Tiffany+B.+&+Natasha+B.+-+Jonathan+Krall

__**Wartime Service**__ __**Reflections**__
 * __Biographical Details__**
 * 1) Where and when were you born?
 * 2) Do you have any siblings? Genders?
 * 3) Please describe your childhood.
 * 4) What were you doing before you enlisted?
 * 5) What did you parents do?
 * 6) Do you have any family members that served in the military? If so, who?
 * 7) When did you enter the service?
 * 8) How old were you when you enlisted?
 * __Early Days of Service__**
 * 1) Why did you enlist?
 * 2) Why did you choose to be in the Air Force?
 * 3) Where did you go for basic training and what was it like?
 * 4) What was it like to leave your family to go to training?
 * 5) What was your drill sergeant like?
 * 6) What kind of training did you need to have in order to be in the Aircraft Armament Systems Maintenance unit?
 * 7) Did you ever have to eat MRE's and if so, how did they taste?
 * 8) What was a normal day like in your specialized training?
 * 9) What was the most challenging part of your training?
 * 10) How hard was it adapting to military life?
 * 1) Where did you serve?
 * 2) What did you do in your free time?
 * 3) Did you form any friendships while in the Air Force?
 * 4) What was it like being in South Korea?
 * 5) How did you get to South Korea?
 * 6) What base were you stationed at in South Korea?
 * 7) What base did you spend the most time at?
 * 8) Did you enjoy being overseas or in the States more during your service? Why?
 * 9) Were there any special titles you got while in the service?
 * 10) What was it like to finish in second place for Load Crew of the Year in 2000?
 * 11) How did it make you feel to be hand picked out of 138 loaders to be a Weapons Loading Instructor?
 * 12) What was it like working with F-15 and F-16 Fighters?
 * 13) What other aircraft did you work on?
 * 14) What was your favorite aircraft to work on?
 * 15) What was the most important thing you had to load?
 * 16) Were you nervous loading nuclear munitions?
 * 17) Was it difficult to keep in touch with your family?
 * 18) What forms of communication did you use to talk with your family?
 * 19) What was the highest rank you achieved?
 * 20) Why did you decide to get out of the service after being in the Air Force for about 6 years?
 * 1) Did your wartime experiences affect your life in any way, and if so how?
 * 2) While serving was there anyone you looked up to?
 * 3) How was it trying to readjust to civilian life?
 * 4) Did you stay in contact with the men you served with?
 * 5) Did you feel pressure or stress? If so, why and how did you handle it?
 * 6) What did you miss the most about being away from your family?
 * 7) what was your proudest moment while in the service?
 * 8) What did you want to fain form serving in the military? Were you successful?
 * 9) What life lessons did you learn from the war?
 * 10) How did serving in the military affect your life today?
 * 11) What did you go on to do after your service?
 * 12) If you had a chance to talk to young adults about going into the service, would your recommend them going into the service?
 * 13) Is there anything else you'd like to say or tell us about your service?

