00:00:00SPRAGUE: Today is Wednesday, May 13th, 2026. This is an interview with Laura Rohmeyer, who served in the United States Army from 1997 to 2003, and from 2007 to 2014. Does that sound right? Yeah? Okay. Uh-- Laura entered the service as Laura Tesch.
00:00:28ROHMEYER: Yeah.
00:00:29SPRAGUE: Okay. This interview is being conducted by Luke Sprague at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum interview room in Madison Wisconsin, for the I Am Not Visible project for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum oral history program. No one else is present in the room. Okay Laura. Where did you grow up?
00:00:54ROHMEYER: I was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
00:00:56SPRAGUE: Okay, and did you grow up and go to school in Waukesha or?
00:01:02ROHMEYER: Yeah. Elementary school, yeah, I grew up there, moved around a lot, my mom and dad moved around a lot and then they got divorced and then my mom in '89, my sister, my older sister married somebody in Florida, I don't know how she met him, I really don't remember. My mom liked it down there, so she moved down there later, but that's not where I joined the Army. I actually joined out of high school in Rapids, so. Yeah.
00:01:39SPRAGUE: Okay. And Rapids, you mean Wisconsin rapids?
00:01:40ROHMEYER: Yeah, Wisconsin Rapids. After I graduated in 1996, that's where I joined, yeah, I'd actually gone in, not immediately after, obviously, so I'd gone in I think right after the cycle. So it would have been after the new year, so it would've been going into 98, so it would have been like 97, 98. I think the Packers won Super Bowl, so I think that was a good year for everybody.
00:02:20SPRAGUE: Yep.
00:02:21ROHMEYER: Wisconsin pride people, I think, that was good for everybody around that time. We got to watch the Super Bowl in basic, actually, so that was a good time. Yeah, I remember it because the drill sergeants actually let us watch it and they wouldn't let us watched the halftime show but they let us to watch the actual show. They just wouldn't let us and so I don't know who was performing at the time but we, during that thirty minutes, we were doing some weird questions answer thing with drill sergeants. I don't know, it was really weird. Back then they had certain cards, they had a green card for, what was it, there was like a pink card for reserve, green for guard, and I'm not sure if it was green for active too, so It was like a two, yeah, so it was like, they made fun of reserves, though, because. Back then it wasn't considered like a real unit type thing. I don't know, they were like, you know, how are your reserves, I guess, I don't know. So it was like, but I went reserves because my, back in 1995, I had given birth to my oldest son and I had give him up for adoption. So my thought was that I was gonna stay in Wisconsin. To see him as much as I could in the first couple of years to kind of see him grow up a little. Even though the adoption was open, I still kind of wanted to see his first and all that stuff around that time. You know, it's open adoption, but it, you know, I did want to see him, you know, more times than just, you know, not being around when he was in the growing years, you know, kind of basically saying it like the, yeah. So that was the whole kind of point, but it didn't work out that way because a couple years later, when I'd gotten home and, well, you know, home back to Rapids Point area after getting out of basic in the AIT area of it, I'd got a job and met my then husband. And had my daughter at the time and then had gotten orders changed from reserves to active duty and going to Germany. I ended up getting away from my oldest more than I liked, basically, so yeah.
00:05:50SPRAGUE: Okay, I'm going to back you up a little bit and just ask some questions and then we'll jump forward to Germany. So first of all, when you went in, did you have any relatives that served as well or that you are aware of.
00:06:10ROHMEYER: I think on my dad's side, my great-grandfather and my grandfather were World War I and II, I believe, and then my dad was in Vietnam.
00:06:30SPRAGUE: Do you have their names or last names?
00:06:33ROHMEYER: Um, not my great-great-grandfather, but my grandfather Elmer Tesh and, um, Eugene Tesh would be my dad, yeah. And I'm not sure if my grandfather was Air Force too, but my dad was Air force. So I'm not sure what my grandfather was. I think he was Air force as well. I'm pretty sure, but yeah.
00:07:03SPRAGUE: And could, I know you've given it to us on the form, you spell Tech?
00:07:07ROHMEYER: T-E-S-C-H.
00:07:09SPRAGUE: Got it. And were they also out of the Rapids area?
00:07:12ROHMEYER: No, they're out of Wausau.
00:07:14SPRAGUE: Wausau, okay. Okay, so quickly moving ahead here, where did you go for basic?
00:07:22ROHMEYER: Um I was supposed to go to Fort Jackson but somehow ended up in Fort Leonard Wood for the MOS. It's supposed to be Fort Jackson for 92A, but I ended up as an outlier in Fort Leonard Wood
00:07:40SPRAGUE: Okay
00:07:41ROHMEYER: for some reason.
00:07:42SPRAGUE: Okay.
00:07:44ROHMEYER: They say you're supposed to for Fort Jackson, for 92A, which is logistics automated specialist like the, Basically, you're dealing with the aviation side, the tank side, and the warehouse stuff. The SARS, I forgot what the other one's called, but yeah, that's the-- yeah
00:08:14SPRAGUE: So, and I'm just trying to capture all of this so we at least have it, so you went to Fort Leonard Wood for basic but you also took your advanced individual training.
00:08:26ROHMEYER: Fort Lee.
00:08:27SPRAGUE: Fort Lee?
00:08:28ROHMEYER: Uh, Virginia, yeah.
00:08:29SPRAGUE: Virginia, okay. And that was for?
00:08:32ROHMEYER: AIT.
00:08:33SPRAGUE: Yep, AIT, okay, and that was for, I want to get the title right, Automated Logistics Supply Specialist?
00:08:44ROHMEYER: Yes. Yeah.
00:08:45SPRAGUE: I've also seen Supply Specialist. I'm trying to--
00:08:49ROHMEYER: It's the automated supply because if you do the 92Y and the 92A are usually misconstrued, they're not the same thing because the 92Y are done, they are the people that deal with the commander's stuff and the 92A are dealing with a totally separate like, totally separate deals, they, yeah, so it's a, I mean, they go to the same place, but we don't do the same, the same stuff, for sure.
00:09:32SPRAGUE: Thanks for helping me out.
00:09:33ROHMEYER: Yeah. A lot of people get it messed up but it's it's not the same profession. I mean they'd yeah they're in the same for AIT, they're the same area but we don't do the same now
00:09:46SPRAGUE: But you were a 92A. Okay. Thanks for helping me out on that.
00:09:50ROHMEYER: Yeah.
00:09:51SPRAGUE: Um. Cause I don't know. Yeah. Just curious, why did you pick that out of curiosity?
00:10:00ROHMEYER: Actually, I didn't. So this is going to sound a little bizarre. When I first came in, I actually wanted to do-- I actually came in because when I was in-- So I'll go back to my story about my mom moving to Florida in '89 when I was 12. So I had a blip. And I was in a high school down there and I was doing-- Air Force, ROTC. So I was originally supposed to do, when I first joined the military, I signed up to be in the Air Force. The problem was is I scored too low on the ASVAB and I weighed really, really small when I first came in. I was like, I think I was 99 pounds, I don't know, something really small. And then when it came around time and they were like well we can just do a waiver and the army picked me up. They were like, well we'll take you. And I was off. So I was like okay. Then I was in, you know, and then you know because by then I was already back up in-- I was already back up from Florida into Wisconsin. So I did the ASVAB in Wisconsin. So I was in Wisconsin, so I had already been back up here. But I was really wanting to go in the Air Force. I just ended up in the Army. But-- I wouldn't have had it. I guess I'd, you know, I guess I liked it better anyway, because it worked out.
00:12:02SPRAGUE: Okay. So then in the pre-interview, and with Megan had asked, and you had provided the information to us, it sounds like before you went to Germany you were in a drilling Army Reserve Unit in Junction City, Wisconsin. What can you tell me about that?
00:12:25ROHMEYER: Well, I was in it for a couple months. I was pregnant with my daughter. And then after I was, I'd given birth to her, I'd gotten in a car accident with my husband. He was driving, actually. And I had, he was driving and we hit a telephone pole and my car was a Ford LTD at the time, so it had crushed the front, but my leg had gotten messed up, my right leg, and my right had gotten a really bad bruise on the front of it, and I needed a sick-call slip because being there one time, One time during a drill, my leg was so bad that I just couldn't move and it was just really bad. But I was on, they had written me up AWOL for-- Pregnant being in the hospital because they said I didn't tell him I was pregnant or something and I had called in and said I was on my way to the hospital so I don't I don't understand what the miscommunication was not sure what happened there. But I had written the commander a letter saying that I wanted to go active duty, and then he approved of it, and I ended up going to the MEPs, and ended up going to the Germany station, well, wanting Europe.
00:14:21SPRAGUE: Yeah. Did, I've got to ask, did your calling in and saying, I'm going to the emergency room, I'm pregnant, I have this issue I've gotta deal with, did you think that maybe it was some form of discrimination, some are on the commands part for that unit or--
00:14:45ROHMEYER: I don't know what happened. I told somebody and then I don t know if they just didn't tell somebody about it because I told them what happened and I, I mean I would think that being in the hospital would be my, I was in the hospital. I was giving birth to my daughter. I don't know what else I could tell them. I can't come into formation because I'm there. I dont know what else to do.
00:15:16SPRAGUE: Yup.
00:15:17ROHMEYER: I'm in the Hospital. She's born. I don't know. I don't. I was very confused.
