I 00:34:00drove to North Carolina because I, after clas--after school, got to come home for a little bit. And then I told my mom, "Hey, I got to report to Camp Lejeune." And she goes, "Well, you gonna take a plane?" I'm like, "No, I'm gonna buy a car and I'm gonna drive there." And she goes, "Okay." She was fine with it. My dad's like, "You can't do that. I'll drive you there." And I'm like, "I'm a Marine, Dad. I can drive myself. I'll be all right." "You can't drive that way by yourself." I said, "Dad I'll," he was a truck, truck driver. He was concerned. And before that, my, back in the day, my dad was a sheriff's deputy. So, you know, he's very protective, you know. And I said, "Dad, I got this. I'll be fine." So my, my oldest sister went with me, and I bought a Ford Escort [laughs] which is a car. Anyway, so. Yeah, I drove to North, well, on my way to North Carolina, I stopped along the way and picked up one of the guys that I met 00:35:00in school, because we were both assigned to the same duty station. So, picked him up. Then we went to North Carolina, and we checked in and it was like 6:00 or 7:00 at night. And we got to base, and their guards there and they're like, you know, "state the matter of your business," blah, blah, blah. And we're like, "well, we're, we're both checking in for, you know, our first duty station." "Ahhhh," you know, and then they kind of give you crap right away, you know. And they're like, "okay, you go down the road here and then you report to that building over there."

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: "Okay." So we got there, we got to the building and they, they dealt with Scott right away. That was his name. And so then they're like the guy at the duty hut. He's like, "I don't know what to do with you." I'm like, "Come again?" And he's like, "I do not have anywhere to put a female." He goes, "I 00:36:00have a barracks full of guys right here, come hell or high water, I'm not putting you in there with them." And I'm like, "Oh, should I just go get a hotel? Or, you know, how does this work? I don't know." He goes, "I don't know. I really don't." He goes, "We're going to figure this out. Give me a minute." So he went and he made a couple of calls or whatever, and he came back. I was sitting there just I didn't have a phone or anything. I was just sitting there just looking around. People are looking at me as I was walk--as they were walking in because I was the only female sitting there, you know, and he comes back and he goes, "You're going to stay in the duty hut tonight in this little room. There's a, there's a bed in there." And he goes, "If you need to come out," he goes, "You make sure I'm out here, and you lock that door." I said, "Okay." I said, "All right am I in trouble or anything?" He goes, "No but you 00:37:00could be." [Laughing] I was like, "Okay." So.

SPRAGUE: Oh my God.

SANCHEZ: That was my first introduction to Camp Lejeune. Yeah. And so I asked him, I said, "Well, what's I, I don't understand, what is, like, what's going on?" And he goes, "Well," he goes, "You're going to find out. You're going to get a lot of attention around here." And I'm like, "Well, I'm not, I'm not looking for any attention." And I said, "I'm here to report to school and--or, or to, for my first duty." And he's like, "Well," he's like, "On Camp Lejeune, men outnumber the women 14-15 to 1. Welcome." What? [Laughs] So that next morning he didn't pound on the door or, you know, wake me up or anything. I was up at 6:00 and I was like, well, do I go out there? Do I just peek or, you know, what do I do? You know, because I, you know, so I, I was like, well, you know 00:38:00what, I wasn't given anything, so I'm going to, I'm going to count this like a Saturday. [Laughs] I'm gonna just get up, get dressed and then I'm going to just make my presence known. Well, there was somebody else that was at the you know, in the little duty hut area right there at the desk. And he said, "Well, good morning." And I'm like, "Good morning." He goes, "Welcome to Camp Lejeune." And I'm like, "Yeah, people keep saying that." And then, and then he's like, "Yeah, so-and-so told me that you were here." He goes, "I didn't know if I should knock. I didn't want to bother you." I, you know, you know, he was like, he was apologizing. And I'm like, Oh, okay. Well, I wasn't sure what to do either. So I just popped out whenever, you know, kind of a thing. And he goes, yeah, you need to report to building, blah, blah, blah. It, you know, check in for your, for your assignment. I'm like, okay, all right. You know, he gave me instruction little map of Lejeune, how to get there. And I reported over to the building, and I was like, okay, Bridget, you can do this, you know, because I'm on my own, you know? So I walk up to the building, I'll walk into the door and this 00:39:00corporal's at the desk. And he goes, "Good morning, Welcome to Camp Lejeune." And I'm like, "[sighs]Good morning." You know, [laughs] at this point I'm like, mmh. And he's like, Hmm. He's looking over my paperwork because I handed him the folder. He's like, "You're an 04." I'm like, "Yes." And he's like, "Can you type?" I'm like, "Yeah, what 04 can't?" you know. That was that much, just the exact same way, like. And he goes, "Hmm, you're going to, you're going to G3." And I'm like, "Excuse me." He goes, "You're going to G3." I said, "No, I'm not. I'm going to S4." "No, you're going to G3." I said, "No, I'm not. I'm going to S4." I said, "I'm logistics and embarkation. I can't do anything at G3." And then the captain came over and he goes, "You're going to G3." And I said, "Yes, sir." [Laughs] So I was officially an 0151 in admin. [Laughs] All because I 00:40:00could type. So you know, where, they find you have a skill, and they need it. That's where you go. [Laughs]

SPRAGUE: What was going through your mind that morning and the experience that you were having there at Camp Lejeune?

SANCHEZ: I, it set off all sorts of warning alarms. Like why, why does everybody keep telling me this? Is there something I should prepare myself for? What is going on? You know, I wish I could talk to another female right now. There wasn't very many that I had spotted. And if I did, they were like, driving past me or, you know, somewhere in a back somewhere or, you know, I, I really didn't, really didn't know anybody, you know. So I kind of felt alone.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. Okay, so you report to the G3 at some point.

SANCHEZ: Mm hmm.

SPRAGUE: Tell me about that, or what happened next?

SANCHEZ: Um, so I go up to the building, they assign me somebody there to be like my, the person to show me around, to be my buddy, you know? And that was Mike [Munro or Monrow??]. He had just come back from overseas. He was in Okinawa. And so he was assigned to G3. So I was kind of his little shadow. And he showed me where my barracks were and, you know, got me all checked into there, because there was a whole checklist of things. Had to take me to battalion to make sure I had everything checked marked there, had to go to medical check everything there. So, yeah, it was it was quite a thing. So he's 00:42:00the one who actually showed me around base. Yeah, pretty much so. And he's, he's still a lifelong friend to this day. Him and his, him and his wife. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Wow.

SANCHEZ: We became such good friends that when he was ready to propose to his wife, he asked me to accompany him to the jewelers to pick out a ring for her. And that was probably one of the, another biggest honors ever in my entire life was to do that, because I cherished his wife. She's, she's one of my very, very good friends. So. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Okay. What, how did, once you got in processed, what you're describing, what was the next thing that happened to you?