Jonathan Krall Narrative  By: Tiffany Bowman and Natasha Balthaser

 Mr. Jonathan Krall was born on February 13, 1979 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He is the oldest of six, two more brothers and three sisters. Growing up in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania allowed Mr. Krall to live an average life. His family owned two farms that they ran. Before and after school Mr. Krall spent most of his time working on these farms. He eventually got a job at a local cabinet shop. Mr. Krall was also a volunteer firefighter.  Due to Mr. Krall taking a college level firefighting course, he had to delay his enlistment. In February of 1999, the United States Air Force gained another brave airman. Being only 18 at the time, Mr. Krall felt as though he needed to do something with his life. Mr. Krall attended basic training in Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. When asked what basic training was like, Mr. Krall said it was an eye opener. He talked about his experience from the moment he got off the plane. Mr. Krall explained that as soon as he got off the plane it was rush, rush, rush. “They’re in your face, pick up your bags put ‘em down, and the strictness and the rules started immediately.”  Mr. Krall endured heavy training each and every day while in basic training. In the mornings, he would have PT, which consisted of running two miles or more. They would also do calisthenics- push ups, sit ups, pull ups. Right outside the gates to his base was a big McDonald’s that he knew he couldn’t go to, no matter how much he wanted to. For the six-week duration of his training, Mr. Krall was tortured each and every day by the big golden arches.  After basic training, Mr. Krall went to Sheppard AFB, Texas, to complete his specialized training. Being a part of the Aircraft Armament Systems required him to be proficient in every munition that the aircraft he was assigned could hold. Being the only job in the United States military that he had to be certified on every month shows just how rigorous and important Mr. Krall’s job was. Mr. Krall explained that passing his monthly evaluation on these munitions was very hard. Everything had to be in numbered order. If the sequence was out of order, even by one, he would be written up. If he had more than three write ups, he failed and had to do it all over again. Over his six year career, Mr. Krall maintained a 98% pass rate on his monthly tests on the munitions.  On a normal day in his specialized training, Mr. Krall would arrive a half an hour early. He was lined up with his supervisor and other team member. The tech sergeant for that shift would inspect everybody, from head to toe. After the inspection, Mr. Krall and his team would get the aircraft ready to fly. They had a morning and afternoon flight. After an aircraft come back from their flight, Mr. Krall checked them to make sure nothing is wrong with them. If anything were wrong with an aircraft, he would have to get it fixed quickly so it was ready for the next flight.  Mr. Krall served at numerous bases, including Lackland AFB, TX, Sheppard AFB, TX, Cannon AFB, NM, Osan AFB, South Korea, and Seymour Johnson AFB, NC. By being at all of these different bases, Mr. Krall experienced so many different things. At each base, things the soldiers could do during their free time were different. Mr. Krall exclaims that in New Mexico, there wasn’t a whole lot to do in the town where they were stationed. If they wanted to do something fun, they would have to two hours to Lubbock or Amarillo. Mr. Krall mentioned going to the malls, movie theaters, miniature golf, go karts, anything that a teenager would do for fun.  Mr. Krall flew out of Seattle for a 10 hour flight to the Osan AFB in South Korea. When asked what it was like being in South Korea, his response was that it was different. Mr. Krall went on to explain that the base itself is like any normal American base. He said when you walked outside the bases gates, it was a whole other world. He recalls how different the architecture was, the smells, the feels, how packed together shops were. Mr. Krall compares the shops that were stacked on top of each other to a homeless little village. There’s just huts on top of huts.  Mr. Krall, when asked, said he enjoyed being in the States. He goes on to state that you get a lot more privileges in the States. If you have a driver’s license, it doesn’t mean anything in foreign countries. Mr. Krall explains that even if your license was important, it wouldn’t matter. Only high-ranking officials got cars on the base. If you wanted to go somewhere you either had to walk or take a taxi cab. Mr.Krall’s highest rank he achieved in the Army was E-4. He achieved that before ending the military career of six years. Mr.Krall thought that it would be nice to come home and and have a normal job, but wasn’t anything what he would’ve expected. After he came home, he wanted to be back in, in the worst way. There was a problem though. The military happened to be too over manned. That meant that no one that served before could be back in. Even some like the guards, and reserves weren’t allowed active duty. There were many wartime experiences that could affect someone, in the military. Mr.Krall said that in a sense it makes a person situationally more aware of his surroundings. Instead of paying attention to your phone you are watching the people around you. Well since all the mall shootings that have been happening, plus terrorist attacks. Personally you know what is going