00:15:27SPRAGUE: Did that influence you to decide to go on active duty, or was that for maybe another reason?
00:15:38ROHMEYER: My, um-- My decision to go on active duty was-- My husband at the time, I was making maybe about $6 an hour at the local deli, and he wasn't working, so I kind of needed money, and he wasn t helping. So I kind needed this. I don't know what I thought. I thought maybe active would be better, more money, but it didn't work out that way. But I thought it was gonna help. I don't know.
00:16:32SPRAGUE: Okay, so you go to Germany. Where were you in Germany, do you remember by chance?
00:16:40ROHMEYER: It was called Erlensee, it was close to Frankfurt and Hanau. And then it was closed down a while ago. I don't remember when, but it was closed down.
00:16:54SPRAGUE: And that would have, looking at what I see as the homework, it looks like you came in in early October of 2000 into Germany, maybe? And then what was the unit you were in there?
00:17:08ROHMEYER: It was 501st. Um, I want to say it was Delta company. I want to say, I don't
00:17:19SPRAGUE: Here's what I show on your paperwork, because you did all that hard work and filled the form out for us, which was nice of you. I have, it says C Company on the paperwork.
00:17:32ROHMEYER: Oh, okay.
00:17:33SPRAGUE: but I also have slash, I have D Company also written here for some reason. And I have 1st Battalion, 1st of the 501st.
00:17:42ROHMEYER: Yeah, that sounds--
00:17:44SPRAGUE: Sounds right. So it was probably C company if you wrote it down, I would guess, unless you know, or both.
00:17:54ROHMEYER: Yeah, it sounds about right. I would say probably-- I wanna say it's probably D.
00:18:02SPRAGUE: Okay,
00:18:04ROHMEYER: yeah,
00:18:05SPRAGUE: okay. The reason why we asked that question is ah, Laura we're just trying to figure out maybe where you were. Yeah, and sometimes we get it. Sometimes we don't that's okay So tell the public the audience if you would what did the 501st do in Germany?
00:18:25ROHMEYER: They flew Apaches, basically, well, more than just, I'm pretty sure they did Blackhawks and Chinooks and, but it was really good. We did a lot of, they did a lotta missions, they do a lotta things. One of the, well. Do you want me to talk about where we were during 9-11?
00:18:54SPRAGUE: Absolutely.
00:18:55ROHMEYER: Okay, so we were in Hungary doing a live fire mission for the Hungarian army during 9-11. So, well, I don't know. I know I've watched videos of people in New York watching it, but where we were, we had gone to Budapest literally the day before. Like September 10th, we were in Budapest the day before and nothing, we didn't know anything was going on at all. And that day was a normal day in Hungary, Hungary time. And back then, the only people that could have, ah. that sounds funny because, I mean, we had cellular devices, sure, but, you know, you didn't really have good cell phones in the field in your little tent. The only people that could have good cell phone phones at that time were in good satellite feed, like watching shows or news or anything of that sort, where the commanders, the chiefs, the warrant chiefs. The people that had the, you know, the crest on their chest. People that had more bars than other people. You know, like us, the little people, didn't really have the capability, so to say. So, it was about, I think Hungarian and German time, I think it's all like, eight, nine hours ahead. So if you, let's say nine, I think it was nine, ten o'clock New York time, it would have been six, five or six. We were eating dinner in the Hungarian times so we were we were talking we were out eating dinner and all of a sudden, there was a commotion. Sorry.
00:21:25SPRAGUE: There's Kleenex if you need it.
00:21:27ROHMEYER: I don't know why that always bothers me.
00:21:34SPRAGUE: If you want it, it's here for you.
00:21:35ROHMEYER: Wow, that's been almost twenty-five years, and that always bothers me. All of a sudden, there was a commotion at one of the tents. And we were eating and we were like, what's going on? And then we all ran to the tent. And we got there just in time to see one of the planes and we didn't know what was going on. We thought it was a joke. We were like what's going on, you know? And that Hungarian mission was, I don't know, it was just to support, like, the Hungarian army and to show everybody that we were, you know, they weren't part of NATO at that time. I don't know when they became part of, if they ever did, but-- They weren't part of NATO and that part is kind of relevant to what was going on because when the second plane hit and everything else that transpired that day, they called us together and told us that we needed to leave. After all the chaos that happened that day they told us we needed to leave. So that mission ended abruptly that day. Everything that happened, that transpired, and we were only there for like maybe three days before that and everything had stopped and everything and gone just, and then. Yeah, so we were just like, and then everybody on the bus home was frantic because if you had family in the towers or in New York, you didn't know what was going on because of the time and the time change. It was already a day ahead. Nobody knew what was on. Nobody knew who was on the planes, nobody knew if their family member was anywhere. It was so chaotic. And then to get back to base, all the levels of, what did they all call them? The levels of, they had, everything was leveled. The highest level of, I can't remember what they called it now. It was like red. Everything was red. Everything, you couldn't go anywhere. You couldn't on a base without getting stopped and having your car looked at with a mirror. So it was like, it was a terrible, but I'm gonna tell you, three days before that, the Hungarian army, we were trading, we were trading gear with the Hungarian army. People were literally trading their uniforms. They were asking for my M16 at the time because that's what we had. We had, they didn't have M4s at the time, we had M16s still, you know? And that's literally what we were doing. We weren't even thinking about an attack on our soil. And that, you, know? But it's crazy to talk about because I feel like I'm in a different dimension because I was out of the country when that happened and I just feel like it's just so bizarre because it felt like it didn't feel real, you know, but I mean I've seen the New York documentaries and stuff. I can't imagine what it was like for them there, but-- It just didn't feel real watching it in a Hungarian tent, you know, it was just, yeah--
00:25:36SPRAGUE: Do you happen to remember the name of the Hungarian base or not? No. Okay. So how did things change after 9-11 with your unit?
00:25:48ROHMEYER: Well, I know they didn't go anywhere at first but Everybody was on high alert because of all the extra You know guards at the base. We were put on, you know you had to come in earlier. So there was more traffic at the gate because you had searched. There was also a murder of a soldier while there was tight security. I know that happened and just recently I think they found her murderer.
00:26:32SPRAGUE: So that would have been post 9-11, maybe '02 or late '01.
00:26:37ROHMEYER: Late '01, I think it was. I think they just recently found her killer. I think it was the boyfriend or husband, not husband, I think it was like, yeah, but it was like really weird because that incident happened while the base was on lockdown. Yeah, it was really odd. It was a weird situation, but--
00:26:59SPRAGUE: What was the name of the base that was locked down, if you remember?
00:27:04ROHMEYER: I wanna say it was Erlensee. No. I can't be because that's a no wasn't Hanau. What is the name of that? No, it would have to be Erlensee because it's the only base we were going to. I don't know. Those bases are the ones that are closed now. I don't know. I know there's some that are still open, but I don't know.
00:27:38SPRAGUE: Okay. No worries. So, 9-11 happens. You're there in Germany. Did you get deployed anywhere? Did anything change?
00:27:53ROHMEYER: Well, when they got the orders to go to Iraq, I think in '02, '03, I was already pregnant with Aiden. So I would have been already ready to come out around the end of '03 because that would have been when I was pregnant with him, yeah.
00:28:22SPRAGUE: And was it the entire 501st that deployed or,
00:28:27ROHMEYER: yeah
00:28:28SPRAGUE: okay and I've got to ask any particular reasons why you didn't stay on active duty or not or
00:28:40ROHMEYER: Mmm. Well, basically the pregnancy, you know, I mean, I kind of wanted to have him and basically since you're pregnant, I got a, I really can't stay.
00:28:58SPRAGUE: You know, okay There was there wasn't any attempt to accommodate the pregnancy on active duty or that wasn't a possibility or
00:29:11ROHMEYER: I mean, I could've, but-- No, I think at that point I was just ready to go home.
00:29:21SPRAGUE: Okay, so you get off of active duty in '03 and you're off of active duty for it looks like about three or four years.
00:29:33ROHMEYER: Yeah, because I went to Florida.
00:29:36SPRAGUE: Tell me about that.
00:29:38ROHMEYER: Well, I have family in Florida because my sister married her husband down there Well, yeah her first husband and then my mom liked it so much. She moved us down there so, she lived down there, so then my sister, my other sister, moved down there. So they were down there so we lived down there and I lived there for a bit of time with my husband and the two children, but things were getting rough and not just, I mean, I had a job at a warehouse outside of-- outside of, you know, military warehousing, like I was working at Martin Brower, but I just, things weren't going the greatest. It just, I guess I just needed to come back in. And then just, my ex wasn't working, as usual. And ah,
00:30:50SPRAGUE: So during that time you were maybe on IRR or were you drilling somewhere?
00:30:58ROHMEYER: No, I really didn't, no, I wasn't in IRR at the time, but I had gotten back in active duty and went to Fort Hood.
00:31:16SPRAGUE: Okay.
00:31:17ROHMEYER: Yeah.
00:31:18SPRAGUE: Help me out with this. I have two things written here. I have 2007, but I also have 2006 with question marks. Do you kind of remember?
00:31:29ROHMEYER: Um, I think it was 2000, on the cusp of 2006-7 when we came when I went to Texas to come in.
00:31:40SPRAGUE: Okay.