SANCHEZ: Oh, I don't know. Just having to meet everybody at the building because it, it was a big building. I don't know if the building's even there anymore, 00:43:00because it was the Force Service Support Group that it was attached to. 2nd Force Service Support Group. They don't even exist anymore. I know they were merged into something else, and I haven't kept track. Tell you it's been, well, you know how many years now. But that's where I met a few females, was in that building and I was very thankful for that. It was able to be able to talk to some of the girls. And then in my barracks, of course, it was, it was a mixture in the in the barracks. You know, females were in these rooms, males were over here in these rooms. So that was weird, you know, because you I mean, you can hang out with each other, you know, sit at picnic tables, you know. And you lived right there. So that was, that was kind of cool. I really liked my, my roommates. I only, I had one roommate and then I had another one when she left. 00:44:00But yeah, I, headquarters and service battalion. Um, it just it just seemed so big when you had to fall in for formation. And then I was like, Look, I work for G3. I got to go. I this fallin' in business is not for me. [Laughs] So, I mean, don't get me wrong, I was, I always gave like, like the first sergeant a hard time, but like, I had to be to work by, like seven in the morning, you know, and they wanted you to fall in at, at seven. I'm like, you know, he tried to get me in trouble at my, you know, G3 saying, "Hey, she needs to be here for formation." And they're like, "No, she doesn't." [Laughs] So there are, there are good privileges for working in the general's building, you know, so.

SPRAGUE: So help me out here. Tell me a little, if you can, what a force, I know 00:45:00they no longer exist, but what a FS, SG does?

SANCHEZ: Well, that's just the whole group. That is, we are, we, our whole group would like if something bad would happen, would get called up to support war. Like if we had to go to, like when Iraq started and stuff like that. I didn't go, a lot of my people did, you know. So they're therefore to support in any way. Um, so like my logistics and embarkation stuff really came in handy at that time because I was there as a backup in the building because we had these like, these, like small, small, small Connex boxes and foot lockers and things that had to be labeled properly because if they were going to get shipped out with some stuff that, you know, that the officers were going to take with them, you 00:46:00know, I had to have all that stuff cataloged and kept in a binder when everything was checked. What was all in there. If something was missing when, when we were going to get it from supply. So that was my small part of the duty. But what everybody else did, I don't, I'm not really too sure that was just what I--

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: --was asked to do--

SPRAGUE: And--

SANCHEZ: --even though I was working in admin up there in the generals building.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. So the G3 sits in the headquarters within the service battalion?

SANCHEZ: Headquarters Service Battalion was down in French, off near French Creek. French Creek is where our barracks were. So it was like off to the side. But when you drive straight in on Camp Lejeune and you just keep driving straight up the road, soon as the road, would run right into G3. That was my 00:47:00building right there.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: Right on the water.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Like I said, I haven't been back since. I don't even know if the building exists. I know that they were supposed to, like, move things around on base because of the water, you know, because the water was so bad. I don't know how things changed since then.

SPRAGUE: That would be one of my later questions. What did you, you've, you're talking about the drinking water, correct?

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: So tell me, you had any experience or feedback on that?

SANCHEZ: Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: If you're willing to share.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: If you can, to the degree that you can.

SANCHEZ: Well, I.

SPRAGUE: Or you don't have to that's okay too.

SANCHEZ: No, I will. Because it, it, it, really, I should share it.

SPRAGUE: And we don't need any personal medical information.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. There was--There was a, you know they have the cutoff date is 1987 that you can say, oh, I was there, and I got contaminated water. 1987 is 00:48:00the date that's the cutoff date. The water was not fixed in 1987. We continuously got boil order waters on base all the time. Now, when you're out in the field, you're dipping your canteen in the stream. You know, there is, they don't always bring a water buffalo around, you know, so we're drinking that water. We're out trudging around in that water. For them to have a cutoff date I think is a slap in the face. There was several of us just in my small knit group that I had that the guys that I knew from school, that got sick. We all got sick. And it was, it wasn't like right away. But as years have progressed, you 00:49:00know, things are not right. You, you go, you're like, "Hey, I'm really sick of these really bad stomach aches," and stuff like that. And you're like, "You'll be fine. Take some Tums, take some Pepto," you know? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Navy corpsman. They are great. They are wonderful. But, you know, you got to take your pain. They're going to say [in a deep voice] "Take some ibuprofen," you know, kind of a thing. And, you do, and you laugh it off because, you know. The people I work with, I work at the VA now and, and we are always giving each other little jabs and stuff like that. It's great. But that's just how they handled things, you know. And you're trying not to look like a wuss. You are a United States Marine. You're not going to let a little stomachache hold you back. But things got bad a few years after. And, you know, and you hear people that ended up with this cancer, or this ailment or whatever, and we're dropping off like flies, the ones of us that were at Camp Lejeune. I know there's other 00:50:00bases where they had really, really bad water that it got contaminated. But I, all I can say is my experience from Camp Lejeune, we are all sick with something, that's chronic and just, and debilitating. If I didn't have the VA to help me with my health care, I, I don't know what I would do. That's the only thing that's helping me through this right now. One of my very best friends, Wyatt, just died about a week ago. He had suffered with colon cancer for many years. He was my brother. Brother from another mother. He was great. We shared a birthday. We were birthday twins. And it's hard. What do you do? How do you get 00:51:00people to listen? So, I think they could take that date and shove it, [both laugh] and start taking care of the, the veterans. I mean, for crying out loud. I mean, they just started taking care of the Vietnam vets. They're, they're a little too late. A lot of them are passed on, you know, should've never have taken that long to take care of the Vietnam War vets. You know, with all the chemicals and stuff. And they're like, oh, there was no chemical wars in Iraq. Lie. [Laughs] There was all sorts of chemicals. I never deployed overseas. But, you know, when your friends come back, you're mixing, you're mingling. You see what happens to them. My daughter was born with a birth defect. I say it's 00:52:00because of the water on Camp Lejeune. I hope I can someday prove it to get her compensation because she didn't sign up for it. I did.

SPRAGUE: If you need to--

SANCHEZ: I'm okay.

SPRAGUE: Okay. You're okay.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPARGUE: Okay. Do you need a break?

SANCHEZ: No. I'm okay.

SPRAGUE: You okay?

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Um. What would be a good--Do you have any sense of what would be a good cut off here at Lejeune? Not 1987, obviously.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, yep.

SPRAGUE: Later, I'm assuming when they started cleaning it up or had completed cleanup.