on more than others. Mr.Krall looked up to many people like his supervisors because they had been there before. One of his supervisors was named Mark Katon. He had a profound affect on him, Krall said, “I mean he took me under his wing the first day.” “If you ask anyone on the base he was the best of anyone on that base”. Mark, always studied the books and know everything about the planes. Always coming up with new guidelines on how to fix things, there was actually an incentive program if you could come up with something that wasn’t in the book before that they have a feeling is a good thing.” They get payed for doing that. He got many ones because he was just that smart. Krall said “I personally tribute his knowledge and guidance to getting me picked to be an instructor. Cause under his tutorage that I was able to excel and able to learn from”. It wasn’t easy trying to adapt into civilian life right away. Since they had a standard way of doing things, like for example going to school. Especially because kids know what time they have to be there by, and they know what to expect in a days time. When school isn’t an option anymore, it’s time to find a job. Krall states “Believe it or not in this area we live in it’s not that easy to get a job.” That pertains to the career field that he learned. The Top Secret Clearance doesn’t mean a lot when there are no weapon factories in your area. Jonathan “So from that aspect it was pretty difficult”. Mr.Krall kept in contact with men from the military with Facebook. “If it wouldn’t be for that I really wouldn’t care to even have it”. To be honest they live all over the United States like, Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina. There was stress and pressure included with this all, and none too. “When loading munitions there’s always that factor that if you don’t so something right it could go boom”. That causes a little bit of stress and pressure there. One munition they had they basically told everyone “when you armed you got a choice. Open casket or closed casket because when you had to arm it, if there would be a charge that it would go off”. Either have a open casket or closed casket cause either way you weren’t going to make it. It was just a part of your job, kinda get used to it and move on. I’d say “you miss most is the holiday’s, birthday’s, things like that”. Where all your family and friends get together and well you are sorta on your own. Advantage is that there are others in the same boat so there is nothing to worry about, so you kinda find things to do with them to keep yourself entertained. The proudest moment I’d say “would have to say is winning loading crew of the quarter”. After only being there for a little too, then getting the chance to be it for the year. Not everyone gets the option to do it and or get picked for it. I wouldn’t say “successful”. A lot of respect is gained for the men and women who do serve. I mean if my memory is right only 1 percent of the people in the United States are involved in the Army. That number is way too low. Everyone has their freedoms of coming and just getting up and leaving. It isn’t the men and women in the uniform that grant that right. Mr.Krall learned to expect the unexpected as a life lesson. When 9/11 happened he was just getting off of work. He was working third shift and ended up going to bed like it was a normal night. Ended up waking up to a knock on his door first thing in the morning saying “Hey come look at the television”. The right after that got a phone saying “Get in here to work”. This was the real world going down we got to get everything ready, and pretty humbling experience because it is one minute you are taking candy and having a high old time, to in a heartbeat this is real. After not being at the base for awhile there were inspections that you had to get through the gates and some checkpoints too. The whole station there were processes that everyone went through so they could get to their work stations. When this happened you were no longer an instructor, we were now loaders with everyone else. Everybody had to get all of the jets on the base fully armed for their homeland defense. It affected by giving you a fond respect for what they all do. Not meant for anyone, but for the people who are thinking about it. Really consider it. It is a very rewarding experience that too few ever get to enjoy. Jonathan after his service decided to take a job at a local manufacturing plant, he did for a fews years. Decided to go into the family landscaping business for only a few more years after that. After that though he got a job at a local school district in the maintenance department. On a regular busy day there was always getting the planes ready through the morning and through the afternoon. Also there would be a week with what everyone called it “exercise” it was just a scenario. Where you had to wear chemical suits with flack vests, and flack jacket, and helmet. There was a siren and when that went off it meant that you were to put on the gas mask. Sometimes you would have to be sucking rubber for about 12 hours of the shift they put you on. Worst one was Korea, had to be in gas mask for 9 hours straight. It was kind of a unique experience.The shifts were always twelve on and twelve off, but until you actually got back to base you got about maybe five hours of sleep until it was back to work. Needed to be at your post regardless if you were tired. No excuses. Thank you so much for your service in the United States Military Jonathan Krall.