00:31:41ROHMEYER: But, you know, he was he was getting I don't know. He was-- Yeah, it was a,
00:31:59SPRAGUE: Yeah. I understand. So, you come back on active duty, '06-'07. Are you still an automated logistic specialist?
00:32:15ROHMEYER: Yep
00:32:16SPRAGUE: Okay. And uh, I think I know why, but your reasoning for coming back on active duty was--
00:32:26ROHMEYER: Just things weren't working out and just not with my husband not working at that time. I mean, he was kind of working, just not, he bounced around from jobs a lot. Yeah, I mean he worked in Florida but he stood outside and he really didn't like that a lot and he just didn't really seem to like getting jobs. So we ended up back in, we ended up in Texas at Fort Hood.
00:33:08SPRAGUE: Mm-hmm. And I think it's on your paperwork. You said it was 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery. Does that sound right, maybe?
00:33:19ROHMEYER: Yeah.
00:33:20SPRAGUE: Four or five?
00:33:21ROHMEYER: Yeah.
00:33:22SPRAGUE: ADA?
00:33:23ROHMEYER: Yeah.
00:33:24SPRAGUE: So, help me out here with this a little bit. We haven't gone into it yet. At this point, when you came back in, what was your rank or grade or what were you working on?
00:33:37ROHMEYER: I was specialist at the time.
00:33:39SPRAGUE: Okay So, the Army honored your time that you'd had prior. You could bring that with you. What was that like being that logistical specialist in that unit? Tell me about what your day is. I have no idea.
00:33:58ROHMEYER: Well, in this unit, I was now not in aviation now, so it was more of like, um-- Oh boy, so now we're doing, um-- What they call motor pool stuff. So this is your tanks. Oh boy, some of the trucks, I guess, the-- I don't even know how to describe the other ones. Just, I guess, most of the car services, the Humvees, the-- Whatever the trucks are. The ones that are driving at the time. In the current years, before they switch out the vehicles, I suppose. Yeah, and then you deal with all the, you know, the work orders, the things like that, the parts for that, the parts for the cars, things like that.
00:35:12SPRAGUE: So for the civilians that are watching this and listening to you, years from now, maybe explain to them what happens if what you were doing didn't happen.
00:35:27ROHMEYER: Let's see, so if a person, okay, so maintenance, a person from maintenance has to go to the person like me to order the parts. So I guess if that person like me didn't exist, they probably just wouldn't get their parts from that from anybody because they needed a person in that middle to get the parts to order those parts, because that's what we were we were the. We were the person to order all the parts for those people and do the work orders and all the things like that. Yeah, that's
00:36:14SPRAGUE: We used to call it deadline the vehicles deadlined.
00:36:17ROHMEYER: Yeah,
00:36:18SPRAGUE: So if our Logistics specialist didn't do their job.
00:36:22ROHMEYER: Yeah.
00:36:23SPRAGUE: We were not leaving the motor pool
00:36:25ROHMEYER: You weren't going anywhere, basically.
00:36:27SPRAGUE: Exactly, so super duper.
00:36:30ROHMEYER: Yeah, important.
00:36:31SPRAGUE: Yep What was it like working at that unit?
00:36:39ROHMEYER: It was okay. I mean, they had, we did a lot of things. I liked Fort Hood because it had an area that it was nice, it was warm. It was in, I mean Texas weather was nice. They had beautiful weather. I mean you can't argue with sunny most of the time. The area was good for the kids. They had a lot of stuff that you could do with the kids in the summertime. Back then, my kids were younger, so they had a lot of recreational stuff they could do, like out in the summer. They had, I can't remember the name of the lake, but the lake you could go down to. And they had a little area that-- It was like a little kiddie car wash that my kids like to go through and they enjoyed it. And I don't, I can't remember the name of the lake now, but I know it was right off of Fort Hood and it was, I don't, probably still there if it, if it's still around, but and it was an area that they loved. They loved it. They wanted to go there all the time. And yeah, it's a good area for kids. Very good area for kids to run around and play and get all that energy out so you can go home and just let them. Just sit. Yeah.
00:38:19SPRAGUE: What were the conditions in terms of gender roles? Were there male and female? Was there any discrimination issues there? Or was it pretty fair? What was that like?
00:38:38ROHMEYER: Um, I think a lot of times if you're-- Like a female in the military, it's more of like, you're in a role of, you're more of, like, more seen as you take care of people, you know, like. I guess that's your role. I think it's like, you are seen as like that, like, or you're seen as weak, you know, as a female. Like, I think males generally think of you like that or slow or things like that. If like-- I just think people think of you like that, like I think typically men think of you like in the military. I think that as a normal. You know because you're the PT like the PT I mean the older you are the slower your PT test is and I think that bothers some men you know, because they might think that you have all this time but it's a lot more harder for you if you're older especially you know if you're an older woman too a lot harder for you to, you know, get somewhere. Yeah. You know, and then, I don't know, older men too might have a difficult problem, but a lot of times it's just more difficult when you're older. I mean, I didn't think about it when I was younger, but I was probably making fun of older people. I probably did, and I should probably shoot myself for that, because here I am. Probably shooting myself in the foot, I just, you know, probably shouldn't have been doing that because I probably am in the same boat that I, you
00:40:55SPRAGUE: So you were there from '06 to '08, and were you E4 promotable, or was that in the next unit?
00:41:04ROHMEYER: Yeah.
00:41:05SPRAGUE: Did you make sergeant at Fort Hood, or is that the next duty station?
00:41:10ROHMEYER: No, that was in Fayetteville.
00:41:12SPRAGUE: Okay. So did you, I have to ask, while you were at Hood, did you deal with any sexual harassment? From your co-workers.
00:41:28ROHMEYER: There was, but there wasn't a lot. Um. I'm in your basic stuff, you know, but there wasn't a lot of stuff but there, there was stuff.
00:41:52SPRAGUE: Anything that you care to share or not?
00:41:55ROHMEYER: Mmm. From Fort Hood?
00:42:01SPRAGUE: Yeah, or another time. You might want, you're okay with sharing. If you're not, that's fine too.
00:42:13ROHMEYER: Mmm.
00:42:20ROHMEYER: From sexual harassment stuff?
00:42:22SPRAGUE: Yeah.
00:42:30ROHMEYER: Mmm. I just think most women get it because they, you know, men just think that-- You know, most of the men soldiers just think that the women, like, want it or something and like, I don't know. It's like, it's their, you know, like they're wanting to be harassed. I don't know if that makes sense or not.
00:43:07SPRAGUE: Yeah, I ask because I know a number of women who we've interviewed who have experienced those issues, and I want to give you an opening to talk about that if you feel the need to. And if you don't, that's okay too, but I have to ask the question.
00:43:27ROHMEYER: Yeah.
00:43:28SPRAGUE: Okay. So anything else? It sounds like Fort Hood would be a great place to raise kids at. Anything else you want to share about Fort Hood while we're on it? OK.
00:43:45ROHMEYER: No.
00:43:46SPRAGUE: So let's go on to Fort Bragg. And it looks like '08. Tell me about what unit you were in there.
00:43:57ROHMEYER: Ah, I want to say. 501st?
00:44:06SPRAGUE: Well, here's
00:44:07ROHMEYER: No, One, two, two.
00:44:09SPRAGUE: One, two, two. I've got, and you filled this all out, and so I get to cheat a little. I have Bravo Company.
00:44:17ROHMEYER: Ah, but I was in a company before Bravo.
00:44:21SPRAGUE: Okay, straighten me out.
00:44:23ROHMEYER: I know, see, this is what I was thinking about. I didn't know if it was Alpha Company first. Yeah, I was in a company first, and then I was moved to Bravo.
00:44:35SPRAGUE: Yeah, was it the HHC or was it a line company? Alpha company
00:44:42ROHMEYER: It was Alpha Company, I thought.
00:44:44SPRAGUE: Oh, you were there. You tell me.
00:44:47ROHMEYER: No, I just can't remember for some reason.
00:44:49SPRAGUE: That's okay, but you were in the 122nd, let me make sure I get this right, 122rd Aviation Support Battalion,
00:44:57ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
00:44:58SPRAGUE: within the 82nd Airborne,
00:45:00ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
00:45:01SPRAGUE: at Bragg, and to summarize, you were at Alpha Company and then Bravo Company.
00:45:06ROHMEYER: Yep
00:45:07SPRAGUE: How long were you at that first company? Was it a short time and then you moved?
00:45:10ROHMEYER: No, it was--
00:45:11SPRAGUE: Okay, a lot of time. Maybe a year or two, two years.
00:45:16ROHMEYER: Yeah, it was longer than Bravo.
00:45:19SPRAGUE: OK. OK, well, I might, I could have it wrong. So.
00:45:23ROHMEYER: No, that was, it was, I started off with them and then moved to Bravo.
00:45:29SPRAGUE: Okay.
00:45:30ROHMEYER: That was the, I just couldn't remember the first, and I don't know why I can't remember that.
00:45:38SPRAGUE: Well that's okay. You're human, that's the way it goes. Sometimes you remember, sometimes you don't.
00:45:43ROHMEYER: Yeah, it's just, I can't remember why I can remember.
00:45:46SPRAGUE: No worries.
00:45:47ROHMEYER: It's just weird.
