Oral History Interview with Debra A. Nooyen

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay, it's 9:47 and we have started recording. Today is May 21st, 2023. And this is an interview with Debra Ann Nooyen, who served in the United States Marine Corps from 2010 through 2015. Is that correct?

NOOYEN: Correct.

BOWERS HEALEY: All right. And this interview is being conducted by Ellen Healey in Denmark, Wisconsin, for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Oral History Program. No one else is present for this interview. I'm not sure if I pronounce your last name correctly. Would you state your full name, please?

NOOYEN: Debra Ann Nooyen.

BOWERS HEALEY: Nooyen.

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Thank you for that correction. And Debra, where did you grow up?

NOOYEN: In Green Bay, Wisconsin.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And did you live there all your life?

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: All right. And generally, what did your family do? And did you have brothers and sisters?

NOOYEN: I had one brother. My 00:01:00dad's a truck driver. And my mom, most of my life, didn't have a job.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And what schooling did you have before you entered the service?

NOOYEN: Before I entered, I only went up to 12th grade, and I had one semester of college.

BOWERS HEALEY: And did you have any jobs?

NOOYEN: I had several. I worked a lot with horses. I did stable hand jobs. I worked in a APAC customer service, taking calls for health insurance.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And where did you do your work with horses?

NOOYEN: I worked at Wisconsin Equestrian Center and a couple other local barns.

BOWERS HEALEY: How did you get interested in that?

NOOYEN: I had been involved with horses since I could remember. My grandpa had horses, and I showed with 4-H from the time I was 10 until my 13th grade year.

BOWERS HEALEY: Does your grandfather have a farm?

NOOYEN: Yes, he has a hobby farm.

BOWERS HEALEY: And where was that?

NOOYEN: At 00:02:00the time growing up? He was in De Pere. About 23 years ago he moved to Denmark.

BOWERS HEALEY: Denmark, Wisconsin?

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. All right. And you said you completed 12th grade and did one semester of college. What caused you to join the military?

NOOYEN: I was actually dating a guy who went in the Marine Corps. And when we broke up, he had made a comment of -- he would never date of Marine, and that female Marines were not something to look forward to. So, it kind of sent me on the goal of looking into it. It sparked my interest that way.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Was he an active-duty Marine or a reservist?

NOOYEN: He was. An active duty.

BOWERS HEALEY: He was an active duty Marine?

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: From the Wisconsin area?

NOOYEN: Yeah.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And so that sparked your interest. So, what actually led you down to the recruiter station?

NOOYEN: That kind of led me down to the recruiter station to find out 00:03:00more of what like, it would benefit me, like education wise or travel chances were what really interested me at that time.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And tell me a bit about the recruitment process. How long did it take? When did -- actually when did you go down to the recruiter station?

NOOYEN: I went down in January of 2010.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

NOOYEN: And I wasn't able to DEP [Delayed Entry Program] in until October 5th about that time frame in 2010. And then by the 11th of October, I actually shipped out.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And during the process between when you went there in January and October, did the recruiters work with you or not? How much contact did you have?

NOOYEN: They had weekly PT that I had decided to on my own I would attend and sometimes they did twice a week during the summer. And I attended that. So, I kind of outlined my own dedication to it.

BOWERS HEALEY: And 00:04:00how did that work? How did you do? What were the PT requirements?

NOOYEN: We just did a lot of like running. We did like Buddy Carries. We did -- eventually we did some like mock PFTs [Physical Fitness Test] where they had us running the three miles. It just kind of depended on which recruiter was running it that day and what they decided they would do with us.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And you mentioned in October of 2010, you actually went into the active-duty Marine Corps.

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: And where did you go? What was your first duty station?

NOOYEN: I went to Parris Island for boot camp first.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And before you went there, other than the Marine that you dated, had you really talked to anyone about the Marine Corps as opposed -- did you ever consider the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard? 00:05:00NOOYEN: I never had any interest in the military period before that. So that really just kind of locked in the Marine Corps and. So, I went from there.

BOWERS HEALEY: And what was your first impression of Parris Island boot camp?

NOOYEN: The gnats, the bugs. They were horrible like the first month and a half. After that, they kind of died out. It got cold.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Anything you remember about your fellow recruits, or perhaps your drill instructors?