SANCHEZ: That's just it. I don't think you ever can complete the cleanup. Once that soil is contaminated, it's contaminated. And it's going to be for many, many, many years. I mean, how are we to know how long? I think what they should do is like what they're doing now with the Pact Act, if you're coming across 00:53:00with any of those kinds of cancers or, you know, Crohn's, or colitis or any kind of issues like that, all that should be covered, every single bit of it. People are losing their eyesight at a young age. Brain tumors, tumors in their lungs, kidneys, you name it. It should be covered. You're a veteran. It should be covered. And--

SPRAGUE: You're talk--Go ahead. Sorry.

SANCHEZ: Oh, I was going to say there's, there's more of a difference between I mean, if you've been to a certain place, a certain base and they've had issues like that and you end up you were in it, you were there when they were, you know, when this was actively going on, not just the cutoff date they decided on, their water system, wasn't cleaned up by then, then cover that veteran, because 00:54:00that veteran has done so much for this country. You know, don't, don't, a cutoff date is just really ridiculous. You know, when we sign our name on that dotted line, it goes through our end of life. You know, we're agreeing to give the United States of America our lives don't give us a cutoff date. It's, it's rude. [Laughs] It's rude.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. Yeah. You had mentioned the, The Pact Act.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: What, what was--Please help me and remind me on this, what were the chemicals that, that were at Lejeune? Or do you happen to remember what the names of them were by chance?

SANCHEZ: No, I don't remember all the names.

SPRAGUE: Okay, no worries. Yeah.

SANCHEZ: There was several. I know. It's like the guys were telling me too, like when they were told to, like, spray stuff down with that foam. I can't remember the name of the foam. I think it's PG something or whatever.

SPRAGUE: PFE maybe.

SANCHEZ: PFE, maybe [both] yeah. You know, they were doing it. They had their shirts off spraying, you know, it's hot outside and nobody told them to wear gloves, a mask, you know, a respirator. There was none of that. You know, we did what we were told to do when we were told to do it and how we were told to do it. So now that they're finding all this stuff out, that it's causing all these cancers and things. Yeah. It's there's a lot of chemicals that were involved, just like with the burn pits, you know.

SPRAGUE: Anything else on your experience with that Lejeune that you'd like to share in terms of that exposure?

SANCHEZ: I know there's more, more of us out there that are suffering and have not come to the VA for help yet. The VA used to have a really, really bad rep, 00:56:00the health care system side of it, and I want people to know that there have been huge changes, leaps and bounds, and especially now for females, that please go to the your, your county service veteran officer, get enrolled into the VA health care system and let them start taking care of you. You don't have to try to wing it out of pocket or you know, oh, you got, you got, you know, uterine cancer. Oh, it just happens. If you were in service, get it checked out through the VA, because it's probably attesting to something that you did while in service. I mean, one of the girls that I heard of, she was on a Navy ship working close to the nuclear reactor side of it. She had breast cancer. So, you know, I mean, it's not just because you're a female, you're going to get breast 00:57:00or uterine cancer. It could very well be tied into something you were doing in service. So please reach out.

SPRAGUE: Okay. When, going back to the G3, G3 office, did they send you to new training to become a 151 or?

SANCHEZ: No. No, that was an MOS that they could have sent me, but I really could type very well. So, no, no, I just I just pretty much just trained on the job. You know, Mike would say, hey, these are some of the reports the, the officers will bring these reports in. And what we have to do is, you know, they were just like handwritten or whatever, and we'd have to just type them, type them up and then take them to the comm center in the evening, take them back and 00:58:00forth to the officers, you know, in case, you know, please review this. Is exactly what you meant? You know, basically a glorified secretary, if you will.

SPRAGUE: Help me out on this. What type of equipment were you typing these up on?

SANCHEZ: Regular computers? Just regular, regular old. It was like DOS. [Both laugh] I got there right after they you know, they, they. I'm sure they upgraded. So [laughs]

SPRAGUE: So, you weren't still on typewriters. You were on a computer.

SANCHEZ: We were on a computer finally.

SPRAGUE: So you at least had a word processor of some type.

SANCHEZ: There, yep. There were, there were typewriters, but I was not required to, to use them. Yeah. They had the, they had those, the OCR balls.

SPRAGUE: Yep.

SANCHEZ: You remember those?

SPRAGUE: Yep.

SANCHEZ: Okay. [Laughs] Yeah.

SPRAGUE: I grew up on the typewriter.

SANCHEZ: Okay. Yeah, I.

SPRAGUE: I grew up on a manual typewriter and then an electric typewriter, but, yeah, not relevant. Uh, what, what, you know, what were the in the G3s office? 00:59:00Those officers are bringing you those reports. They're asking for you to type them up. They're going to the comm center. What were the working conditions like there?

SANCHEZ: Well, it was mutual, mutual respect, believe it or not. I mean, the officers were very respectful of the enlisted. You know, when you're when you're first in you're like, oh, you know, the yeah, I got to be very careful. That's an officer, you know, blah, blah, blah. But I found that the officers that I worked with at G3 were fantastic. They really were. They were kind again, they were stern. They when they wanted something, they wanted something, which was fine. I expected that. And I, to this day, I'm black and white. Don't give me any gray areas. You tell me what you want. Don't beat around the bush. I'm not 01:00:00going to guess what you want. And I think since you understand each other like that, it's much easier to work with somebody. You know, when you have those standards saying, okay, this is, this is how you, you, you can communicate the best to me. And it wasn't just Marine Corps officers. It was naval officers up there. We always had like visiting officers from like another base. So there was all sorts of people that you got to meet in that building. And I felt really privileged because I'm thinking, man, if I was at S4, [laughs] i'd be in some little dumpy shop, not experiencing all this. So yeah, and our group up there was so good, you know, in the G3 area that we would do picnics together and play volleyball together. One of the, one of the officers, he was older, and he was 01:01:00like, he'd have this like, look in his face real, you know, stern and everything. And he would never crack a smile. But I remember this one time we were playing volleyball and I was trying to hit the volleyball and I hit the volleyball, and I hit myself right in the face. [Laughs] And he started laughing so hard. And I said, "Well, at least, I'm still having fun."

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: And he just, he just thought that that was hilarious, that I could just, be just that silly, you know, and but still be that good of a of a coworker. You know, that there was a silly side to all of us. You know, it was good to see them crack like that a little bit and just enjoy themselves, you know, because I'm sure that these officers had it rough. You know, it's the Marine Corps, for God's sakes, you know, and day in, day out, they're not only worrying about. themselves, they're worried about their family and what's going on in the Corps. And, you know, so it was good to see a lighter side of the 01:02:00officers at times. So, yeah.

SPRAGUE: Tell us, you had mentioned in the pre-interview about General Wall, is that right?

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Tell me about him, if you would, or.