__Interview Transcript__ Natasha: Good afternoon. Today’s date is January 23, 2015. My name is Natasha Balthaser and my partners name is Tiffany Bowman. Mr. Bickel is present during this interview, which is being conducted in Myerstown, Pennsylvania. Our interviewee, Mr. Jonathan Krall, served in the United States Air Force during Operation Enduring Freedom and achieved the rank of Senior Airmen. This interview is being conducted for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress.

Tiffany: Where and when were you born?

Mr. Krall: I was born on February 13, 1979 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

Natasha: Do you have any siblings? Gender?

Mr. Krall: I am the oldest of six. We have two more brothers and three sisters.

Tiffany: Please describe your childhood.

Mr. Krall: I’d say my childhood was rather average, so to speak. Grew up in a small town, Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, We only had one red light at the time, now we have two. Imagine that. Basically grew up going to school. We had two farms that we operated, which I spent most of my time in the morning before school and after school working on the farm.

Natasha: What were you doing before you were enlisted?

Mr. Krall: Like previously stated, I worked on the farm before and after school and I worked at the local cabinet shop in town doing clean up in the evenings and also in the volunteer fire service in Schaefferstown.

Tiffany: What did your parents do for a living?

Mr. Krall: My stepmother, at the time, was an office clerk at a local metal plant in Myerstown and my father drove truck and ran two farms, so he wasn’t around a whole lot.

Natasha: Do you have any members that served in the military? If so, who?

Mr. Krall: Quick question, answer is no. None at all.

Tiffany: When did you enter the service?

Mr. Krall: I actually entered the service in February and umm trying to think back when it was here, ’99 and I actually enlisted back in the month of November of ’98 but due to taking a college level firefighting course I had to delay my enlistment to February till I graduated.

Natasha: How old were you when you enlisted?

Mr. Krall: I would’ve been 18 years old at that time.

Tiffany: Why did you enlist?

Mr. Krall: Another good question. The reason I enlisted is I felt you know, a need to do something with my life other than the average 9-5 job in my hometown, get out and see the world a little bit and give back to my country.

Natasha: Why did you choose to be in the Air Force?

Mr. Krall: Originally, I was signed up to join the Army in the Airborne Infantry, cause I wanted to try out for ranger school, and well as luck would have it, a female interfered with those plans. So I talked to the Air Force and got out of the Army agreement, kind of like college where you can do a verbal agreement. I got out of the Army one and the girlfriend kind of fizzled out, so I talked to the Air Force and decided to go to the Air Force.

Tiffany: Where did you go for basic and what was it like?

Mr. Krall: Basic for me was in Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. It was an eye opener, to say the least. You get there, you know nobody, you have no idea where you are, you get off a plane and it’s like rush, rush, rush. They throw you on a bus, you get off and soon as you’re off the bus the fun begins. They’re in your face, pick up your bags put ‘em down, and the strictness and the rules started immediately. Every morning we would get up and we would have PT in the morning.e either would run 2 miles 4 miles, whatever they decided to do that morning, or we would do calisthenics-push ups, sit ups, pull ups, every morning and the sad thing for us is every morning where our base was located, our dorm, they had a big McDonalds right outside the gate. And they had a giant arch that just hovered over the whole base, so you were tortured for six whole weeks having to look at a McDonalds sign knowing you couldn’t even go near it.

Natasha: What was it like to leave your family to go to training?

Mr. Krall: Believe it or not, I didn’t think it would be a big deal at all. You know, it’s just something else. When you get there and reality sets in, the comforts of home, the people you know, you love, they are no longer there. And when you’re in basic, you can’t talk to them either. You were lucky sometimes to get a phone call, to try and call home and if nobody answered, that was your chance for the week, too bad, so sad. And when you did talk to them you got maybe two minutes, say hey, how you doing? I’m good. Love you, talk to you later. So it was a little difficult.

Tiffany: What was your drill sergeant like?

Mr. Krall: He was very hard. Of course that’s what they want you to do. Their idea there is to break you down so they can build you back up. Cause a lot of people come there with the mindset that I was the only child or I had everything handed to me. There, everyone is an equal, so they break everyone down to build them up. Everything you said had to be yes, sir or yes, ma’am. You didn’t, well you got in trouble and you had to do some extra details which could’ve been anything from sweeping floors, mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, stuff you didn’t really want to do so be on your best behavior.

Natasha: What kind of training did you need to have in order to be in the Aircraft Armament Systems?

Mr. Krall: Aircraft Armament basically required you to be proficient in every munition that the aircraft you were assigned to would hold. It was the only job in the whole United States military that you had to be certified on every single month. You would take, just say you would have six munitions and each one of them has a subgroup of four munitions in that group. Well,you would do one from each group every quarter to be proficient on that subgroup. So it made it very difficult cause there was rules and steps that had to be followed and it had to be in numbered order that you had to do those sequences in. If you were out of order by one, you got written up, if you had more than three write ups you failed and you had to do it all over again and it was timed, too.

