Fred Miller

Fred Miller Army Interview

Adam Sheaffer: [00:00:00] All right, so first state your name.

Fred Miller: [00:00:02] Fred Miller.

Adam Sheaffer: [00:00:04] Okay. And what was what branch military were you in?

Fred Miller: [00:00:08] The Army, United States Army.

Adam Sheaffer: [00:00:09] And what was your role, like rank/responsibility?

Fred Miller: [00:00:13] Crane operator.

Adam Sheaffer: [00:00:19] And when and why did you join the military?

Fred Miller: [00:00:24] I felt I needed to do what I could for my country. Vietnam was going on and I didn't know what I could do. But I wanted to do something.

Adam Sheaffer: [00:00:45] How are you associated with Cumberland County?

Fred Miller: [00:00:49] A lifelong resident.

Adam Sheaffer: [00:00:52] And have you served any wars? Served in any wars?

Fred Miller: [00:00:58] Well. During the Vietnam War, that's when I was in.

Adam Sheaffer: [00:01:06] And do you have any favorite memories of your time in the military?

Fred Miller: [00:01:10] I enjoyed my job stateside. I served at Fort Leonard Wood. 158 Quartermaster Company. And, which I, like I said, the quartermaster company but I was a heavy equipment operator within that company. And pipeline outfit. I enjoyed the work. Enjoyed the people I was with.

Adam Sheaffer: [00:01:45] And what is one piece of advice you would want to give the younger generation?

Fred Miller: [00:01:51] I would, strongly disappointed that they did away with the draft. Because I feel that young men and young women should serve two years to defend the country. And feel if this was the case we wouldn't have near the problems we have with our young people today. So I hope I haven't disappointed anyone with my opinion, but that's the way it is.

Adam Sheaffer: [00:02:29] And do you have any stories or anything else you would like to say?

Fred Miller: [00:02:38] When I was sent overseas, I carried that job title, Crane operator, but I never operated the crane again. I was assigned to a warehouse. We supplied folks in Vietnam with what they needed. You heard the term "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition". Well, we had anything from paperclips to underwear to tanks, anything. Anything they needed we could send it to them. Which we did. My assignment there was one year. That was pretty much it. We lived in crude, what they call Pooches. Six man buildings. All screen all the way around. Of course, it was very hot. You know, again, I enjoyed all of the people. Still in contact with one or two today. I don't have any war stories to tell you, because I was a support troop, so to speak, I was not a combat troop. We see guys walking around with their class eight uniforms with all kinds of awards and buttons and this and that. I came home just about the same thing I left with, except I achieved a rank of SP-5. My uniform was pretty much just as green as it was when I left.

Adam Sheaffer: [00:05:14] What were some lessons you learned while you were in the Army?

Fred Miller: [00:05:21] Well, I learned responsibility. Well I always felt that I was a pretty clean-cut guy before I went in. But I learned a lot more. While I was. Neatness. I never worried about cleaning my clothes or getting ready for guard duty or anything like that. I learned how to iron my clothes. I never had to launder my clothes. That was all taken care of. But we had a house girl take care of our shoes, shined our boots, and washed out clothes. But you earn a lot of responsibility. Because you are judged by your actions. If you didn't carry out your assignment, you were, we paid for it. Could be, get an Article 15 or even a court martial.

Donna Baum: [00:06:51] So how did your preparation and the things that you learned in the Army, when you got out of the Army, how did that help you in civilian life? And maybe you can talk about what kind of how you felt when you came back going into civilian life and, maybe any adjustments that you had to make, but how it helped you for the rest of your life.

Fred Miller: [00:07:24] Well, you should understand. We came back. There was a lot of anti-war protesting going on. And this was in the sixties, late sixties. I was inducted into the Army five December 65, and I ETS'd out 5 December '68. So you can imagine, all that we got off the airplane at Oakland, California, went into the terminal as people. throwing stuff and spitting at us and anything you could imagine. And of you watch the boys getting off the airplane coming back from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, they were treated entirely differently. So I guess I had to add that.