SANCHEZ: He--okay, so he was--okay. So he was the general for for G3. He was downstairs, like not, not for G 3. He, he was the general of the building, or the, yeah. Or base? I can't remember now. No, he was in the building. He was in the building because the Marine that drove him around all the time. His office was there. So he, he was just really nice. He was really cool. I mean, he was down to earth, like he'd be running up the stairs and you'd be running down the 01:03:00stairs. "Hey, sir, how you doing?" "It's a great day in the Corps." "Yes, sir, it is."

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: You know, it was just. It was wonderful. I mean, it wasn't like. You had to, like, he wasn't all, like, pomp and circumstance, you know what I'm saying? It was. He was just really, like, a really neat guy. Like, he wasn't there to stress you out. [Laughs] I don't know if I should say this or not. But his driver was having girlfriend problems, and so he kind of went AWOL, a couple of days, and. He's like, "Hey. Did you see so-and-so?" And I'm like, "No, sir, I haven't." He goes, "Ah his girlfriend's stressing him out. He hasn't been to work for a couple of days." I say, "Sir he's AWOL?" And he goes, "We'll call it he's on an extended leave." I said--[Both laugh]

SPRAGUE: Oh, my gosh. Wow, that could be helpful.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. So he was, he was very, he was just great. He was great. I mean, but there was other good, good. You know, people other officers are there. Colonel Higgenbothom was up in G3 with me. Colonel Whittle was up there with me. I haven't met one officer that was really a jerk, you know, it was some of the enlisted that were jerks, actually, you know, to each other. But. But, Colonel Whittle, one thing--[laughs]. Colonel Whittle, I love him. He was great. He, um. So he. He said, "Hey, [Monroe??]," that was Mike's last name. He said, "Let's go take a drive. I have to go check some things out." He goes, "Sanchez you come to you need to get out of this office a while." "Yes, sir. Okay." So we go and, pile down into the Humvee, right? So the Marine Corps doesn't have the finest 01:05:00equipment, as you might know. That's the Air Force case anybody's listening here.

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: Might be Space Force. Now, I don't know, but anyway. So we get into the Hummer, and it's, it's a good Hummer, but she's old and she smokes every time you're driving her down the road. So we're driving down the road and it's smoking. It's normal. Okay. We aren't even worried. And we're going down the road. And I don't know if you ever been on Lejeune, but it's, it's there's trees on either side of the road. You know, driving down towards the beach and Colonel Whittle is like, "Hey, Monroe, pull over. Let's see if we can help these guys out over here." There was, there was a bunch of Marines pulled over with a Hummer. All right, so we pull over. I'm in the backseat. Monroe is driving Colonel Whittle's riding shotgun, and he's like, "Hey, boys, is there something we can help you with?" Now, granted, our Hummer is smoking, right? And the 01:06:00Marines are all looking at each other. A couple of them have their, you know, their Cammy tops off they're in their T-shirts because they're underneath the hood trying to fix something or whatever. And, and they're like, "No, sir, we think we're going to get it but, how about you? Are you okay? Does that always happen?" [Both laugh] Oh, my gosh, It was, it was quite the memory. And I just remember sitting there thinking, this is like being back home, you know, back in the neighborhood, driving around. Hey, your car's not working the best. And you're just checking on your neighbors to make sure they're okay, because, you see, they're pulled over on the side of the road, you know? So it was just like, you just felt. You felt ok--it felt okay. It felt okay to be there. You know, in that moment, it really did. You're just like we're just some people together checking on these other people over here, you know? And I don't remember where we had to go to. I don't know if it was Headquarters Service Battalion or what. I can't quite remember where we went after that. But I, I remember that that 01:07:00instance, it was just so funny that our Hummer was not the best, but we were pulling over and checking on these guys because it was hot out. And Colonel Whittle was like, "Oh, let's check on make sure they're okay." He didn't know if they had water or anything like that or if anybody knew that they were stuck on the side of the road. So I just thought that was really cool. He cared enough. It wasn't he was a colonel and like, well, I have my own things to do today. No, we stopped, and we checked on this other group of Marines. Hey, you all right? You know, is there anything we can do for you? Want some water? You know, so it's people like that that look beyond themselves that you really admire and want to live up to. Colonel Whittle was one of them. Colonel Higgenbothom too.

SPRAGUE: Whittle, W-H-I-T-T-L-E?

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm.

SPRAGUE: Higgenbothom, H-I-G-G-E-N-B-O-T-H-O-M.

SANCHEZ: Wish I would have brought my pictures with me. I have pictures with 01:08:00them. So.

SPRAGUE: Well, you have an opportunity later. You can share them with us if you'd like to.

SANCHEZ: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. Yeah. So did you run into any harassment or discrimination issues in the G3?

SANCHEZ: Uh. Harassment. Yeah. A Navy guy. Ended up--I babysat for him, him and his wife had two kids, and they were selling Amway. [Laughs] Remember when Amway was big?

SPRAGUE: Tell the listener what am--well, kind of what Amway was about.

SANCHEZ: Amway was where you could, you buy these products to try to get your friends to buy these products from you. So it's like a pyramid scheme thing. And it was like soaps and detergents and all sorts of things like that. So I don't 01:09:00remember if there was like cloths or it was just, just a lot of mishmash of products. But yeah, and yeah, and I don't know if he thought it was okay to be overly friendly, but it was not okay to be overly friendly. I was in office one day and he came into the office to talk to me and, and I was busy. I was, I was typing. I said, well, I'll have to talk to you later. And so I was typing and all of a sudden, he put his arm around me, started rubbing my back, and I said, "Stop touching me." That's I said it. And there was two other females in my office at that time, and there, and they stopped what they were doing and he was like, "whoa, I didn't mean anything by it." And I'm like, "I do not want to be touched." And, you know, he, he came up to the office a lot to talk to me. And I don't know because he just like to wander around, talk to people or whatever. 01:10:00But when he touched me that one time, that freaked me out. Don't touch me, You know, so he got reported, you know, because he shouldn't of touched me without asking kind of a thing. But that was that in that office, you know, the girls, we had to get along, even if, like, I had a couple, like a corporal that was pretty bossy, female corporal. But I think that was just her, her nature. I mean, I never anything against her or the other corporal that, I think the other girl was a lance corporal at the time. I didn't have anything against them, just told me what to do. And I'm like, well, okay. You know, But yeah. No, I really didn't have any problems with anybody in my office. I really enjoyed working in G3. So yeah, there was some I finally met some female officers, which was great. 01:11:00There was two, um, Colonel Williams and I cannot remember for the life of me, the other officer's name. She was going to teach me how to shoot a 9mm, and I thought that was really cool. But the other officer whose name I can't remember, and I never did get that opportunity. I don't know why I, why we never really set that up. But I was like, Yeah, I'd love to learn to shoot a 9mm because they, you know, they were, they all were instructed in how to shoot with 9mm. So yeah, but remember, you know, I really didn't have a problem with any, anybody I know they used to joke with me because Corporal [Hulett??], her dad was a captain there. So they worked, like, in the same office. [Laughs] And I remember she was this blond girl, and she was nice, but she was quiet. So she didn't she 01:12:00didn't talk very much. And then they'd always tease me, though, and she'd get in on it because I, I had a really good memory with numbers like, Hey, what's the number for blah, blah, blah, you know, Headquarters Service Battalion. And I'd be able to rattle off the number off top of my head. And they're like, How do you do that? And I'm like, I don't know. All these numbers just stick in my head and the stuff I want to stay doesn't, you know.