NOOYEN: Um, I mean, we had a lot that we lost that season or that time frame. Like we had a quite a few that dropped out. Um, I still keep in -- in contact with a couple of them. Actually, one is actually on, I think it's WWE. So, she's.

BOWERS HEALEY: WWE 00:06:00stands for?

NOOYEN: I don't know, it's the wrestling thing.

BOWERS HEALEY: It's the wrestling?

NOOYEN: Yeah.

BOWERS HEALEY: And she was one that dropped out?

NOOYEN: She didn't. She completed. She went on to her active-duty status, and we lost contact for a while, but.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. All righty. Anything else that you remember about basic training and boot camp?

NOOYEN: Um, I mean, we had Thanksgiving in there. We had the Marine Corps ball, every Marine Corps birthday in there. We had Veteran's Day, we had Christmas, we had Halloween, we had my birthday, we had New Year's. And we were the first of 2011 Marines to graduate.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. What you do for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball while you were at Parris Island?

NOOYEN: Well, we just got an extra special meal.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

NOOYEN: Which then, of course, we had to go PT off the next day anyway, so it wasn't that special. 00:07:00BOWERS HEALEY: All right. And when you went into the Marine Corps, did you know what military occupational specialty you were going to be in?

NOOYEN: I had wanted to go for military police.

BOWERS HEALEY: And was that part of your contract or are you kind of open contract?

NOOYEN: I was signed up for military police.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. So, after boot camp, did you have leave or did you go directly to MOS [Military Occupational Specialty] training?

NOOYEN: There was a week off, and then we had to actually go to Camp Geiger for like another phase of training. And it was called MCT [Military Combat Training].

BOWERS HEALEY: And you recall what MCT stands for?

NOOYEN: I don't know off the top of my head right now.

BOWERS HEALEY: MCC?

NOOYEN: MCT.

BOWERS HEALEY: MCT. Okay. And how long were you at Camp Geiger?

NOOYEN: Right, about a month was training for that.

BOWERS HEALEY: What 00:08:00type of training did you do there at Camp Geiger?

NOOYEN: It was a lot more of than field type training. It was a little more land nav, and we were mixed with the males at that point. So, it was the real first training with the males.

BOWERS HEALEY: Did you have weekends off? Liberty?

NOOYEN: It was straight through.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Did you take rifle training or pistol training? And if so, where did that come in?

NOOYEN: Well, the rifle training we did in boot camp. And then when we hit our MOS School, which was after Camp Geiger, then we had the pistol training and we had the shotgun training. We had the .50 cal training. We had the M-19 training.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And after you left Camp Geiger, where did you go after that?

NOOYEN: I went to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.

BOWERS HEALEY: And what's at Fort Leonard Wood for 00:09:00 Marines?

NOOYEN: Well, at Fort Leonard Wood, we had the MP training, and we had motor train -- Motor T training. We had the CB, which was the basic gas guys. Their training was there.

BOWERS HEALEY: What was the last thing you said? I'm sorry.

NOOYEN: It was like your chemical -- like your gas chamber type people that ran that. They got their training there.

BOWERS HEALEY: How long were you at Fort Leonard Wood?

NOOYEN: I was there for about six months or a little more.

BOWERS HEALEY: How long was your contract for?

NOOYEN: Five years.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And when you were at Fort Leonard Wood, where did you train just fellow Marines, or did you train with other services?

NOOYEN: We trained with just Marines, but obviously all four branches were there for their own individual training. 00:10:00So, we'd come across Air Force sometimes. We'd come across the Navy sometimes, and obviously the Army. And both -- like our class trained just as us for Marines.

BOWERS HEALEY: And what did you consider challenging at Fort Leonard Wood in terms of the training?

NOOYEN: I guess the only big challenging portion was my class of -- that were going for MP. There was only two females in the entire class, and I was the only female PTed. I guess that would be a little more challenging because everything was of male standards.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. The run time and those sort of things.

NOOYEN: Yup.

BOWERS HEALEY: What else was -- did you do for the PT?

NOOYEN: Well, the males for their PFTS, they had pull ups, so they did pull ups. Well, even though the females at the time only had arm hang, I still got stuck having to do pull ups, which of course, I 00:11:00got a little bit of assistance. But I did leave there being able to do eight pull ups by myself.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And were your instructors Marines or Army?