Tiffany: How good were you at remembering all of this information?

Mr. Krall: Believe it or not, I would read the book and study, just like you do in school now, every time I had to go for that, you had to go once a month so you knew what day you were going, so that morning I would get there half hour, hour early, and just read over my job in the book so I was proficient on it and I actually did very well. My overall score for the whole six years was a 98%.

Tiffany: Did you ever have to eat MRE’s and if so how did they taste?

Mr. Krall: Yes. We ate MREs in basic training a few times, when we would go off post and we would also get them when we would do drills at different bases and things like that. Some people didn’t enjoy them at all. They just revolted against them. I actually enjoyed them. I would eat them till this day if I still could find some.

Natasha: What was a normal day like in your specialized training?

Mr. Krall: A normal day would consist of you arriving half hour before your shift started then they would line you up with your supervisor and with my job you had two people on each crew so it would be your leader and then the other two would fall in order. The tech sergeant usually at the time, who was in charge of that shift, would inspect everybody, inspect your uniform, make sure it was neatly pressed- wasn’t wrinkled, your hair was cut properly, your boots were shined, you had a clean shave. If anything was out of order, they sent you back home and you had to come back, and then more likely you had to do some chores you didn’t want to do like sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms, or washing an aircraft. Believe it or not, it’s not that fun. And then during the day we would get the jets ready to fly. You had a morning flight and an afternoon flight, so you’d prep them for flight. They’d come back, we’d put them to bed so to speak, I’d make sure everything was safe on them. If the pilots had any problems in their flight we would have to address it, fix it, and get it turned around for the next flight in the afternoon.

Tiffany: What was the most challenging part of your training?

Mr. Krall: I’d say the most challenging part would have been the monthly evaluations. Like I said, it’s very difficult to memorize what you have to do in order because if you fail, your whole team fails. You know, it’s a whole team aspect, it’s not if you do bad, okay, so that’s the biggest challenge cause if you don’t do good, then everybody fails, and you don’t want to let your team down.

Natasha: How hard was it adapting to military life?

Mr. Krall: In the beginning, it was rather difficult cause you’re used to doing your normal routine at home and when you get there, it’s very difficult. But once you get the routine down and figure out hey it’s just their job to make it difficult to make you a better person, it’s just not that bad, becomes a way of life, becomes your natural habit, after the fact, and I actually enjoyed it.

Tiffany: Where did you serve at?

Mr. Krall: I was in numerous bases, Lackland AFB in San Antonio for my basic training, then I went to Sheppard AFB Wichita Falls, Kansas- Texas ,not Kansas- and that was my specialty training there, and then from there I got assigned to Cannon AFB in New Mexico and spent a few years there and I got orders to South Korea to Osan Air Base, spent a year over there and from there I got my choice of a certain few bases and I chose Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina to be closer to home.

Natasha: What did you do in your free time?

Mr. Krall: That depends where you’re at. In New Mexico, there wasn’t a whole lot in that town. They basically struggled to have a Walmart in that town. So we would normally drive two hours to either Lubbock or Amarillo, Texas, the college towns to hang out, restaurants, movies, malls, anything a normal teenager would do so to speak for fun on the weekends, movie theaters, miniature gold, go karts, anything like that. Once you’re of age well then the bar scene comes into effect, but that’s another story.

Tiffany: Did you form any friendships while you were in the Air Force?

Mr. Krall: Quite a few actually. Believe it or not, the military is one big family so to speak. You realize that once you go in, come home on leave your friends you thought you had, you really don’t have them, but when you go back to the military that’s pretty much your new family. Cause you know your friends back home they move on, get married, have kids, do their own thing, so they aren’t around. When you come home on leave they’re at work so your military family became your family.

Natasha: How did you get to South Korea?

Mr. Krall: We flew there out of Seattle. It was a ten hour flight out of Seattle into the base at Osan. We actually landed on the base.