[Both Laugh]

SANCHEZ: I don't know. So yeah.

SPRAGUE: You had mentioned in the pre-interview if you could help and I know you said a lot about it already, your experiences and that instant connection with females.

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm.

SPRAGUE: Any more examples that you can share?

SANCHEZ: Oh, well, anywhere you go on base, and you saw female, pretty much you 01:13:00would make an instant connection with, because there wasn't many of you and you're kind of sparse. I mean, it was a really big flipping base, you know. So I mean, if you go over to headquarters service battalion because you had to go to admin for something or whatever and you saw a female, you would instantly like be able to like just start talking about anything and everything, you know, because it was just like, oh, there's one, you know, it was like a rare sighting, you know, like a rare animal, you know? Yeah.

SPRAGUE: [Laughs] And this sort of been like '92--

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: --to '94, roughly.

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm.

SPRAGUE: Wow.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Uh, when you talk to females who've served in the Corps since when you were in, do you get an impression that things have changed at all or they're different?

SANCHEZ: No. No. The only thing that's changed now is that they are training with the males, and that's in Pendleton, I believe, that they're doing that. I 01:14:00don't know if South Carolina has already flipped over to that or not. But they do have the females training with the males, and females do do the Crucible now, they started doing that think back in like '96, maybe? I got out in '94. So yeah, must have been '96 I'm thinking when they started doing that alongside the males, because I remember one day at work, one of the guys was like, "Hey, how did you handle the Crucible?" And I'm like, "Well, either I had a traumatic brain experience--"

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: "--or I didn't do it." And he goes, "You had to do it. One of the females I know did it." I'm like, "when was she in?" And he goes, "Ninety-something." And I'm like, "Well, I was out in '94. We didn't do it back then. I'm telling you. Unless I fell off a five ton and hit my head. I don't remember doing that. I woulda remembered doing that." I can tell you everything else I did in there, repelling off towers and stuff like that, which was flippin cool. But yeah, not. Not a Crucible.

SPRAGUE: What other things can you relate to us while you were working in the G3 at Camp Lejeune?

SANCHEZ: Hmm. There was a lot of fun things that happened, but a lot of serious work. You know, we'd go out in the field to prepare. You'd see them flying helicopters around. They'd be doing, like, spy rigging or they're holding or they're hanging on the bottom. It was a terrible incidence, though. One of the guys got smacked inside of the, into the side of a dumpster. Yeah, that killed him. Yeah, that wasn't good. One of my friends got shot in the head on base. He was a, he was a range instructor. Apparently, somebody didn't listen, and he got shot. Bullet got lodged in his head. He didn't die from that, though.

SPRAGUE: And were those people within 2nd FSG [Force Service Support Group], or just Marines on base?

SANCHEZ: Just Marines on base. You know, there was I don't know [inaudible] 01:16:00[laughs] Lejeune could be a really tough place to be. A couple of my girlfriends were murdered on base. One of them, I was just a few barracks room down from me.

SPRAGUE: And that happened on base?

SANCHEZ: Yeah, on base.

SPRAGUE: While you were there or later or?

SANCHEZ: While I was there.

SPRAGUE: Wow.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: What can you share about that?

SANCHEZ: Well, one of them, I had actually gone to boot camp with them, and they tried saying that she committed suicide. I don't know if I believe that or not. Her command sent her over to talk to me. And I remember specifically her coming up to the office and sitting there. We sat on some stacks of reams of paper [laughs] there in the corner, and we were talking, and she was really upset that 01:17:00her, she caught her boyfriend cheating. And, you know, it was really upsetting to her. And, you know, I was, I was trying to tell her, you know, you know, I'm sorry. And, you know, you know, if things aren't going to work out between you and him, hopefully things will change. You'll find somebody else different, you know, just trying to be a, a friend to her, you know? And then a few weeks later, she, she was found dead in her car. They said that she had died from the exum--exhaust fumes. She was in a field. I'm like, I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. I know you cannot die from fumes in a field, so. But I went to her funeral and then I was, I was told during the funeral to stop crying. Marines don't cry. So I tried to wipe my tears and just put a stoic face on. 01:18:00That was hard, you know, a little memorial service thingy that they were having for her there. Her name was Daphne.

SPRAGUE: Would it be okay if you shared her full name or just her first name?

SANCHEZ: Her last name was Dooty, D-O-O-T-Y. Boston, I think, is where she was from.

SPRAGUE: Daphne Dooty?

SANCHEZ: I know it sounds funny, but yeah.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: Um.

SPRAGUE: Who is the Marine that told you "Marines don't cry?"

SANCHEZ: A master gunnery sergeant.

SPRAGUE: What--

SANCHEZ: He was sitting next to me.

SPRAGUE: What did you think of that? I mean, what, and what do you think about that today?

SANCHEZ: It felt hurtful because it felt right to cry. But then when he said, when he leaned over and said something to me, then I, I was like, a whole different game--game face came on, you know, because he meant you're United States Marines. Marines don't cry. You know, you kind of it was like an inner battle, you know, because you're not supposed to show your emotions. Emotions can cause people to get hurt. So he was an old school Marine, though. Trying to remember what his name was. [Long pause] And then the other one that got killed was Beverley. I don't, can't remember Beverly's last name. But the guy I worked with at G3 in the building, he was the--what was his job there? Was he, he was 01:20:00the mail guy. I'd go down there to get the mail for our office. He killed her.

SPRAGUE: Did he get prosecuted or--

SANCHEZ: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

SPRAGUE: convicted?

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. He tried to cut her head off. And I couldn't believe it when I heard the news. Something happened in the barracks in French Creek and I bolted out of office and went down there and I thought it was my roommate. I didn't know because there was a lot of us girls right in a row on the side of the barracks, and her door was open. Not my, not my roommate, you know, but Beverly's. And the walls were just covered in blood. Apparently, he had, you 01:21:00know, cut the carotid artery and--

SPRAGUE: What do--

SANCHEZ: They didn't maintain that scene very well. I can tell you that.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. What year was this? Beverly?