NOOYEN: Marines.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. So, you said there were only two women Marines. There are female Marines there, and you were the only one that was doing PT?

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Why was the other one not doing PT?

NOOYEN: To be honest, I don't know.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

NOOYEN: I have no idea why. I don't know how she made it through without PT and not doing any of the physical fitness portions that we had to. But I figured that wasn't my responsibility to know what was going on.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And any particular instructors stand out or-or other Marines that you may have held around with during that six months of training MP school?

NOOYEN: Well, the training 00:12:00itself was only three months, but it was a three, three and a half month waiting to actually pick up for the class. The only big thing that really stands out about that time is the big tornado that made record for Joplin literally went through the night. That was right before we picked up our class. So, some of the guys who are still waiting got to go and help pick up there, where we had to start our class that morning.

BOWERS HEALEY: The three and a half months of wait time were you in Missouri at that time?

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: What do you do every day?

NOOYEN: There was a lot of waiting around. I kind of finagled myself into helping like the new drops that would come in before they picked up their class. I kind of stuck my nose in there and kind of helped get them where they needed to be and gave myself a job. I guess you could say.

BOWERS HEALEY: All right. How about liberty at Fort Leonard Wood?

NOOYEN: We typically 00:13:00had like nights and weekends, depending on what time we were let loose.

BOWERS HEALEY: When did you find out where your duty station was going to be?

NOOYEN: At the end of MP School?

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And how well did you do at MP School?

NOOYEN: I mean, I think I did okay.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. What was your rank when you graduated?

NOOYEN: I was -- trying to remember how it all went. I think by that point, I was a PFC [Private First Class] when I graduated.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And what duty station were you assigned?

NOOYEN: Camp Lejeune.

BOWERS HEALEY: And how did you get from station to station? Boot camp to Fort Leonard Wood? Fort Leonard Wood to Camp Lejeune?

NOOYEN: Well, from leaving boot camp, my dad actually came down and saw me graduate, and he brought me home from there. I had a plane ticket. I had to go back to Camp Lejeune area to go to Camp Geiger. From there, from Camp Geiger, we had a plane 00:14:00ticket. We were given to fly to Fort Leonard Wood.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

NOOYEN: And then from Fort Leonard Wood, they gave us a ticket to fly to where we were assigned for duty station.

BOWERS HEALEY: And all these duty stations, you had never been there before?

NOOYEN: I had not.

BOWERS HEALEY: Your dad have any military experience?

NOOYEN: I was the first one of my grandpa's kids to ever go in the military.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Did your grandfather go in the military?

NOOYEN: He did not. But I think one of his sisters married a marine or something. I found out later.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. All right. So, when did you graduate from MP School?

NOOYEN: In July of 2011.

BOWERS HEALEY: And when did you arrive at Camp Lejeune?

NOOYEN: I mean, I think it was the end of July. So, it was between July and August when I arrived at Camp Lejeune. It was only basically a day trail -- like travel time. 00:15:00BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And. All right. Camp Lejeune. Tell me what unit you were attached to.

NOOYEN: I was attached to the Division MP, which was like their headquarters division company. MP company.

BOWERS HEALEY: And what type of barracks did you have?

NOOYEN: We had, I mean, to me, it was just generic barracks. Nothing special. Three stories.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Why did you choose the MP field?

NOOYEN: I had a goal of being a canine handler.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And did you become a canine handler or not?

NOOYEN: I did not get a chance to.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

NOOYEN: But in the -- so I arrived on a weekend. And in that time, I did have a friend who was there that I met from the time I did with the recruiters. And he drove 00:16:00me and a couple other Marines around and we found the kennels, and I managed to stop in and talk to the Marine who was on duty and learn their schedule that they do, which kind of helped me out for my knowledge for when I arrived and was picked up with my original unit. So.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And tell me about your daily duties as an MP.

NOOYEN: At that point. I was a field MP, so there wasn't -- it was be at formation. It was PT when you're told. It was do what you're told to do. We had half of the company actually still deploy at the point, so there wasn't a whole lot of -- this is what you do, this is what you do, this is what you do. Kind of every day was a little bit different, but there was always some sort of PT, there was always some sort of training, some sort of knowledge.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Did you actually go out on patrol or not?

