Week 2: interview a family member

Week 2

INTERVIEW: Paulette Campbell

I interviewed my mother, Paulette Campbell, about her army experience.  Near the end of high school she talked with her guidance counselor about life after high school, and even though she was an honor student, the counselor said her best bet was to join the army. So she did. In 1984, she was stationed at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, that’s where she did her basic training.

“Basic training was hard fitness” she told me. She did stuff like 15 mile walks with heavy rucksacks on her back, she said, even though it was late autumn, in South Carolina it was very hot and dry. Some girls would even pass out, but she insisted that they were just being dramatic. She also survived a toxic gas chamber, it was a test to see how fast soldiers could equip their gas masks. They had to wake up at 5 o’clock every morning and jogged. She even shot an M16 Rifle and a Machine gun! Plus she set a mine and then detonated it.

She described the bunks (the place where the soldiers slept) as a big room with 30 cots and bright lights. The bunks were all tightly made and the room smelled of Lysol because they were expected to clean it every day. In the army, if your bed wasn’t made they would flip the bed over and you’d have to start all over again.

Since my momma had a great personality, she had a lot of great friends in the army, she was never sent off to the army, because it was safer back then. Now if you have to go to the army, chances are, you’re going to fight in a war.

She said, even though she got a FULL scholarship she was glad to have joined the army because it taught her independence, resilience, adaptability, and the value of teamwork.