SANCHEZ: Late '92, '93.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And the quote unquote, murder-suicide was '94 in the field with the car?

SANCHEZ: I don't think that was '94.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: I think that was I think that was '93.

SPRAGUE: Okay. The two weren't related, though?

SANCHEZ: No, not related. No.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: That was over a, that was over her seeing a, what we called Green Marines, at that time, and Black Marines. And he didn't like that she wasn't dating him, the white guy. So that was racial fuel, fueled there.

SPRAGUE: Which one was the one with Beverly or the suic--

SANCHEZ: Beverly.

SPRAGUE: Beverly was.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: If you would help me out with how you've defined it here, help me flesh this out. The Green Marines, you--she--Who was dating who in terms of race?

SANCHEZ: She was--she, okay, so they call Black Marines, Green Marines. That's what they tell us in boot camp. They don't tell them that anymore, as far as I understand, because one of my master gunnery sergeants used to say, "Hey, Sanchez, what do they called Black Marines in, in boot camp now?" And I said, "What do you mean?" He goes, "What do they call 'em? They got a term for them, don't they?" I said, "They told us to say Green Marines." And he started laughing. And he goes, he's like, "Well, some things don't change." [Laughs] So that's where that terminology comes from. But she was, she was dating a black sergeant. They seemed to be happy, you know. But apparently the other guy was 01:23:00not happy about the situation. I don't know if he wanted to date her, was dating her, or was a former boyfriend. I have no idea. But the other guy was white.

SPRAGUE: And the reference to them being, quote unquote, Green Marines?

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm.

SPRAGUE: What does that, what's--

SANCHEZ: You're not supposed to say Black Marines.

SPRAGUE: Oh, okay. But why not just call them Marines?

SANCHEZ: That's what I always said.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. Okay. What circumstances led to you deciding to leave the Marine Corps?

SANCHEZ: So my daughter was born with a birth defect, and she was born in, let's see here, '93. They couldn't help her at the hospital base. So she got sent to 01:24:00Duke University. And the stress of her being sick, and I was married at the time, my then husband, he's now ex, he got offered to re-up, go to Washington, like Quantico. I was due to become a sergeant, I was corporal at the time, due to become a sergeant and was looking at orders for Okinawa. I was excited about that. I wanted to go to Okinawa so bad. And, but then some of the other enlisted officers are like, you know, you can't take your daughter with you. They're like, you're not a sergeant yet. And I'm like, maybe I'll get promoted. You know, 04s usually get promoted really quick, remember? And I was due to get 01:25:00promoted a month after I was to go to Okinawa. And so I went to my master gunnery sergeant, and I said, "[Tom or Top??], what do I do?" He goes, "Easy." I said, "What's that?" And he goes, "Send her home to your mom." I said, "I am not sending my child home to my mother. I didn't have her to be sent somewhere." But that was his solution. And then he said, "Well, they don't issue babies in boot camp." I heard that a lot. I heard it a lot. So I started the process to get a early out, few months, early out. So because I thought the best thing to do would be to take care of my daughter. I mean, I was going to stay in, and I had talked to my husband about it at that time, and he refused to go to Okinawa. He 01:26:00said, "I've been there, done that, and I'm never going back there again." And I said, "You'll be a civilian. It'll be different this time," you know. And he refused. And he said, "If you don't get out, I'm taking her back home with me. And that can be the end of it." So he threatened to take my child from me. And was it going to be the Corps or my child? It was going to be my child. Because I was going to be a lifer. I was going to stay in the Marine Corps for 20 years. Remember, I dreamt of this since I was a little girl. So my master gunnery sergeant, is like, "Well, you could try to fight him, but he'll probably win because the Marine Corps is so unpredictable, and they are not known to keep families together." And that was really stressful to me. So, yeah, I started the 01:27:00process, like I said, to get a early out due to hardship.

SPRAGUE: So you obviously succeeded in getting the early out?

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: And when did you--What was what month or day where you, did you get out on?

SANCHEZ: August 26th of '94.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Tell me a little bit about, if you would, what it's like getting out of the Corps, getting out of the military.

SANCHEZ: It's awful. It's awful. I recently just had some neighbors that had moved into the rental next to me. He had gotten out of the Army a year ago and his wife was still in the Army, and I just happened to see him outside. And I said, "Hey," I said, "what's going on?" You know, just talk to each other a little bit. He goes, "I'm just gonna be honest with you. Being in the civilian life sucks."

[Both laugh]

SANCHEZ: And I'm like, "Man, let me tell you," I have been in the civilian life for how many years now? I said, "Let's--We need to get a beer and sit down and talk about this." I said, "Because, if I could go back in, I'd go back in today." He goes. He goes, "I'm sorry I ever got out." He goes, "And I was only in the Army."

[Both laugh]

SANCHEZ: And I was like, "Well," I said, "You're still lucky because your wife is still in," you know. I said, "You, if you can convince her," because she was, she was wanting to get out. I said, "if you can convince her to re-up, convince her to re-up because it is not all rainbows and butterflies on this side of it." I said, "the grass is green where you water it, you know, so it's not greener over here. Stay in and make the best of it that you can," you know. And they did, because they moved back to Texas now. But yeah, I say quite a lot. Probably on a weekly basis they should create a unit for us veterans. We still have our 01:29:00skills. We may not move as fast as we used to.

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: We still have our skills. I mean, I still go to the, you know, to the target range and I can hit them with the best of them. So, you know, a lot of us have nothing left to lose. So, another war breaks out. Send us. Keep those other kids at home. I don't know how, how good they are compared to where, when we were in because, you know, they're the generation now, millennials and whatever, the Z-ers they call them now, too, down the line. You know, they I don't know if they've, they've had that social interaction like the rest of us have had, you know, in the past. So I don't know how our military is faring right now. I would hope that it's still the top, but. Yeah, I'd go back in it.

SPRAGUE: When you got out, what, what did you do next?

SANCHEZ: Oh, moved to the bowels of hell.

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: Georgia.

[Both laugh]

SPRAGUE: Where in Georgia?

SANCHEZ: Dublin, Georgia.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

SANCHEZ: That's where my husband's family was from. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: And what, what were you focused on at that time in Dublin?

SANCHEZ: Just taking care of my daughter and trying to find a job. It was, my husband at the time said, oh, you have to have a job. And I'm like, Well, how are we supposed to take care of her if I, you know, no. And he was, well, we're just going to have to make this work out. You know, we both have to be working. And I'm like, well, I could have just stayed in the Marine Corps and had medical provided for her, you know? But yeah, it was a struggle. It was quite a struggle 01:31:00with her because she was, she was sick, and she had physical disabilities. So but, did the best I, the best I could. And then, I finally moved back up here in '98, early '99. Yeah. Decided it was best to come back home.