NOOYEN: I never made it in-country 00:17:00to do any patrols.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And you said part of the unit, half the unit was still deployed. Were they -- where were they deployed?

NOOYEN: They were deployed in Afghanistan, and they were attached with grunt units.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Tell me more about what you - well, how long were you at Camp Lejeune as an MP -- as an MP?

NOOYEN: I was at Camp Lejeune like the rest of my enlistment.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And you mentioned doing PT, doing training, and that you said you were a field MP.

NOOYEN: Yeah.

BOWERS HEALEY: What does a field MP mean?

NOOYEN: So a field MP -- like you have your PMO [Provost Marshal's Office], which is like your normal law enforcement cops that you see on base, and then a field MP actually are the ones that deploy and they kind of are -- at one point I was taken off of 00:18:00a roster to go to Leatherneck to be the MPs on Camp Leatherneck.

BOWERS HEALEY: And Camp Leatherneck is where?

NOOYEN: In Afghanistan.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And you said you were on that roster?

NOOYEN: I was, yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. What happened?

NOOYEN: I was a single mom, so they needed to cut the roster and make it a little lighter on who went. And because I was a single mom, they took my name off.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And were you a single mom when you went into the Marine Corps?

NOOYEN: I was not.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. So, you had a child. When-when was the child born?

NOOYEN: She was born in May of 2012.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And so, you didn't deploy. You never left Camp Lejeune. So, tell me more about what your daily duties were.

NOOYEN: It kind of dependent I mean, once I was pregnant, they put me in the office and then they actually assigned me out to Headquarters 00:19:00S-6, which ran their communications kind of side for -- there was an internet, a website I was tasked out to go learn about. There was getting Marines coming in and going their CAC card access, those that came back from deployment reactivating them. Kind of doing a lot of the back door communications side of stuff.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And where on base was that office?

NOOYEN: Technically, from where we were, it was literally right next door. So, it was maybe an extra 100 yards walk type of thing.

BOWERS HEALEY: Where was your basic office on Camp Lejeune?

NOOYEN: And it was basically straight down the main street from the main gate towards the end is where the headquarters division like area was.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And you mentioned a CAC [Common Access Card] card. What's a CAC card?

NOOYEN: So, it's the ID card, and it allows access to plug in to like your computers to be able to gain access to being on the computer itself.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And 00:20:00how long did you spend at campus? You got there in 2011. You were there till when?

NOOYEN: November 30th of 2015.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And tell me about any other events or things that happened where you were at Camp Lejeune during that duration.

NOOYEN: My favorite, I guess, and that I've told my daughter about, and she loves hearing the story is within the first 24 hours I was with the unit, I was being showed around and we were all in civvies at that point. And I had been told to avoid Corporal Ashley because he loved to harass, pick on the new boots, which were the new Marines. I came in, and I happened to come across him. And 00:21:00the guy who was showing me around there and Corporal Ashley had a conversation and all of a sudden, I heard kennels. And without thinking, I just blurted out everything I already knew about the kennels, what their schedule was, what time they go in, what time they're done, what time they have formation, what time they work with the dogs. And his jaw just dropped from third deck to the ground. And that was how I kind of was known. I knew my knowledge and my information. By the next morning we had to do PT, and we had a formation run. And I was the fifth or sixth female to the unit. They had never had females before. And I just got in line like I normally would, and I actually got kicked to the end of the line. And the reason they told me was because I was a female, and I would fall out like all the rest. Well, little did they know I managed to get to the front and their fastest runner, which was Corporal 00:22:00Powers at the time, I matched him pace for pace. Every couple of strides he increased and every time he increased; I matched him. And then we got yelled at because we literally lost everybody but me and Corporal Powers and two behind us.

BOWERS HEALEY: Had you been a runner when you were in high school?

NOOYEN: No. No, I wasn't.

BOWERS HEALEY: No? Participate in athletics at all in high school?

NOOYEN: I did volleyball, but it was so hard with volleyball because I was always with the horses I showed 4-H. I did horse shows. I was very active with the horses.

BOWERS HEALEY: So mainly you picked up running when you were in the recruiting process?

NOOYEN: Yes. And I had a love-hate relationship with that.