Donna Baum: [00:08:37] And that's unfortunate, I certainly wasn't, none of us were a part of that, but I will apologize for that.

Fred Miller: [00:08:45] I didn't say everybody.

Donna Baum: [00:08:46] No, no, I know, but that's, I'm sorry you had to experience that.

Fred Miller: [00:08:53] But I always, like I said I learned a lot of responsibility. I learned to show up on time and being dependable.

Donna Baum: [00:09:19] And what was your career after? After you, what job did you do?

Fred Miller: [00:09:26] Well, I started out my first job was an auto mechanic. Because I went to Williamsport trade school before the army and trained to be an auto mechanic. I felt I was before, but my dad and my brother had a business. A shop. So, but, was a welder chute operator. Learned to be that turned into being a supervisor. Then I felt the job was obviously night shift supervisor and the work was going away. As a matter of fact, my boss told me to go late and shift off because of declining work. So I moved on. She had already submitted some paperwork for the Defense Department. I was laid off. I went about two months and my job for the Defense Department came through. So I spent 12 and a half years there. I was an industrial plant equipment mechanic. And I got married and remarried, and I earned a job at the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration. So I submitted for that and I got it. So I worked at all three airports in Capital City, Middletown and Lancaster as an environmental technician. So that lasted just about 13 years. Then I submitted my retirement package. My wife was already retired ten years, but that time she was taking care of her ailing mother and I told her to quit. I said, your mom's more important than a job. So she retired, and I stayed at home with my, so I kept on going to work and always enjoyed my work. So now I'm at home and taking care of the honey-do list, and I'm a part time-school van driver. I carry six children back and forth to a private school in Carlisle every day. So I really enjoy that. If I have a little time to myself I like to ride my motorcycle. So

Donna Baum: [00:13:13] And I'm sure you can repair anything that goes wrong with any of those pieces of equipment.

Fred Miller: [00:13:20] Eh, not everything...

Donna Baum: [00:13:21] Well, pretty much, I bet.

Fred Miller: [00:13:23] Today automobiles are very, very high tech. So other than like simple things, like brakes and exhaust. Maybe a water pump or something like that, I can handle that with. That electronic stuff, leave that to the big boys. I just don't know what else. Do you have any other questions?

Donna Baum: [00:14:00] I'm here to to to write your your thoughts if there's anything else you'd like to add.

Fred Miller: [00:14:10] It was my pleasure to serve.

Donna Baum: [00:14:23] Well, we thank you for your time today and certainly thank you for your service, because without the military and what you folks do, we wouldn't have what we have.

Fred Miller: [00:14:34] Well, thank you. I've heard a lot of stories from a lot of guys, but I was only sending material not receiving. So I didn't have to use that stuff.

Donna Baum: [00:14:59] But without what you did, our our men and women would not have been able to do their job.

Fred Miller: [00:15:05] Well, that's true. Yeah, we had anything you could imagine. Just big warehouses full of stuff. Naturally, things were always going out of date. I personally supervised the destruction of about 350 cases of out-of-date C rations, which personally to me that was waste because unless things seem on the can is rusty, the product inside is good. But the date on the outside of the box.

Donna Baum: [00:15:56] Right.

Fred Miller: [00:15:56] There's a limit as to how long that can be stored. And we had to dig a big pit with the bulldozer and put it in there and spray diesel fuel on it. Set it on fire. Just all kinds of things like that go on. The people in the jungle were standing by, you know, hoping to get some of that stuff, but it had to be destroyed because if we gave it to them and they got sick.

Donna Baum: [00:16:38] Exactly.

Fred Miller: [00:16:39] Back on us.

Donna Baum: [00:16:40] Exactly.

Fred Miller: [00:16:41] You know how that goes.

Donna Baum: [00:16:42] Yes, we do.

Fred Miller: [00:16:43] So we lit that on fire and ran and little cans were exploding and stuff was flying and that's the way it goes. I hope I didn't disappoint you.

Donna Baum: [00:17:09] Not at all. Thank you for your time.