00:45:48SPRAGUE: So, I have you there, and there's another piece to this, but the '08, you're the Logistical Supply Specialist. Is that correct?
00:46:01ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
00:46:02SPRAGUE: Am I wrong on that? So tell me what it is.
00:46:07ROHMEYER: Another aircraft unit.
00:46:08SPRAGUE: Okay, an aircraft unit? How is that different than the ADA unit?
00:46:13ROHMEYER: Really not much.
00:46:15SPRAGUE: Okay, and so you would have been the logistic supply specialist in each of the line companies. You're talking about Alpha, Bravo. Help me out here, because I don't know. So does that line company, what does it have in it? Is it vehicles? Is it aircraft? Is it in that aviation support battalion? Because I don't know.
00:46:44ROHMEYER: The, well, the first-- So the Bravo would have been the aircraft. And I think the first one is the warehouse. So it's the, yeah, so the, if you're. The first unit would have been the warehouse, you would have been in the warehouse. So your duties would have been in warehouse. The actual Bravo unit would have been in your duties, would have been in in the actual hangar itself.
00:47:23SPRAGUE: What kind of aircraft did you have when you were in Bravo Company?
00:47:26ROHMEYER: Um, there was Apaches, Blackhawks, and I think there was a-- No, there wasn't a Chinook, but there was a UH-60, I believe. But it didn't fly missions or anything. That was just an aircraft to the side.
00:47:47SPRAGUE: Okay, so what was being in that unit like, being in the 82nd?
00:47:57ROHMEYER: Well, now, 82nd, you're not being in a-- So 82nd is the airborne, you know, all the way, hoo-hoo, you the-- But-- Now when you're, you're 82nd, you are part of the 82nd but being in the, in, you don't have to do your, being a 92A, you dont have to have the wings, so you dont' have to jump out of the helicopters, you do not have to the jump school, so, I mean, not a lot of people know that, but you don't have to that, so. I didn't have jump things, so here I am in the 82nd air of the class things without wearing any wings. So I'm probably like, you know, a sheep, the whole sheep out of all these sheeps, you know? Because everybody's probably like why doesn't she have her wings? She's in the 82nd, you, know? Yeah. That's how it feels when you're over there. Yeah.
00:49:10SPRAGUE: We've had other people we've interviewed, same situation.
00:49:14ROHMEYER: That's how you feel walking around. Everybody's probably like, why don't you have--
00:49:19SPRAGUE: Do they? Do they. I have to ask, do they give you slots to jump school or not? I mean, if you don't have the opportunity to go--
00:49:29ROHMEYER: Not with the 92, I don't think, because you're not really required, I mean you probably could if you wanted to, but you don't really, it's not required for your job position, so you don't have to do it. So, yeah.
00:49:46SPRAGUE: Okay. So tell me what happened in, it looks like, spring of '09 with your unit, with the 122nd. Did anything, I'm showing that you might have deployed then.
00:50:05ROHMEYER: Oh, right, like in, to Afghanistan?
00:50:09SPRAGUE: Correct.
00:50:10ROHMEYER: Right, right. Yeah, we went to Afghanistan. We went to Kandahar, and we were there until 2010. And then we, yeah, we were out. We did the we did a mission and then we we waited for uh-- I think we had new york came in after us i think i don't remember who they were
00:50:44SPRAGUE: Is it the New York National Guard or Reserve Unit?
00:50:46ROHMEYER: No, I think it was, no, are they, no aren't they, no it was a guard, I don't think they're an actual, yeah I think they were a guard unit.
00:51:00SPRAGUE: Okay. So I'm going to just back you up a smidge in here and try to grab some stuff here while we can. Was that Operation Enduring Freedom? Was that Operation Endering Freedom 10 or was that something else? X usually. They use the Roman sometimes or--
00:51:23ROHMEYER: That was a ten. Yeah, I think it was ten.
00:51:26SPRAGUE: Okay. Straighten me out if I'm wrong, because I'm not going to know. Which company were you in at that time while you were in Afghanistan?
00:51:37ROHMEYER: Alpha.
00:51:39SPRAGUE: OK. And did you have any pre-mob before you left Bragg or not, mobilization?
00:51:46ROHMEYER: Like, ah...?
00:51:49SPRAGUE: Sometimes units get ramped up. You were already on active duty. Did they just say, we're wheels up? Or did they say we're going to go train at Camp McCall? Or what did they--
00:52:00ROHMEYER: Oh no, we didn't go train anywhere, we just got on a plane and was out basically.
00:52:09SPRAGUE: Okay, and what was your first impression when you got off the plane in Kandahar?
00:52:16ROHMEYER: Well actually, I like the trip over because we were, I mean, we were on a plane and then we were we were suddenly in Germany. And then we're in, because we're this little airfield that had a little tiny airport that had like this little gift section, if you will. Like, I had like a little gift store. And then there's a there's a, now it's not called, there's an, there is a place in, not say Manas, because that's an air base in. Germany, and that's not what I'm saying, but there's a Kyrgyzstan there's place in there's there's an airport there that is in the mountains that, very beautiful when you get off the plane. I can't remember the name of the base though but it there's mountains around it and that just scenery is just beautiful like it's just outstanding and like you just get off you looking around and then you get on a plane and then they they were doing, I don't know if anybody has explained to you what a combat roll is
00:53:48SPRAGUE: Go ahead
00:53:50ROHMEYER: Did have they explained it before no
00:53:51SPRAGUE: No
00:53:52ROHMEYER: No? Nobody? weird. Okay, so when you get out of Manas, you're usually on a C-130. I don't know if you know what a C-130 is.
00:54:05SPRAGUE: Yep
00:54:06ROHMEYER: Most people don't. A C-130 is like a bigger military aircraft. So it usually seats quite a few military personnel. It looks like a bloated, like it's a big aircraft. You put, it comes up, you just load soldiers on, we're all sitting there. And they, going in Afghanistan, they want to do like a roll in the air, basically, because they want to do, like, a combat roll, and that's what they call that. So, yeah, that was, to me that was kind of scary. I don't, so they're coming in and they're like, okay, and then they, yeah that wasn't fun. No, that wasn't fun at all.
00:54:55SPRAGUE: Were you, on the C-130, did they have seats in there or did they just have the side seats with the strapping?
00:55:04SPRAGUE: Yeah, they have the side seats.
00:55:05SPRAGUE: And did you have a lanyard when they made that roll or something to hold you in your seat?
00:55:12ROHMEYER: Yeah. They have something to hold you, but it just, it goes quick, and then you're basically back in, and then they land, and then, you're just, like, kind of white-knuckling it from there, because you're, just, like, I can't believe we just did that.
00:55:29SPRAGUE: And why do they do the combat roll?
00:55:32ROHMEYER: Kind of like if there's missiles coming off the ground, they wanna make sure they're out of the way. Well, I mean, back then, if there were any missiles, but I mean that was 2009, '10, in the heat of anything, if there was missiles coming at you, they wanted to make sure they could roll out of way, but. yeah, pretty scary though.
00:55:59SPRAGUE: Yeah. I would imagine. It looks like it was March of 2009, roughly. What was the weather like at that time?
00:56:09ROHMEYER: It was starting to get pretty warm.
00:56:11SPRAGUE: Already in March.
00:56:12ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
00:56:13SPRAGUE: Wow.
00:56:15ROHMEYER: Okay. In Kandahar though, if you go further north, like say you're in Bagram, it's still kind of cold up in Bgram, but when you're down in Kandahar it's starting to get pretty warm. And then when you get in the thick of June, July, and August, man, that's where you're getting warm. That's when you're starting to get really warm now, especially in the-- summertime like in the actual summer because you gotta remember there's no trees there's nothing around you there's just desert I mean the we're in a we're in the middle of a desert basically there's now there's a base just in the middle of the desert basically I mean there's like there's I mean from what I could see from some of the points on the base, so, like, I-- For me, my mission was basically on the base. I never really went off base. So there was like, from what I could see from my standpoint on the base, there was houses and areas around, but for the most part, there wasn't a lot of greenery around the base, so. Yeah there was a lot of things that, there wasn't a lot of shade, there was just not a lot of trees, shade, anything around. So it was very hot, dry. But we had a lot, they put in a TGI Fridays, that was nice.
00:57:57SPRAGUE: What were the conditions like in the, what did you have for living conditions?
00:58:04ROHMEYER: They were nice, they had areas of like, they had like areas of, some areas were tents, some areas had places where they had set up to where it looked like, um, some were just like a couple places where just tents were, um like set up to kind of have like two people in it to where it could have like maybe four people like less people I want to say there was a time where there was a blast on our side with a rocket blast and that came over kind of quick. And actually, I was next to a rocket blast. Our tent was right next to the rocket blast that killed the-- The people that it hit, so that was kind of, it was actually pretty close to us. So it was like, we were there, it was over there, so it was, if it would have been any closer to us, it kind of would have hit us. So it like, you know, it's kind of mind blowing in how close it was. So it's just, you're just sitting there like, this is nuts, you now? That rockets can just come in anywhere, and you're just, this is your tent, basically. This is where you're sleeping, but yeah. And then the system for the rocket blast would tell you that there's rocket blasts, but it was a crazy system. It was very, very weird. And imagine yourself being out, coming outside of your tent. The Afghanis would set up the rockets to just shoot anywhere. So it would hit the buildings behind sometimes. So they would hit their own people because they were trying to hit points but they were set up on timers, right? So they will come off alright. It was nuts. So you would just sit there and you would hear a rocket blast and you'd have to go to the certain areas that you would be designated to run to, but it was crazy that it was set up that way. Some of the, if you looked out, if your on base and you looked at the distance, some of the houses outside had blast holes in them because they would shoot off side them. The bases sometimes, and it was just, it was crazy, it was just weird. It was just astronomical to see why you were thinking that, why, why would you shoot over there? You know, I don't know, it's just weird, it is a weird, weird time to be thinking like that. Like, why would you set it up to be shooting out there? You know when you're trying to hit us and I don't know it's just kind of crazy.