Tiffany: What was it like being in South Korea?

Mr. Krall: It was different. On the base itself, it was kind of like an average American base, same amenities you would have on a normal base but once you walked outside those gates to go downtown, it was a whole other world. The architecture was different, the smell, the feel of everything. There were shops smashed on top of each other. I mean if you kind of picture a homeless little village, where there’s little huts on top of huts, that’s pretty much what it is. Every little crack or every little door you could find, there was either a shop during the day or at night it was a bar. That’s pretty much exactly how it was.

Natasha: What base were you at in South Korea?

Mr. Krall: That would’ve been Osan Air Base.

Tiffany: What base did you spend the most time at during your six years of service?

Mr. Krall: I spent the most time in Cannon AFB in New Mexico.

Natasha: Did you enjoy being overseas or in the States more during your service and why?

Mr. Krall: I enjoyed being in the States a lot more. You get a lot more privileges in that States then you do overseas. Overseas, if you have a license, that doesn’t mean anything cause you can’t drive a car over there unless you’re a real high ranking official. Then you can get a car on base but other than that you got to walk or take a taxi cab. So definitely being in the States was much nicer. You got a lot more options to go and do, things to see and do.

Tiffany: Were there any special titles you got when you were in the service?

Mr. Krall: Special titles… I’d say the only special title would’ve been when I got picked to be a weapons instructor. That’s kind of an honor that you get chosen out of the hundreds of men and women in your job on your base don’t get to do.

Natasha: What was it like to finish in second place for Load Crew of the Year in 2000?

Mr. Krall: Pretty much a bummer. You know, you work so hard to try and be, number one, and we think it was kind of a technicality. The write up that my two man got during the competition but its like they always say, never leave it up to the judges, leave it out in the field, and well we left it out in the field ,but we didn’t get our ruling.

Tiffany: How did it make you feel to be hand picked out of 138 loaders to be a Weapons Loading Instructor?

Mr. Krall: It felt very good. Basically because the job that I got picked for would’ve been an E-5 position and I was only an E-2 at the time and like you said, there’s 138 other people that do your job that feel they are just as qualified as you but for me, only being in a year and a half and demonstrating to them for them to pick me out of everyone else meant that I was doing my job right and properly and the way they wanted it done.

Natasha: What was it like working with F-15 and F-16 Fighters?

Mr. Krall: It was different. Each plane has its own intricacies and little quirks about it. F-16 was a little newer but a little smaller of an aircraft. F-15 was a little bit bigger but they pretty much had the same munitions they loaded on each one of them. And it was just nice being able to actually work on a fighter than having to work on a heavy cause the heavy’s, they carry a lot more munitions, it’s a lot more headaches to deal with. But I think the fighters are kind of like the Corvette of the Air Force.

Tiffany: What other aircraft did you work on?

Mr. Krall: I only worked on the F-15s and F-16s and that was it.

Natasha: What was your favorite aircraft to work on?

Mr. Krall: I’d have to say the F-16 cause that was the one that I started with. You know it’s kind of like, something that means a lot to you, like a mother's first born in a sense. You know its what you grow accustomed to first and you’re more used to, more comfortable with. So I’d say the F-16 for that fact.

Tiffany: What was the most important thing you had to load?

Mr. Krall: That would be the nuke. You know it’s a very volatile munitions and takes a big clearance to even come close to one, which is a top secret clearance, and the paperwork for that, I want to say was a mile long and a headache cause you had to call people that you didn’t talk to in five to six years to get their information. And ironically, they would come talk to them and ask them hey do you know anybody that knows this guy. Oh yeah,I know this person. They talked to my ex-girlfriends, believe it or not. They tracked them down and asked them questions about you to make sure you’re qualified to handle them.

Natasha: Were you nervous loading the nuclear munitions?

Mr. Krall: Believe it or not, no. To me, it was a part of my job. When I was a volunteer firefighter, going into a fire, anything like that doesn’t bother me. It’s my job; I enjoyed doing it and if it means taking my life, so be it.

Tiffany: Was it difficult keeping in touch with your family?