BOWERS HEALEY: You did?

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Are you a person who likes to go out and just run on her own or do you run with other people when you were in the Corps?

NOOYEN: When I was in the Corps, my favorite running was literally in formations. I loved the cadences. I loved, I mean, being a girl 00:23:00and getting to the front definitely improved my respectability for that because I could PT. But definitely the formations was my favorite time we ran.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

NOOYEN: It was also one of my hated ones because if you got towards the end, it was like a slinky and it kept going faster and slower.

BOWERS HEALEY: Any other experiences you remember during your time in the -- at Camp Lejeune as an MP?

NOOYEN: I mean, there was First Sergeant Robinson and Major Martinez. They were some at MLG [Marine Logistics Group], which was another portion or split off area of Camp Lejeune that I was assigned to. And I was in the office, and they were some of the ones that taught me how to do correspondence in the Marine Corps and write up papers. And that it was okay to take time to 00:24:00be a single mom. And that not only was me being a mom important, but taking time for myself was okay too. I had another first sergeant that I had met before that who I didn't talk to as much until afterwards, looking for guidance, who actually had a another Marine who had horses. And when I came back off of my maternity leave, I reached out to him and said, "Does your friend or other Marine still have horses and need somebody to ride with? I just need access to the horses." And I managed to get access to his horses, and I still own one of those horses now.

BOWERS HEALEY: Was that on base or off base?

NOOYEN: It was on base.

BOWERS HEALEY: Camp Lejeune had a place for horses?

NOOYEN: Yeah, they had a base stables. Yeah.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. So, you're able to ride? 00:25:00NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Now in your intake form, I think you mentioned that you were in the Wounded Warrior Battalion.

NOOYEN: I was.

BOWERS HEALEY: And when-when did you move to the Wounded Warrior Battalion? Tell me about that.

NOOYEN: Towards the end, I ended up having some other issues. I had my right arm kind of -- or hand go numb. They did a surgery on that. They said that would have fixed it. I ended up breaking my ankle completely, which took over six and a half months for that to heal. So that definitely put a hiccup in running.

BOWERS HEALEY: Right hand go numb. Do you know what caused that?

NOOYEN: I don't. It would only happen when I would do my hair. And they said it was some sort of nerve getting pinched or something. And if my shoulder didn't fix it, then it was in my neck, which the VA doesn't think it was, but.

BOWERS HEALEY: And did you have -- did you say you have surgery, or not?

NOOYEN: I did. 00:26:00BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And did that help the problem?

NOOYEN: It did not.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. So, you still have a problem with your numbness in your right hand?

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And tell me you broke your ankle.

NOOYEN: I did.

BOWERS HEALEY: When did that occur and how did that occur?

NOOYEN: It was in 2014, I believe. And I just took a step, and my foot was not there to be -- take a step on. And the first time I did it, I kind of just walked it off, kind of played the whole Marine, suck it up, keep going thing. I could still walk on it so it couldn't been broke. Which then a few weeks later, same thing took a step, there was no foot to step on and I ended up doing like I did, keep going, finish what I'm doing and try to get to formation. And the more that I tried to get to formation, the more I came to the realization I might need to go to medical instead of formation.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And so, you said you took a step. Were you doing physical activity 00:27:00at the time or just walking?

NOOYEN: The first time I was just walking, leaving like the building I was working in at that time and just had no step. The second time, I was walking down the stairs, and I actually was lucky enough to leave my daughter on the stairs as I fell. So.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Where did you live while you were -- once you had your daughter? Where were you living?

NOOYEN: Initially, I lived off base at a duplex or an apartment complex. And then I did live on base housing.

BOWERS HEALEY: Did you have a vehicle at the time?

NOOYEN: I did.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And with respect to your-your ankle, you went to medical, I take it?

NOOYEN: I did.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And.

NOOYEN: It was broke. I broke both bones in my ankle, and they put me in a walking boot. In the first three and a half months, there was zero healing. They added a bone stimulator. They added a high-grade vitamin D prescription. 00:28:00And then after the first three and a half months, then it finally started to heal. But before I got out, I had already done a workup and was told I needed surgery on my ankle.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And have you had surgery on your ankle.

NOOYEN: Twice.