01:01:30SPRAGUE: So you were in tents at Kandahar, is what you're telling me.
01:01:35ROHMEYER: Well, tents, yeah, the tents, but some of them were set up to be like little, like little houses basically, because they had more in them basically, yeah.
01:01:51SPRAGUE: Okay, and did you have like an alert that went off when the rockets were going in or it was?
01:01:58ROHMEYER: It was a big system that said, she came over the system and said rocket attack.
01:02:06SPRAGUE: And then did you get in culverts or tunnels or shelters or what?
01:02:10ROHMEYER: There was a, you had to run into like a, there was something in front of the, there was a what do I want to say? I can't think of the name of it now. Like a, what do they call them that you get into like a sandblasting, like a and get into it like a-- Concrete area that--
01:02:49SPRAGUE: Culvert?
01:02:52ROHMEYER: Yeah, like a, something that.
01:02:55SPRAGUE: Haskell bags.
01:02:56ROHMEYER: Why am I blanking on this word?
01:02:58SPRAGUE: That's okay.
01:03:00SPRAGUE: My goodness.
01:03:02SPRAGUE: I understand what you're trying to tell us.
01:03:04ROHMEYER: Hope the viewer does.
01:03:07SPRAGUE: Yeah. So those people when those the rockets that came in was were those were those people from your unit that got hurt or killed?
01:03:18ROHMEYER: I think they were British soldiers at the time, and they had a point that the-- They had an area where they would recruit a bunch of us to go out and to watch the people on the planes leave. So we had to do that. It was like a detail that we had to do and go out, and stand at attention, and watch the bodies we put on the, the planes. It was kind of, it was kind like somber and like nerve-wracking at the same time, kind of thinking that it could be your body in there. So it kind of sucked too at the time, because that could be like, wow, people could be doing that for me next time. Yeah, it kind-of sucked.
01:04:15SPRAGUE: Hello, but yeah, how was the how are people chosen for that detail was it random was it by unit?
01:04:25ROHMEYER: Random
01:04:26SPRAGUE: random
01:04:27ROHMEYER: like a most of the time it's kind of the "hey you" detail, and I don't know if you've heard that term before It's like a military term like basically a hey you detail, Mm-hmm, basically that.
01:04:41SPRAGUE: And the randomness of the rockets, how did that impact you? What did you think of that?
01:04:52ROHMEYER: Yeah, that sucked too, because that could be your tent, the people next to you, it could be the chow hall, it can be anything. You had to, like, try to put it out of your mind on a daily basis, because it could be your workplace, it could be anything, you know? It was hard to deal with sometimes. I had a funny story when I got back from leave because I had, well not, yeah, well, not back from leave. When we got back form deployment all together, I had rented a house and the ice in the freezer had like a time-detail and I didn't realize that it had a time-detail and it was like click click click where it went off and I was in the bedroom I was getting ready to lay down and I heard those, you know, and I got up and instantly landed on the floor in the bedroom. And I was by myself in the house and I rolled over and I was laughing because I was like, what am I doing? You know, because I realized it was the ice machine and that-- I was just like, yeah, you freaked out for a bit when you got home. I think everybody did for a while.
01:06:30SPRAGUE: What, during the work day, was the work similar to being back at Bragg, or was it different in terms of what you did?
01:06:41ROHMEYER: No, similar, but just hotter and more. More brutal because you had more things breaking and more time constraints because you have to do more at a heavier pace. You had to do it more because obviously they were going out more, they were doing more missions, the Apaches were running more, breaking more, They were doing more more things in the desert, so you had to do a lot more. Our shifts were longer. I think they were doing 12 on, 12 off.
01:07:25SPRAGUE: Oh, yeah. So what units were you there in support of? Was it the 82nd itself or was it other units as well that you were?
01:07:38ROHMEYER: Yeah, we were there to support, basically I think the English, I think some Irish people were out there. I think some of the Afghan army was over there. I'm pretty sure. I think that's what was all over there
01:08:01SPRAGUE: How did you deal with the separation from your friends and family back in the states? What was that like?
01:08:14ROHMEYER: Um-- That was a little hard, yeah. I think for most of it, I think just being away from my kids was a lot harder. Just they were-- It was harder for them because they just didn't want to see me come home in a box, you know, like it was just harder for the because they were younger at the time. They're older now, but they were kids at that time.
01:08:54SPRAGUE: What were some of the risks that you encountered while you were there in addition to rocket fire?
01:09:06ROHMEYER: Mmm-- Well-- Those two bombs that went off, because there were two suicide bombers that have gotten in on the base, that one next to us, and then I'm not sure when the other one went off. But there were 2 of them that had gotten on. Heat exhaustion, that was a big one, because you're not used to 130 temperature. Yeah, I would say that and just overworked, you know, just stuff that you're not used to doing at a normal working way over 11 hours a day. Yeah, yeah.
01:10:01SPRAGUE: So at this point, were you promotable? What rank were you at, do you remember?
01:10:10ROHMEYER: Yeah, I was at, yeah I was promotable. I was still E4 I think.
01:10:14SPRAGUE: Okay. Yeah. Okay.
01:10:17ROHMEYER: I think, no, I think I got E5 when I was there, and then, yeah, because I, no. I, because, I was promoted, yeah because I was promoted in Fort Bragg. I was promoted at Fort Bragg because I was a sergeant when I went to my other unit.
01:10:45SPRAGUE: So when you came back from Afghanistan, you got promoted or before you?
01:10:50ROHMEYER: No, when I came back I was, I got promoted in Afghanistan.
01:10:54SPRAGUE: In Afghanistan, you made sergeant?
01:10:57SPRAGUE: Mm-hmm.
01:10:58SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:11:00ROHMEYER: Yeah.
01:11:02SPRAGUE: Did, so when you got promoted to sergeant, was that then, as an NCO, were you then moving into a supervisory role, or would that come later, or?
01:11:15ROHMEYER: No, that would come later.
01:11:17SPRAGUE: Okay. Did, uh, were you, uh wounded while you were in Afghanistan? Or did you have an injury while you're in Afghanistan.
01:11:30ROHMEYER: No, not that time, no.
01:11:35SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:11:36ROHMEYER: No, I came home like the rest of them.
01:11:38SPRAGUE: Okay, so you come back in, was it a calendar year in 2010?
01:11:45ROHMEYER: Yeah, I came back in '10.
01:11:46SPRAGUE: Okay. Okay, so help me out with this a little bit because I'm trying to figure out where it fits in. You're still with the 82nd, you're back in Bragg, in O '10. Did you do a demobilization or how did that, did they wind you down or how did, that work? Or was it just go back to work on kind of thing.
01:12:10ROHMEYER: Did they do the--I don't know if they did, I don't remember doing--I think we did, but we just kind of swung back into it, and then we went to Bagram and-- The '12, no, '11, '12. Yeah, because we went in Bagram. But I didn't stay the whole time then.
01:12:49SPRAGUE: Huh?
01:12:50ROHMEYER: I didn t stay the entire time then
01:12:54SPRAGUE: So, just so I understand, because I'm easily confused, you're up at Kandahar,
01:13:01ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:13:02SPRAGUE: '09 to '10,
01:13:03ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:13:04SPRAGUE: you come back to Bragg,
01:13:05ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:13:06SPRAGUE: and then you're telling me you go back to Bagram in '11.
01:13:12ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:13:13SPRAGUE: But you were there a short amount of time.
01:13:15ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:13:16SPRAGUE: Okay. What happened in Bagram?
01:13:31ROHMEYER: Honestly, I, um-- I was put on suicide watch and I had gotten back to my unit and then I was sent to the wounded warrior unit.
01:13:55SPRAGUE: Okay
01:13:56ROHMEYER: and then
01:13:57SPRAGUE: sorry, go head
01:13:59ROHMEYER: I was in the wounded warrior unit for a year.
01:14:04SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:14:06ROHMEYER: No, yeah, because in the Wounded Warrior unit, I went to-- No, before I went to the wounded warrior unit, I went to Africa.
01:14:22SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:14:23ROHMEYER: Yeah, because I had a little, I had like a month or so in Africa. I went there, and then I went to the wounded warrior unit, and then I was in that unit for a year, and then I was in Kansas.
01:14:44SPRAGUE: OK. OK. So I'm just trying to, to the degree that you--
01:14:54ROHMEYER: Piece everything.
01:14:55SPRAGUE: So, to the degree that you're willing to share with us, I'm just trying to make sure we get it right, because people will call me and they'll ask me and they'll go, well you got this wrong. And I'll be like, we tried. So respectfully, so you were, just help me out here, oh nine to ten. You were in Kandahar, and then you come back to Bragg in ten, then you go back out after a year, or how long were you back in Bragg? A year, roughly?