Mr. Krall: In basic training, yes. After basic training, it wasn’t too bad. You know, once cell phones came into the picture, I was already in the military for about two years before cell phones were ever popular, shows how old I am. So once that came into play then it was a lot easier to make contact.

Natasha: What was the highest rank you achieved?

Mr. Krall: That would be E-4.

Tiffany: Why did you decide to get out of the service after being in the Air Force for about six years?

Mr. Krall: Ironically enough, I thought after six years it’d be kind of nice to come back home and have a normal job again, but believe it or not, after getting out I wanted back in the worst way. And due to the fact the Air Force was so over manned, they would not allow any prior enlisted back in. Even men in the Guards or Reserves, they would not allow them to go active duty.

Natasha: Did your wartime experiences affect your life in any way, and if so, how?

Mr. Krall: In a sense, I’d say yes. It makes you more situationally aware of your surroundings, especially nowadays with these terrorist attacks that are happening all over the world, mall shootings and whatnot. It kind of makes you more aware of what don’t belong. Instead of focusing on your cell phone, or who you’re texting, or who you’re calling, or problems at home or with a boyfriend or girlfriend, you’re more keen to what’s going on around you, what don’t belong in this picture, why is it there? In that sense, I think it really does help.

Tiffany: While serving was there anyone you looked up to?

Mr. Krall: You look up to all your supervisors, not only from a respect factor but because they’ve been there before you. They’ve done it before you. My very first supervisor, Mark Keaton, who’s actually the man in the corner here closest to me in the picture. He was my first supervisor. He had a very profound effect. I mean, he took me under his wing from the very first day and he was actually, if you asked anybody on the base, he was the best of anyone on that base. I mean he would study the books; he would know everything about the planes. He would come up with new guidelines on how to fix things, which is actually an incentive program. If you would come up with something that wasn’t in the book before, and they feel is a good thing, they actually pay you for that. He got numerous ones of them because that’s how smart he, was and I tribute his knowledge and guidance to me getting picked to be an instructor because under his tutelage that I was able to excel and able to learn from.

Natasha: How was it trying to readjust to civilian life?

Mr. Krall: A little difficult. When you’re in, you kind of have a standard way of doing things, kind of like going to school- you know what time you got to be there, you know what to expect in a days’ time. When you get out, it’s no longer there, and it’s trying to find a job, believe it or not, in this area we live in it’s not that easy to try and get a job that pertains to my career field. Top secret clearance don’t really mean a whole lot when you don’t have any weapons factories in your area. So, for that aspect it was pretty difficult.

Tiffany: Did you stay in contact with the men you served with?

Mr. Krall: I do. That’s pretty much the only reason why I have Facebook. If it wouldn’t be for that, I really wouldn’t care to even have it, to be honest with you cause there’s a lot of them that are all over the United States-Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina- so they’re all over and that’s pretty much how I keep in contact with them.

Natasha: Did you feel pressure or stress, if so why and how did you handle it?

Mr. Krall: Pressure and stress as in from what?

Tiffany: Anything like what you had to load, who you were around, where you were stationed at.

Mr. Krall: Okay. Yes and no. When you’re loading munitions there’s always that factor that if you don’t do something right, it could go boom. So, there’s a little bit of stress there and pressure. One munition we had, they basically told you when you armed it you had a choice: open casket or closed casket, because when you had to armed it, if there would be a charge and it would go off, you either would have an open casket or a closed casket because you wouldn’t make it either way. So it’s just a part of your job and you kind of get used to it and keep moving

Tiffany: What did you miss most about being away from your family?

Mr. Krall: I’d say you miss most is the holidays, birthdays, you know Christmas, Thanksgiving, things like that, that your family all gets together and well, you’re on your own but you have a bunch of other people there that are in the same boat you are so you kind of find things to do with them and make the best of it.

Natasha: What was your proudest moment while in the service?

Mr. Krall: Proudest moment.. Id have to say winning Load Crew of the Quarter after only being in for a little bit and getting the chance to be for the year. That’s not something everybody gets the option to do or even picked for.

Tiffany: What did you gain from serving in the military? Were you successful?