BOWERS HEALEY: In the Corps or out?

NOOYEN: Out.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. All right. Let's go back. You were in the Wounded Warrior Battalion. Do they physically muster in a different location?

NOOYEN: Well, they have like their own barracks. And we all mustered at the barracks and had our own gym and our own, like, physical therapist type of gym type people. We had our own pool. We were closer to the hospital in a way for all the appointments.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. So, with an ankle and being in the Wounded Warrior Battalion, how did that 00:29:00impact your service in the Marine Corps and what happened?

NOOYEN: I don't know exactly how it impacted it specifically. I mean, it was -- definitely I had a lot of appointments, so it gave me the time to do that. I did get part of the PT was we did kayaking one time and stand-up paddle boarding another time, which were both new things I had never tried before. But it was definitely a good thing to have the opportunity to.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Were you still working at your normal duties or not while you were in the Wounded Warrior Battalion?

NOOYEN: No, they had their basic duties were make sure you made it to your appointments and to try and help get better, I guess.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. How many folks are in the Wounded Warrior Battalion at any one time? Do you know?

NOOYEN: Quite a few.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And they're typically injuries of some sort? Broken bones or what?

NOOYEN: 00:30:00A good number of them have physical ailments. Yes, but some were like PTSD related.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Now, you said you signed up for five years. That was the term of your contract. Did you end up doing the five years or not?

NOOYEN: I did.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. So, you were discharged at the end of your term?

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And was it a medical discharge?

NOOYEN: Yes, it was an honorable.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. All right. Then after you were discharged -- or what were your thoughts about being discharged? Or were you in a position where you knew you couldn't re-enlist?

NOOYEN: I was kind of in a position where I was under the understanding, they were going to do a medical retirement board and see if I got medically retired. Instead, they decided to just get me out because I passed my EAS [End of Active Service], which 00:31:00was the end of my contract. At that point, I kind of didn't know what I was going to do. I kind of feel I didn't get time to know where I was going outside of the Marine Corps or being a single mom where I was going to be falling at that point. They gave me 30 days, which was all I had to basically get everything turned in, checked off on the list. So, I really had no time to do -- to figure anything out.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. So, with that, what did you figure out? What did you do?

NOOYEN: Well, at that point, I -- being with the horses, there was some sort of program that I was trying to be started up just south of Wilmington, North Carolina, that I managed to be able to bring my horse, my dogs, my daughter. And we went there for what ended up being about three months, roughly. And then I had to go home because I was running out of money, because I couldn't find a job, because I couldn't find daycare, because 00:32:00I couldn't pay for daycare. And I couldn't get in the VA because it was a longer wait down there.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. So, you came back to Wisconsin. Where in Wisconsin?

NOOYEN: To Denmark.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And that was in 2015?

NOOYEN: No, 2016.

BOWERS HEALEY: 2016? And you kept up with the horses since then?

NOOYEN: I have.

BOWERS HEALEY: Yeah. Okay. With your ankle, are you able to ride horses or not?

NOOYEN: I'm able to ride. I mean, there's less flexibility, so I can't ride as, like, a high level for showing side of things because the left -- or the right ankle does have some limitations. But I rode on an equestrian team for a while. I still go trail riding. My daughter now shows, so we kind of do low level 4-H shows. 00:33:00BOWERS HEALEY: And how old is your daughter now?

NOOYEN: She's 11 now.

BOWERS HEALEY: And have you kept in contact with other service members?

NOOYEN: I have.

BOWERS HEALEY: And talk to me about that a little bit.

NOOYEN: I mean, one is in Washington state, another one's in Oregon. Some are just right around North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia area.

BOWERS HEALEY: And how about here in Wisconsin? Any veterans groups?

NOOYEN: The American Legion in Denmark. And then I do belong to Rolling Thunder's, Chapter 3 in -- out of Green Bay Area.

BOWERS HEALEY: What is Rolling Thunder?

NOOYEN: It is an organization that allows both civilians and veterans to be part of, and their biggest mission is to help find the missing in action and 00:34:00remember POWs.

BOWERS HEALEY: And how did you learn about this Wisconsin Veterans Museum interview?

NOOYEN: I attended a not invisible women's photography photo option.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And how did you learn about that?

