Interview with Steve Rasmussen

Partial Transcript: Brief introduction by the interviewer.

Keywords: Introduction

Partial Transcript: When Rasmussen graduated from UW in 1968, he wasn’t planning to go to grad school. There was a draft on. The army let Rasmussen chose to be enlisted rather than drafted. In military number there were two letters before the digits: US or RA. US stands for drafted and RA stands for regular army where people signed up. Rasmussen expected that he would be drafted so he chose to be enlisted so that he could pick the day.

Keywords: Enlist; draft; regular army

Partial Transcript: Rasmussen was unexpected. Family wasn’t happy and didn’t want him to go to war.

Keywords: reaction

Partial Transcript: War was not popular on campus at all. The real protest started after June 1968 when things got very tense. Rasmussen’s brother Eric was very involved in the protest. Rasmussen and Eric took a class together in Vietnam media and mayham. Eric went on to dental school and practiced in Madison for more than 30 years. Eric was not drafted, and hence his experiences and Rasmussen’s are very different. People were looking for determent-ways to avoid being drafted. Rasmussen’s degree is in Mathematics. He was in pre-Med and math was a convenient option for him.

Keywords: Mathematics; Protest; Rasmussen's brother; dental school; determent; pre-med

Partial Transcript: Rasmussen received basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood and advanced individual training at Ft. Sill. These experiences prepared Rasmussen to be ready for deployment. Rasmussen didn’t find the training terribly rigorous both intellectually and physically. Rasmussen didn’t work on the guns much because he was on a path to officer school. Rasmussen chose not to go later because he wanted to get out of the service earlier. His 12-month commitment in Vietnam would get him to a total commitment of 19 months, which is what Rasmussen needed to finish the service.

Keywords: Training; advanced individual training; basic training

Partial Transcript: Rasmussen was at three fire bases. Rasmussen describes geography of Vietnam and the location of his deployment. Rasmussen did not know where he was sent to until he was there. Rasmussen describes a close friend that he met at training. They kept in contact for many years and now his friend is teaching at a university. Rasmussen also shows a picture of him and his friend.

Keywords: Deployment overseas; geography of Vietnam

Partial Transcript: Rasmussen switched bunks with different squadmates when one of them goes out. There was a lot of coaching from the officers in the beginning until squads became very capable. Rasmussen describes the relationship with commanding officers as a cordial relationship as they were very supportive.

Keywords: Squadmate; commanding officer

Partial Transcript: Rasmussen gained basic understanding from training and he thinks that all training camps were like that where experienced folks teach the new ones.

Partial Transcript: Guns would be silent if there weren't a fire mission. Fire Direction Control receive coordinates if to give directions on where to shoot. They calculate the directions and elevations. They also receive commands at gun control and shooting. If there were advanced order, they would calculate and compile the data beforehand.

Keywords: Fire Direction Control; Military Occupational Specialty

Partial Transcript: The assumption is that the most important thing is to not make mistakes. Training and attention to detail are crucial. Rasmussen doesn't know whether the way they carry out mission is effective or not. Body count seems to be the measure used in regards to effectiveness.

Keywords: Attention to detail; Body count

Partial Transcript: Guns could reach into the DMZ and they are not allowed to shoot into there. It was standard to share HNI duties. They didn't hear about any civilian casualty. Rasmussen only remember the body count, not the casualty categories.

Keywords: Civilian; body count; casualty

Partial Transcript: MOS required secret clearance because the radio used was encrypted. It was required to dial in the code as the radio could be intercepted. They were required to destroy code books and get new ones every month. The computer would calculate the trajectory of shell. After Rasmussen came back to the country, he applied for jobs and listed that he had computer skills. Then Rasmussen got into information technology field for 35 years.

Keywords: Field Artillery Digital Automatic Computer; information technology; secret clearance

Partial Transcript: Rasmussen didn't want to be in the infantry. Rasmussen did the job and was happy to get out. Rasmussen describe his role as in the bottom looking sideways.

Partial Transcript: When Rasmussen took the Vietnam class, he wrote down the things that he remembered about his Vietnam experience. Rasmussen recalled the first time he landed in Vietnam, it was hot, humid and there was a pungent smell of diesel fuel. He also saw some dead bodies. The sergeant told Rasmussen told him the wartime is the best time of his life. Drug use was not uncommon there. Shower was once a month as heating water was not convenient. Rasmussen never brushed teeth. Rats would run over them when they were sleeping. Rasmussen sent letters to home sometimes and he doesn't know whether his family kept his letters. There was no parade after he came back. People expected those who served the country to be heroes, but didn't realize that some of them need help too. Rasmussen thinks that war stories are crafted for the audience.

Keywords: Vietnam experience

Partial Transcript: Rasmussen's mother wrote poetry that talked about her feelings or other particular things. She wrote about the pain that she felt as her son was in the military. Rasmussen felt it weird to befriend with someone when came into the service after meeting someone because of alphabetical order.

Keywords: Poetry