SPRAGUE: What was your experience like in terms of coming back to Wisconsin?

SANCHEZ: It was like a breath of fresh air, you know, because it's home, you know, we got the Packers, for God's sakes.

SPRAGUE: [Claps and laughs]

SANCHEZ: Come on. I was really home. [Laughs]

SPRAGUE: I'm with you.

SANCHEZ: [Laughs] I actually had a gunnery sergeant, Doctor, or not doctor, what was his name? Gunnery [Bouget??] I think was his last name. And he was a big Packers fan. And he'd always talk to me about the Packers up in G3. And I'd be like, "Aren't they losing all the time now?" And he'd get all mad and stuff and, you know, give each other little jabs and stuff like that. But yeah. You know, because it's nice to have little pieces of home when you're not home, you know? And then when you get home, you find out, oh my gosh, how much I really missed it, and everything is changed. And yeah, I loved coming back home. I did.

SPRAGUE: Did you end up, after you got out, I know you work with the VA now--

SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm.

SPRAGUE: But did you end up using any of your VA benefits initially or immediately or?

SANCHEZ: I did. Well, when I was on base, at Lejeune, I did take night classes, 01:33:00so I worked a full 40 plus hours a week, you know, because, hey, just because it's Friday doesn't mean you're done working. You know, it's the government. They need you to work extra, you're going to work extra. Or if you're out in the field, you're out in the field, you get the same paycheck. So yeah, I. [Rubs hands together] Yeah, I.

SPRAGUE: So you took classes and stuff?

SANCHEZ: Yeah. I yeah, but I mean, it was covered because they were right there on base.

SPRAGUE: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: You know, I did use my GI Bill for a short time when I was out, when I, when I came back, I took. Well, I used it while I was in Georgia for a little bit because I did go to like the Heart of Georgia Tech. And then when I came here, I took some classes here. Took them at, well, it was Silver Lake College, 01:34:00they, they're not here anymore. And then eventually went to LTC [Lakeshore Technical College??].

SPRAGUE: Okay. Tell me a little bit about your involvement and working with the VA now and what you're doing now.

SANCHEZ: Let me tell you, I can't find a better place to be than working at the VA. It feels like I've come full circle, I've come home. I can't tell you how good it feels to have a veteran walk in and be able to relate on such a deep level with that person. Even though they were in the Army or the Navy or whatever. You can instant, instant connection, you know. And there's just a certain way us service members talk to each other that civilians were. Like, "[gasps] you can't say that." Well, no, I really can.

[Both laugh]

SANCHEZ: And we're not offended by it, you know? So you're, you're, you're both on the same kind of level. And, you know, if someone steps out of line, you can tell somebody, hey, man, you're stepping out of line. Lock that up. You know, and they're going to understand, and you don't have to go any further than that, you know? Whereas a civilian, I mean, they will just carry on a Karen fit, you know? So, yeah, it's veterans are a different breed all on their own. I'm not going to say every veteran will react that way, but I'd say 99.9%. You have common ground, and they know who the veteran is. When you walk in and you start speaking to each other, they can pick up right away that you're usually a veteran and you have a little conversation. So I think what I do at the VA is, is very important because it is about the veterans. It's about their health care 01:36:00and what I can make sure I can get done for them. I mean, my role is just as smar--a small role. And sometimes I go above and beyond my role because I feel such a sense to duty to what I do that my coworkers say. Well, now that you brought this high standard of whatever, it's, it's hard for the rest of us to keep up. Well, then put on your running shoes. That's what I say.

SPRAGUE: [Laughs] Nice. I have to ask. Working with veterans is there at some point when you've worked with veterans all day and you get to the end of your workday where you get home and you say, okay, I've had enough. I'm all veteran-ed out, I need to, you know, does that ever?

SANCHEZ: Never ever has that ever occurred.

SPRAGUE: No

SANCHEZ: Uh-uh, no, because you have to understand with this area, especially 01:37:00that we're in a lot of these veterans, we know each other. I mean, where I work in Cleveland, we serve 4000 veterans just at that one little country clinic. 4000. A lot of those people are, right here from our, you know, in our area. Some of those people that might be your mailman, that might be your bartender, you know, that might be the guy from your motorcycle club. I mean, it's we're lucky in this area because once we have veterans come in and working there, we kind of get to know, "Hey, man, where are you working at?" You know, "Oh, I work at Jiffy Lube," or whatever. "Oh, man, that's great." You know, and, "hey, maybe I'll see you," blah, blah, blah. And, "hey come meet with us some night. You know, we're all going to go over to Moore's English Pub or Irish Pub and, you know, have a beer or something," you know, or "Oh, man, you're new to the area. Where are you transferred from?" "Oh, Colorado." "Oh, cool. Hey, let's see if we 01:38:00can help you get, get to know the area. There's a lot of good places around here," you know, and just help each other out. Kind of like what you would do, like, if you were back in and you were on base again. I mean, people were super helpful. "Don't go to that. Don't go to that barber shop. Go to this one over here, because, man, they're going to give you a haircut like a boot. Don't go that one," you know.

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: So, yeah, I mean, that's kind of how the community is. So it just, people might not think of the VA as that way, but reach out to your VA clinics because we are so much more than just, just the clinic. We're the, there's people there behind you that are also veterans that are more than willing to bend over backwards and help you out. Seriously, I know for a time there I wasn't, I, I had left one job and I was only working at Starbucks. Right. And I only made like $13,000 that year, trying to care children. Yeah, it was hard. 01:39:00And I owned a house with the bank, so, you know, try and make a house payment and stuff out of that. And I had gone to the V.A. just before I started working out there. And I couldn't, I didn't have enough money for food, I didn't have enough money for gas. I mean, I just it was, it was tight. It was tight, you know, sure, you made tips, but not that great, you know. And so I was out there having an appointment and, you know, they have the LPN [Licensed Practical Nurse] sit with you do your height, weight, blood pressure, kind of stuff. And then they were like, all right, Do you have any, any food insecurity or, you know, financially you're okay? And I'm like, I just started laughing cause I was going to cry. I said "I couldn't get any worse right now." I was shifting my car with a screwdriver because the shifter lever, something happened to it. My neighbor took it apart and then he couldn't get it back on because there was a piece broke. So he gave me a screwdriver to use as a shift. Things were bad, man 01:40:00I'm just telling you, they were terrible. And I was like, I feel like I'm back in the hood all over again. Here I had this great career I was in, get out, and then this is what I'm left with. This is civilian life. Civilian life sucks. So needless to say, I was pretty depressed, right? So I go for my appointment. The LPN asks, I tell her I wouldn't have told her if she wouldn't have asked and she's like, "Well, we're going to have you sit down with a social worker." And I'm like, "[sighs] alright, I'll tell her the story too, then, I guess," you know? And I went through my appointment. They wanted to make sure everything was good with my health. They sent me over to the social worker and social worker Amy was there, and she just asked me some various questions. She didn't get too deep into details, but she cared, you know? And next thing I know, she's pulling out two gift cards, one for Festival Foods, one for Walmart, and one for, I 01:41:00think it was, KwikTrip or BP. She goes, "We want you to use these to get you through this rough patch." I cried so hard, I, I said, "I didn't know anybody cared." She goes, "We care. We care a lot." That was one of the probably pivotal turning points for me when I finally decided I want to work for the VA, I might not be able to hand people gift cards out, but I can be there for another brother and sister who are fallen on hard times. Maybe they're just lonely, but maybe I can be there to help out because of the attention care they gave to me. I wanted to return that tenfold. So, yeah, reach out to your local VA. They can do more for you than give you a gift card. They can give you a shoulder to cry 01:42:00on. They can give you resources. And like I said, it's veterans, veterans helping veterans. And that's what matters. Because if you're waiting for somebody to come in and save ya, the only other person, you probably can depend on right now is a veteran, once you get out.