NOOYEN: It was something that came across in one of the emails, and a couple other female veterans in the American Legion had already known about it and passed the information.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay, So the American Legion here in Denmark has females, including you?

NOOYEN: I was the Post's first female, and we've added more females since.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. What, if anything, else, have you done since you left the Corps and the North Carolina area back in 2016?

NOOYEN: I mean, I guess the biggest thing is 00:35:00with the Legion. I done a lot with them.

BOWERS HEALEY: All righty. What sort of things do you do with the Legion?

NOOYEN: I'm their service officer and their communications officer at this time. I've helped set up their Facebook page, their website, their Google page. I help run them. I took time, and I put a bunch of binders together so we could kind of make it an easier way to -- this committee does this. And this is what their contacts are. This is how it's kind of evolved. So that way if we lose a member who was very big on it, we had that information to pass on. I rewrote and added to their bylaws because we couldn't find the bylaws. Last year we had our 100 year anniversary for the Post and in finding a lot of the information to put the binders together, I kind of helped spark the idea of a big veteran's 100 year birthday celebration for the Post, and 00:36:00I was very big on helping plan that with a small committee that we had.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. All right. Overall, what are your impressions about having served in the military, in the Marine Corps in particular?

NOOYEN: I mean, it's got its ups and its downs. It's got its pluses and its negatives, but then everything in life does, too, So. I guess it's hard to say.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Is there anything else that we haven't covered that you would like to add to your oral history?

NOOYEN: I don't think so.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Let me just take a moment to check my -- oh, one thing, you said you'd have you've had a couple of surgeries since you left the Marine Corps. Has that been covered by the Veterans Administration at all or not? 00:37:00NOOYEN: It has been.

BOWERS HEALEY: And where do you go for VA assistance?

NOOYEN: My local one in Green Bay's like usually does my majority of everything. I go down to Milwaukee's VA for my migraines. They did my first surgery when I was there for my second one. They didn't sound like they were going to do the work that the MRI was showing. So, I asked for a second opinion, and I ended up getting that in the Community Care for Bellin, which told me I'm guaranteed one more surgery yet because I need an ankle replacement.

BOWERS HEALEY: Wow, that's a big one. An ankle replacement.

NOOYEN: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Yes. Okay. Well, I'm glad that you're getting the assistance. You indicated one of the things that you-you also joined the Marine Corps for, or the service was for educational benefits.

NOOYEN: Yes. 00:38:00BOWERS HEALEY: Now, I know you're a single mom. And have you been able to use educational benefits through the VA or not?

NOOYEN: I did. I did initially start going for my bachelor's in criminal justice while I was active duty, which for anybody who goes military should really look for tuition assistance to try and start that so you can get a jump on your education. But then I did finish my bachelor's with Concordia University.

BOWERS HEALEY: And was that in residence or was that over the Internet?

NOOYEN: It was kind of a combination one, so I got to go at night once a week, and a lot of it was still over the Internet. But there was one class once a week.

BOWERS HEALEY: And where were those classes?

NOOYEN: Concordia kind of had like sub campuses. So, there was one in Green Bay, and I had to do a couple of classes in Appleton.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And when did you get your bachelor's degree?

NOOYEN: I graduated in May of 2020, so 00:39:00I really didn't get to graduate.

BOWERS HEALEY: Because?

NOOYEN: Of Covid locking everything down.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And what is your degree in?

NOOYEN: It's a criminal justice In -- my bachelor's in criminal justice and forensics.

BOWERS HEALEY: Now I know you got it when -- during just as Covid was hitting its stride, I guess. Have you been able to find employment in the criminal justice field or not?

NOOYEN: I probably -- I haven't. And part of it is being the single mom, I need to be flexible to be there for my daughter and make sure she gets to her things. And being by myself, I don't have the extra support to be able to do a law enforcement job. But I had started the degree and I just wanted to finish it, so I had one.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. All right. Well, I think that we've covered just about everything at this time, 00:40:00but I'll get one more opportunity. Is anything else that you would like to say or add?

NOOYEN: I don't think so.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Well, I thank you for having joined the service and served. I'm sorry that your physical issues came into play there. But I do appreciate and thank you for your service. And I thank you for doing this oral history interview for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. Thank you.

NOOYEN: Thank you.