01:15:28ROHMEYER: Yeah
01:15:29SPRAGUE: Okay, so in '11, instead of going to Kandahar, you went to
01:15:35ROHMEYER: Bagram
01:15:36SPRAGUE: Bagram. Okay, and then after a couple months at Bagram, or how long? Two months, maybe? Just guessing.
01:15:45SPRAGUE: Mm-hmm
01:15:46SPRAGUE: But it was still in '11 or was it in '12 at that point?
01:15:50ROHMEYER: You know, I don't remember.
01:15:51SPRAGUE: Okay that's fine. So, go ahead, sorry.
01:15:56ROHMEYER: I, yeah, I don't remember, but it was, it was pretty, the turnaround was pretty quick though, so I would just say, I just came back.
01:16:08SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:16:09ROHMEYER: It was like a month out, so I'd just say pretty quick.
01:16:13SPRAGUE: Okay, one month out. Okay. So '11, you're on suicide watch.
01:16:19ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:16:20SPRAGUE: Is that with the Wounded Warrior or is that with--
01:16:23ROHMEYER: No, that's with Bravo.
01:16:25SPRAGUE: With Bravo Company.
01:16:26SPRAGUE: Mm-hmm
01:16:27SPRAGUE: With the 122nd.
01:16:29ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:16:30SPRAGUE: Okay, got it. Okay then, after that you are-- You said you went to Africa for a year?
01:16:40ROHMEYER: No, Africa for I think a month or so, yeah.
01:16:48SPRAGUE: Okay, in the one month you were in Africa was that?
01:16:52ROHMEYER: I don't remember what unit that was with.
01:16:55SPRAGUE: Okay. That's okay. Don't know the unit. Okay.
01:16:59ROHMEYER: It could be, I wanna say, probably the same company, but different, the same unit, probably Charlie Company, I want to say.
01:17:11SPRAGUE: Charlie Company of the 122nd.
01:17:14ROHMEYER: I wanna say it's the same company-wise, but the same units, but different company. Just, or it's either Charlie or Delta, but it's same, you know what I mean? Like the same unit, same battalion unit, but just different company
01:17:36SPRAGUE: Okay, and that would have been in '11 or '12, probably still '11 maybe?
01:17:43ROHMEYER: No, '12.
01:17:45SPRAGUE: '12, okay. Mm-hmm. So then, you--
01:17:50ROHMEYER: Because '13, I was in. Because going in the '12-'13, it would have been the wounded warrior unit, because by the end of '13, I was heading towards Kansas.
01:18:06SPRAGUE: Okay, okay, I think we've got this.
01:18:09ROHMEYER: All settled.
01:18:11SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:18:12ROHMEYER: Maybe.
01:18:13SPRAGUE: So, and then, okay, so got it, you were Delta or Charlie Company, 122nd,
01:18:19ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:18:20SPRAGUE: one month in Africa, and then '12 to '13 you were in the wounded warrior unit
01:18:26ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:18:27SPRAGUE: okay? And that was at the warrior transition battalion at Bragg,
01:18:33ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:18:34SPRAGUE: okay. Okay, um, we don't-- What can you tell me and what are you willing to tell me a little bit about being at the Wounded Warrior Battalion? Because we have not a lot of people who've been through that and it's a fairly recent development for the Army. Could you just share with us a little bit about what that's about, please?
01:18:57ROHMEYER: Yeah, um, I, um-- I had a lot of stuff going on. I mean, obviously, that's why I wanted to take my life while I was out in Afghanistan. There was a lot stuff going in the unit, a lot a stuff with my ex. Well, he still wasn't, it's my ex, but he still, I mean we weren't together, but. We weren't living together, but on paper we were still married, you know what I mean? So he had the kids, and there was just fighting back and forth, money issues, just things like that, and a lot of things going on. Wounded Warrior was helping me out mentally and just talking to me, helping me, like the with the with the what do they call it the What's that word for this? The PTSD, yeah, they were helping me with that. Cause I had, it was just bad with it. And they were help me with a lot of things. And it wasn't just from Afghanistan the first time. It was just from my marriage and things like that. And it's just, they're helping me with a lotta things, so. Yeah, I ended up there, and then at the end of that, I ended in Kansas, Fort Riley, Kansas, so.
01:20:56SPRAGUE: Okay, and you told us about Fort Riley, Kansas, and that would have been 2013, you would have been there?
01:21:08ROHMEYER: Until the end of 2014, yeah.
01:21:12SPRAGUE: Okay. And then What I show, what you've provided us with, pre-interview was, and help me out if I'm wrong, First Battalion, 18th Infantry?
01:21:23ROHMEYER: Yeah, I think so.
01:21:25SPRAGUE: Yeah, First Infantry Division, Big Rig One?
01:21:28ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm.
01:21:29SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:21:30ROHMEYER: That sounds about right.
01:21:31SPRAGUE: And I've got you on the, yeah, it would've been Second Brigade Combat Team.
01:21:35ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:21:36SPRAGUE: Looks like maybe even Armored Brigade combat team. Okay.
01:21:39ROHMEYER: Sounds like it.
01:21:41SPRAGUE: Okay. Um, so '13, so, uh, you go out to Fort Riley, what was that like?
01:21:53ROHMEYER: Different that was back to a motor pool job. Dealing with the trucks again. So this is a long link. I was kind of mad because they expected me to know motor pool after not being in motor full for a long time. So I don't I was kind of mad about it. I kind of wanted a refresher, only kind of wanted a, because it had been a while since I'd been in Motorpool. I mean, I was back in. Texas was a while ago. I mean, if we were talking, you know, back in 2008, 2009, so I mean that, you know I'd just been in Air Force and you know aviation stuff and I just wanted some sort of refresher but they refused and I had a, well normally like typically the, the person that's not, In these units, when you're working with the NCO in charge of the people in these areas, like, so nobody was in charge. And a warrant officer made himself in charge, and that's usually not what's supposed to happen. He's not supposed to take charge. Normally, they're not even around. I don't know what he was doing, but. He kept playing hide and seek with the books. He kept telling me there's a certain book that was out there, and I'm like, look, I'm not gonna keep playing games with you. If it's here, it's there. If it not, then I'm gonna worry about it. And, you know, I not gonna keep playing game with you about it, it's just not gonna happen. And, so off the bat, he didn't like me. So he kept sabotaging me every time he could. And it just-- worked out that that's what he kept doing and that it's just like, okay, and one time the lieutenant commander, something good happened, and the lieutenant commander was coming in to give me a coin, and that's usually a good thing, right? And he steps up and starts saying, no, she doesn't deserve a coin. And I'm like-- Okay so I can't take this coin and i'm telling the lieutenant commander I can take the coin and this is like something that you're not even really supposed to be telling the lieutenant commander as as an E5 here i'm like uh-- Uh-- So i take it anyway and he's all telling me that when the lieutenant commander leaves this one officer is telling me and that i need to give the coin to him and i might Okay. Yeah, it was really, he didn't like me at all.
01:24:56SPRAGUE: Sounds like a tough situation.
01:24:57ROHMEYER: He didn't like me at all and yeah, could you tell?
01:25:03SPRAGUE: So my, having served in an armor battalion, which is different than a leg infantry battalion. But my guess is that warrant officer was probably some up in the BMO's office, the motor, maybe the battalion or regimental office. And then you probably should have had an NCOIC in there above you as an E-5, most unless you took on that role.
01:25:32ROHMEYER: Well, I was supposed to, but there was supposed to be somebody in there, too, at the time. But there was always, there was another NCO in there and there should have been, but every other motor pool I was in, there was never a warrant officer in there. He was never around. That was never thing because they're never in there and they were never running the office. That was ever a thing. They might have come in for jobs or stuff anyway, but they never ran the office and that's what he was doing.
01:26:06SPRAGUE: So it was something you weren't used to or not familiar with.
01:26:10ROHMEYER: Well, he kept, there was a soldier. As a matter of fact, OK, this is what happened. This is why they were pissed at me. This is exactly why they are pissed at. This is what they wanted to reduce my rank, is because this is why I'm an E4 anyway. Because this is happened. The girl that was there, she had a lot of medical issues. But she had doctor's notes, right? And when I first got there, what they were trying to do was they were trying to separate her and her husband, on... What were they trying to get her on? They were trying the write 'er up. Uh, he was, he, was getting out of there. He was doing, um, what, what is it called? He was going somewhere else. He was ETSing, right?
01:27:00SPRAGUE: Or PCS-ing.
01:27:02ROHMEYER: She was trying to go with him, right? So they were trying to stop her PTS, right. Why were they, the day before, they write her up on Article 15, right, So I come in, because she's all crying, because she was like, wait a minute, I can't go with my husband, right? So she's like, she's upset because they didn't even do the Article 15 until the day he's already starting to deploy, right, well not deploy, but to leave, and like, where'd that come from? It's just out of left field that they're just starting to mess with her, but she's got all these doctor's appointments, And she has-- Every doctor appointment listed by a doctor that she can back up that she has ran and they're all talking about she's just meandering and doing all this stuff and it's like she has all these doctors appointments and why she's there it's not like she's messing around right? So I go with her over to the lieutenant commander because she's all crying and she's like, you know, I'm just new though. And I'm like, well, I don't know. So I'm, like, I'll just step in because I don't know what's going on. But I'm. Like, she's over here crying and I don't know what to do. So I'm just like, Well, I'll just go and be like, listen in and be, like hey, Well, if she needs a hand, well, I'll just go help, right? So I'm over there listening to her story, and the commander's like, well, then I don't see why she can't go with her husband. Well, he's the one that made the decision, not me. You know? So, now, he had made the decisions. The lieutenant commander made a decision, not me, not, me, remember? Not me. So, the. My commander, they get word of it. They stop the proceeding because, you know, now everybody's mad at me because I took her over there. But I'm not the one that made the decision, so. Yeah, so I got scrutinized and everybody was mad at after that.