SPRAGUE: Do you have any involvement with other veterans organizations or primarily?

SANCHEZ: I joined the American Legion, and I know that there's a motorcycle club, but I don't have a motorcycle anymore. I do want to get one and join that club, [laughs] but lots of the veterans that I work with are involved in different ways. One just had a, a dinner that they hosted to replenish the funds that they, they, it was one of their biggest fundraising things that they do during the year. And then they give money to different organizations for sick kids or, you know, things just depends what they all vote to give the money on. 01:43:00So, yeah, American Legion and then the women, women's veteran group I belong to on Facebook, and then I belong just to a regular veterans, Marine Corps veterans group on Facebook. So. Yeah. And then when I worked at Starbucks, the recruiting station is right next door in Manitowoc. So I made some really good friends that way with the recruiters there. And I know one time that they, they, they PT [Physical Training] there with the recruits all the time. And so I was able to allocate a box of, like, safety vests because they were running at night. So they all could put safety vests on and run, which was, I thought, a real smart because you know how people drive around Starbucks, [imitates a car going around a corner quickly] you know. So I do what I can.

SPRAGUE: We're coming up on Memorial Day. And I want to, thinking about what your service was, tell me a little bit about what you think in terms of personal sacrifice and sacrifice that others have made to serve their country and how you think about it.

SANCHEZ: Well, I know everybody, not everybody, but a lot of people say, "oh, thank you for your service on Memorial Day." You know, people say that. And I'd be like, "well, thank you. It was an honor and privilege. But today is for our brothers and sisters that have fallen and are not here with us anymore. This is the day that we used to, you know, take time and celebrate them." You know, I said my days coming on down the line. [Laughs] You know. But it means a lot.

SPRAGUE: And that would be Veterans Day right?

SANCHEZ: That would be Veterans Day. Well--

SPRAGUE: Yep.

SANCHEZ: Well and the Marine Corps birthday, day before, but.

SPRAGUE: So what do you do on Veterans Day? Just curious.

SANCHEZ: Well, I work, well outside of work, so I try to get together with other veterans on that day. I know people are like, oh, you guys just go for the free stuff, whatever. Well, you know, there was a time when we didn't get a lot of free stuff. Okay. So if we meet up for coffee or whatever, it's just a day to get together with people you normally didn't have a chance to get together with, reminisce, enjoy each other's company, and just tell each other how much you appreciate them. You know, you appreciate each other. It's kind of like an unspoken code to if you ever need anything, you can reach out to one of your veteran friends and say, hey, kind of having a hard day, can we talk? We're there for each other.

SPRAGUE: How do you think your life would be different if you hadn't joined the Marine Corps?

SANCHEZ: I would not be the same person. I, I hate to think what kind of person I'd be without the Marine Corps. I have a really, really, really good work ethic and a really high expectation not only of myself but of others. And I don't expect others to do something I wouldn't do first or do myself. I don't set a standard and then not attain it myself. I guess I'm more of a leader in that respect. Now, would I be that way if I've never had the Corps to back me up, to train me and teach me how to be a good person, good communication and things like that? I don't know. Might have been a police officer, because my dad was a police officer. My uncle was a police, police officer. He was constable in 01:47:00Texas. So I could, I feel fair that I would have joined the force that way. But, it's kind of, kind of icky to think about what I would be without, or without the Marine Corps. I don't know. I don't think I like that.

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: Just being honest.

SPRAGUE: Okay. No, that's what we want. What motivated you to come in and do this interview today?

SANCHEZ: Well, it was just the fact that they wanted to hear what the females had to say. Not just female Marines, but any of the females that were in the service. That's huge. A lot of times we're expected just to be there and support and not. We're not, we're not seen as leaders usually when it comes to the armed 01:48:00forces, which is a shame because there are a lot of good women with a lot of good tactical intuition. You know, you ever hear about women's intuition? I mean, I think a lot of times the armed services discount what women are able to do. And I appreciate the time. And just that you guys just asked, you know, hey, what do you have to say? Well, lend me your ear.

[Both laugh]

SANCHEZ: So I appreciate it. Thank you for, for that.

SPRAGUE: Did we miss anything that you'd like to cover?

SANCHEZ: I could talk your ear off probably for another two or three days. It was a lot. A lot I did in service. You know, people always say, "Hey, what did 01:49:00you do while you were in service?" And like, "What they told me to do."

SPRAGUE: [Laughs]

SANCHEZ: Whatever they told me to do, it was done. You know, I just wish I could have done a lot more. You know, I wish I would have been in for the full 20 years. But I can never say there's a regret that that's it. I was not able to do 20 years in because I felt like I have so much more to give. But look, I'm able to, to hang with the veterans now and be able to help guide and direct. And, you know, these younger ones that are coming out now. I mean, the guy was like one, I just had to take his photo ID at the VA the other day and he was born in--Oh, God. What year was that? I mean, 1999, he just got out and I'm thinking, you're 01:50:00younger than my children, you know? And I was like, Wow. But I know it's way different for them, the way that they're in now than what I ever had experienced. So, but I miss it. I miss it a lot. But I think working for the VA is as close as I'm ever going to get to ever being back in. And I'm, I'm okay with that. You know, I'm happy I'm able to still be able to serve. And I hope there's so much more I can contribute.

SPRAGUE: Okay, well, that concludes the interview.

SANCHEZ: Okay, great.