01:29:25SPRAGUE: It sounds like to me you were standing up for your fellow soldier, that's what it sounds like to me. Yeah.
01:29:31ROHMEYER: But after that, I was in trouble for something and my commander gave me a shit. What is it? Article 15, the lowest one that has five days of--
01:29:48SPRAGUE: Restriction.
01:29:48ROHMEYER: Yeah, took my rank and then told me that he was going to give me, one day he came to me and said in my ear, I was going give you all of it. And I was like, are you kidding me? I was, like, whatever. So they took my ranked over it. They took everything and I was just, like whatever. I was you know what, and then after that I was already med boarded after that anyway. So. I was on 100% med boarded anyway, so I was just like, you know what? I'm just like, okay, thanks. Yeah, my story.
01:30:42SPRAGUE: I've got to ask, was that one of the line companies within that unit or was it at HHC?
01:30:50ROHMEYER: I think they were HHC, I'm not really sure. I'm pretty sure they were. But yeah, but you know, they-- I honestly don't think they were run like a regular motor pool because if they were, they wouldn't have been run like that, you know, and I don't remember it from the last motor pool I was in, you now, and, I just, yeah, that was crap. All of it was crap, even him telling me he was going to give it to me, the book. That was five days, five days You were going to give me five days, like, restriction. Like, that wasn't the book. What are you talking about? Like, thanks. Thanks
01:31:47SPRAGUE: So that probably drove your decision to leave the Army, I would imagine.
01:31:52ROHMEYER: Well, the med board. I was med boarded because, you know, the medical issues and stuff and the PTSD and everything else.
01:32:05SPRAGUE: Now when you say med board, does that mean medically retired or what does that?
01:32:08ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:32:09SPRAGUE: Okay. I'm just trying to understand.
01:32:12ROHMEYER: But then, imagine a commander threatening you. Just threatening you, I mean, I was going to give you the max. He threatened me on a 5 day. How can you do that?
01:32:31SPRAGUE: So it sounds like to me he went with the summary Article 15 where he can just do it versus an actual Article 15 that has to go to a board, then you can appeal it.
01:32:47ROHMEYER: He threatened me though. He was just like, I was gonna give you the max. What does that mean? They just wanted to take my rank. That's all they wanted to do. They just didn't want me to have E5.
01:33:02SPRAGUE: How did that make you feel?
01:33:05ROHMEYER: At that point just didn't care anymore. I just was like, you know, you wanted it that bad. Just at that point, just, you I mean, what can you do anymore? You got this dude running the frickin' shop like an asshole anyway, I mean excuse my language, but he's running it to however he wants, you know? I mean, I don't know, I know at that point. No matter what I did, I don't know. At that point, all the soldiers hated me anyway, so I don't know what I would have done to, I don't know if I could have helped them or did anything different, you know.
01:33:58SPRAGUE: Did you ever uh-- Deploy with that unit
01:34:01SPRAGUE: mm-mm
01:34:02SPRAGUE: No? Okay, so the deployment that i have here to africa would have been back in
01:34:11ROHMEYER: Oh, wait, was it?
01:34:13SPRAGUE: Operation Enduring Freedom, Horn of Africa.
01:34:16ROHMEYER: Oh, would that have been a- would that've been them?
01:34:19SPRAGUE: I've got '13 to '14, but you tell me.
01:34:22ROHMEYER: Oh, okay, that might have been them then. Okay, that might have been them. That could have been when we first got there. Okay, that could have them. Okay. That sounds more, okay, that sounds more likely then. That's why I could have gotten mixed up.
01:34:46SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:34:47ROHMEYER: That's where I got mixed up, because I think, okay, Afghanistan was just basically Fort Bragg. Okay, that's where I could have gotten things crossed. Yeah. Now that you're making sense, you're makin' sense over there.
01:35:06SPRAGUE: Well that's hopeful. So--
01:35:09ROHMEYER: Sorry
01:35:11SPRAGUE: Yeah, no, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on so we got it right. So I don't want to belabor the issue, '09-'10 you were in Kandahar,
01:35:22ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:35:23SPRAGUE: '10-'11 you were in Bragg,
01:35:25ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:35:26SPRAGUE: '11 you went back to Bagram for a short time,
01:35:29ROHMEYER: Bagram, yeah.
01:35:30SPRAGUE: Bagram, sorry. Bagram. came home in '11, Suicide watch with Bravo Company, and then after that is that when you-- You also said something here, Delta or Charlie Company, one month, but also Africa, maybe that.
01:35:49ROHMEYER: No, that, okay, so that would have been, okay that's where I was thinking I was in. Okay, so, that would've been where I think I was. That's where i was thinking i was in, but that's, that's what I was thinkin' it, so I was, I was mis-thinkin' where I was.
01:36:07SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:36:08ROHMEYER: So, I was in Kansas when I was mist-think-in' that, that what I thinkin'.
01:36:13SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:36:14ROHMEYER: Okay. That's where i was think-in'.
01:36:18SPRAGUE: And then your unit in Kansas went to Africa
01:36:20ROHMEYER: yeah
01:36:21SPRAGUE: early, like '13
01:36:23ROHMEYER: Why was I thinking, why was I thinkin' I was in Africa? Wow, that was weird.
01:36:30SPRAGUE: So I have Operation Enduring Freedom 2013 to '14,
01:36:35ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:36:36SPRAGUE: the first of the 18th Infantry deployed to the Horn of Africa.
01:36:40ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm
01:36:41SPRAGUE: And I just wondered if you were involved with that or not, looks like you were in support of, looks like SOF forces in theater maybe.
01:36:52ROHMEYER: And there, what we did was just security. We padded down when they came on base. Yeah, how did I forget that? Wow, that was weird.
01:37:06SPRAGUE: It's okay, you wrote it down on the paper and that's why I'm asking you, because I want to make sure we get that.
01:37:11ROHMEYER: Why did I misplace my memory? Wow, that was weird.
01:37:14SPRAGUE: That's okay. Do you remember where in Africa it was, by chance?
01:37:22ROHMEYER: Well, yeah, it was, um-- Oh my god, what is that, Baghdad? Is that the name of the base?
01:37:31SPRAGUE: That would be Iraq.
01:37:34ROHMEYER: No, okay, um--
01:37:38SPRAGUE: Unless you called your F.O.B Baghdad while you were in Africa,
01:37:41ROHMEYER: No.
01:37:42SPRAGUE: which it could be but it seems unlikely.
01:37:43ROHMEYER: Is that Djibouti?
01:37:45SPRAGUE: Djibouti?
01:37:46ROHMEYER: Is that what it is?
01:37:47SPRAGUE: Could be. Yeah Bjibouti in East Africa.
01:37:49ROHMEYER: Yeah, is that Djibouti?
01:37:51SPRAGUE: Yeah
01:37:52ROHMEYER: yeah, the weird name. The Djibouti.
01:37:54SPRAGUE: Yeah, Djibouti.
01:37:55ROHMEYER: Yeah.
01:37:56SPRAGUE: It sounds like Djibouti.
01:37:57ROHMEYER: Yeah.
01:37:58SPRAGUE: But it's not Djibouti. It's Djibouti.
01:37:59ROHMEYER: Yeah.
01:38:00SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:38:01ROHMEYER: That's where it is, it's right there on the coast.
01:38:03SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:38:04ROHMEYER: Yeah, it is the Air Force base, I think.
01:38:07SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:38:08ROHMEYER: Yeah, the one with the camels running around.
01:38:11SPRAGUE: Okay, and how about how long were you there if you remember? It can't yeah.
01:38:20ROHMEYER: Oh wow. Were we there a month or so? We were there for-- A month or so? Two months? Yeah. Yeah.
01:38:40SPRAGUE: Okay, no problem. Just got to ask. That's my job. So then you would have came back to Fort Riley,
01:38:47SPRAGUE: Mm-hmm
01:38:48SPRAGUE: gone through what you went through in the motor pool with, it might have been happening while you were in Africa if you were having issues with that warrant officer in the Motor Pool, or not, depending on what you doing while you were in Djibouti.
01:39:06ROHMEYER: Yeah, no, we were having problems. Yeah, we had problems in Djibouti.
01:39:11SPRAGUE: Okay. Do you happen to remember the base in Djibouti or not? Or the town or the FOB?
01:39:27ROHMEYER: No, shoot.
01:39:28SPRAGUE: Okay. It's okay if you don't remember.
01:39:32ROHMEYER: No, I just remember the name. I don't remember the actual base.
01:39:37SPRAGUE: Okay. Okay. So, you get out into, uh, was it 2014 you were medically retired?
01:39:46ROHMEYER: Mm-hmm.
01:39:47SPRAGUE: Well, what was that like, that, that situation, leaving the Army or retiring from the Army more correctly?
01:39:53ROHMEYER: Um-- Ah, I had the-- Well, it was different because I went straight to school, I went straight to college, so it was kind of hard at first because it was difficult to get into. I went right, well I stayed, I stayed in Kansas for a bit and then I I stayed at Kansas because I was at K-State University there, at the one and then I moved up to, up to La Crosse, and then I switched schools because I wanted to further finish my, I wanted to finish, well I was trying to finish up, I was finishing what I was doing at K-State, I was what I'm finishing there, and I wanted finish my schooling, I took a different course in K-State because I really didn't like what I was taking there. So I wanted to take something different, and I took-- What did I have? I think it was biology and, no, sociology and anthropology major or minor. And then I wanted to finish my history stuff after that. So I finished all that. So now I have, and then I finished whatever was left on my school. So now I have four degrees.
01:41:46SPRAGUE: What are those degrees?
01:41:48ROHMEYER: So, the associate's degree. And then the sociology, the anthropology minor, the history degree.
01:42:00SPRAGUE: What's the history,, tell me more about that
01:42:03ROHMEYER: Um-- I think the historical degree, It's just the It's not really in anything it should be but it's really not.. .History is just something I like that it was just something I wanted to do since I was young but it is not in any like broad topic It should be, but it not and then. What I did after that is because I still had more credits to left on my. Since I'm well, since I have military credits and stuff like that, that's, you know, people might not know about that. But military stuff, you can get credits and I still had stuff left. I did. Was it criminal justice? I did some of that. So I took some classes at the Western Tech, too. So I finished, so I have like four degrees that, yeah.
01:43:16SPRAGUE: Wow. So how, in looking at this--
01:43:20ROHMEYER: Oh, sorry.
01:43:21SPRAGUE: Oh, you're okay. I'll let you pick that up.
01:43:25ROHMEYER: Yeah.
01:43:26SPRAGUE: As long as you're still connected, that's the important part.
01:43:27ROHMEYER: Yeah, I'm connected.
01:43:29SPRAGUE: How did you choose La Crosse? You're out in Kansas. You're thinking about Wisconsin.
01:43:38ROHMEYER: I wanted to be close to the kids, but my ex didn't want me to be right in town, so we kind of chose somewhere where I could go to school and not be like right there. So I chose here, well, yeah, I chose La Crosse, I mean this is Madison, but I chose La Crosse.
01:44:01SPRAGUE: And then, what are you working on? You're working on the degrees, any particular field?
01:44:08ROHMEYER: Well, I finished the criminal justice stuff not too long ago, so I haven't really done anything. I've been looking for something in the lines of what I have, I guess, the sociology, the anthropology, the maybe. The criminal justice stuff, but I don't-- You know, I don't have-- Yeah, I don't really have anything lined up for work yet. I'm still kind of looking. I'm kind of taking it one day at a time. I'm trying to function.
01:45:02SPRAGUE: Uh-- So it sounds like to me uh-- A lot of that coursework in addition to getting your army credits getting coursework credit for that uh-- You might be sounds like you might have used your GI bill or not.
01:45:19ROHMEYER: There was a GI bill, but it was also turned into something else. There was another bill after that. There was a different bill after the GI bill. There was something that you could get.
01:45:38SPRAGUE: Post-9-11 kind of bill.
01:45:39ROHMEYER: Yeah, yeah, yeah
01:45:41SPRAGUE: Wisconsin GI Bill?
01:45:42ROHMEYER: Yeah. All of that. There was post-9-11 and then there was, you could use your Wisconsin GI bill and you can give the 9-11, the post, the Wisconsin GI Bill you can give to your kids and the post- 9- 11 you could use for a bid and that's what I was using for the school and then I had so many credits from taking classes from before too, so. A lot of classes transferred over. So I was able to take more. So it was kind of nice.
01:46:20SPRAGUE: Okay.
01:46:21ROHMEYER: I just haven't really found anything, I don't know, that I've, I dunno, that I wanted actually.
01:46:31SPRAGUE: Okay, so do you keep connections with anyone you served with, or do you pretty much let that go?
01:46:41ROHMEYER: Um, I talk to my old, my old squad leader actually, she's, I used to work with her in Germany. So she's I still talk to her. I ran into her and she was actually in Fort Bragg a while back. I talked to her, I've seen her. I've, not really anybody else. I have a lot of friends that I've known that have all recently just contacted me on Facebook and stuff that we've known each other.
01:47:24SPRAGUE: Any involvement with veterans organizations down in La Crosse?
01:47:31ROHMEYER: Mmm, yeah, I go to the vet stuff. I do that. Mm-hmm
01:47:34SPRAGUE: Cool
01:47:36ROHMEYER: We do groups and stuff, we do meetings and stuff.
01:47:41SPRAGUE: Ok, down at the-
01:47:42ROHMEYER: the Vet Center.
01:47:43SPRAGUE: Yeah, I was gonna say, I know there's some good people in that vet center. I know a number of them.
01:47:49ROHMEYER: We do meetings, yeah, we do some games. I think coming next week they're doing, they were doing D&D for the games, so they're doin' that next week. I think that's on the 20th or somethin'.
01:48:07SPRAGUE: So they're going to be playing Dungeons & Dragons next week. Are you going to play or not?
01:48:12ROHMEYER: Yeah, I played last time, so I think they're going to try to do my character sheet, so we'll see.
01:48:19SPRAGUE: Okay. Do you play Dungeons and Dragons much, or is it new to you?
01:48:24ROHMEYER: I played it a couple times with my ex, you know back when we were younger, but nothing with like writing it down on paper, no, but they have the whole writing it down and paper and getting out all the stats and everything. We didn't do that yet so we're gonna do all that and they have different games that they were gonna do but that was the one they were doing the last time I jumped in.
01:48:52SPRAGUE: Yeah, okay. So, you know, on your experience, what do you think about when you think about you being a veteran? What do you what do you think of that?
01:49:10ROHMEYER: Um-- I don't know, actually. I had never actually thought about it like that. I never actually just sat there and was like, I'm a veteran, you know, I've never. I don't actually, I guess I wouldn't say I think like that, I've always loved my time in. I always wanted to be a soldier. My son used to call me a soldiery. I used to love but I just wish I had more time and better times, you know?
01:50:09SPRAGUE: Yeah. Okay. Related to that question, what do you think your life would have been like if you hadn't joined the Army?
01:50:26ROHMEYER: Wouldn't have had the opportunities I had, for sure, wouldn't have been able to see the world. That'sI probably would have never made it to Afghanistan, that's for sure. Yeah, would have never been there. Wow. Yeah For sure. Yeah.
01:50:55SPRAGUE: What motivated you to do this interview?
01:51:05ROHMEYER: Mmm. I don't know. I guess just getting your story out and-- Telling people what it's like, sometimes from a women's standpoint. Not always roses on that side, you know. You do have to put in a lot of work, especially a single mom. Like I didn't have, once my ex left, it was hard. It was very hard. I was like, especially on Fort Hood. Uh-- Well not even just Fort Hood and sometimes when I was a sergeant to the they make it hard for me because a lot of times. A lot of times, they were always telling me I had to make a choice, whether I was to be home or to work and stuff, and I was just like, I have to get my kids, what are you talking about? I have go get my kid, you know? A lot times they would make me late to go pick them up, and the daycare would threaten to call my commander and it would be like-- I was late because they want me to stay longer and I was pulled directions and it was just sometimes it was very mind numbing that I have kids too, you know, that I don't have anybody there to really support me for that. I was like, I don t know. They think of men for being, they're always okay with men being sergeants because men have women to take care of the children, I guess, and it's never that way for the women. You can be a single parent, and I don't understand why people can't support you being a single parent and being a sergeant, and you can still take care the children but you shouldn't I don't have to be here. You shouldn't have to be pulled in both directions. You can take care of the soldiers and your children at the same time. You don't have pick one or the other. I don't see why that has to be an option. Like, and that's why they gave me options. That was the two options. My kids are the soldiers. Like, that shouldn't be two options there. That's not an option for the men in the army. That can't be an options for women, single women. That shouldn't, that should be an an option. You know, that just shouldn't be an option. That really sucked. Ha ha.
01:54:03SPRAGUE: Do you think if the army had maybe accommodated that responsibility as a parent, do you think maybe you might still be in?
01:54:13ROHMEYER: Well, yeah, if they would have helped a little bit, you know, sometimes the on-post, they would close at a certain time, and if they went over, let's say, they went over five minutes, they would start charging you after that, and then if they, if you went over too far after that they would start calling your commander, so it-- There was pros and cons about it you know, that was the problem, that was the only issue, cuz, if they didn't do all that that wouldn't be a problem but then you gotta get briefed at the end of the day you gotta tell your soldiers everything and then you're late, you're always going to be late you know I didn't have any family in Fayetteville there's nobody to watch my kids so it's not like. You know There wasn't anybody there No, I don't know, wasn't there wasn't many options for me No, I don't know.
01:55:27SPRAGUE: Are there any other things that we've missed that you'd like to cover?
01:55:33ROHMEYER: Nope.
01:55:38SPRAGUE: Okay, then that concludes the interview. Thank you. Okay.