Mr. Krall: I don’t know if you’d say being successful. You gain a lot of respect for the men and women who actually do serve. I mean, if my memory serves me correct, only 1% of people from the United States of America actually served or do serve right now in the military. And to me, that number is pretty low. You know, everyone has their freedoms to come and go and do as they please, but if it’s not for the men and women in the uniform that grant them that right.

Natasha: What life lessons did you learn from the war?

Mr. Krall: Life lessons… Expect the unexpected. 9/11 happened, you know, I got off work that night, I worked third shift, went to bed like any other normal day. Then you get a knock at your door first thing in the morning saying hey look at the TV. Then right after that, you get a phone call saying get in here to work. This is real world, it’s going down. We got to get everything ready. And that’s a pretty humbling experience. One minute it’s, you know, cake and candy and having a high old time to this is real.

Tiffany: How did serving in the military affect your life today?

Mr. Krall: Like I said, it does give you profound respect for what they do. It’s not something for everybody, but anybody who is thinking about it should really consider it. It’s a very rewarding experience that too few actually get to enjoy.

Natasha: What did you go on to do after your service?

Mr. Krall: I took a job at a local manufacturing plant and did that for a few years and went into the family landscape business for a few more after that and after I left there I got a job working for the local school district in the maintenance department.

Tiffany: After 9/11 happened, how busy were you?

Mr. Krall: Very busy. Once you get back to the base, I was living off base at the time, we had to go through inspections to get through the gates and they had certain checkpoints all throughout the base you had to process through to get to your workstation. After that, we were no longer instructors. We were now loaders with everybody else, and we had to get all of our jets on the base fully armed for homeland defense.

Natasha: What was it like on a busy day for like normal routines?

Mr. Krall: I kind of touched on that earlier, getting the planes ready to go in the morning and afternoon but certain times we would have a it was called an exercise and it would be one week stimulated wartime scenario where you wore the chemical suits and the flak vest and the flak jacket and the helmet and you had to walk around and when the siren would go off you had to put your gas mask on and sometimes you might be sucking rubber for about 12 hours of that shift you were on. The worst one was in Korea. We were in the gas masks one time for 9 straight hours. So it’s kind of a unique experience, so to speak. And you worked 12 hour shifts, 12 on, 12 off but till you got actually out through the base and back home to your dorm at night, you might have got five hours of sleep til you’re back up to be back at your post the next day.

Tiffany: Can you explain some of the artifacts we see here?

Mr. Krall: To the left would have been my last duty station in Seymour Johnson for the 333 rd Fighter Squadron. That’s my uniform I had to wear everyday, basic standard issue BDU shirt. In front of me here on the top is my picture from Load Crew of the Quarter with my sergeant Mark Keaton and my two man Shane Rhodes. And in front of that are some challenge coins that you get from doing different things. This one here for example is a FOD coin, which means foreign object damage. I uhh, on each base every morning before the plane would fly you had to walk the whole flight line for any kind of foreign objects, metal, bolts, screws, whatnot. Normally, there’s nothing there. But if you find something like that, if the plane would suck that in it would ruin the motor. One morning I found a bolt and I was awarded that coin for my prevention aspects. When I was in Korea, we had an exercise and an inspection from a four star General and he thought what I did was exemplifier, or however you pronounce that, and he gave me his coin, a four star General coin which is pretty hard to get, believe it or not. Some of these other ones here, this one here is just the one from my job, 462 2W1, 462 is what it was classified before it changed to 2W1. And this one here was the Flying Fiends, that was the one I got when I was in Korea, that was our squadron logo. And this one here I brought with, is the one you get when you complete basic training. Down below, the big picture is our squad picture from basic training and to the left and right of that are my achievement medals describing what I did to earn each of them and the two smaller pictures were just different ones that were taken during service.

Natasha: Is there anything else you’d like to say or tell us about your service?

Mr. Krall: The only thing I would really say is, like I mentioned before, if someone is thinking about it, really give it consideration and instead of going at it blind, find a veteran. I mean, they would love to tell you their story, they really would. You know, they do appreciate people taking the time to ask them about it and to hear what they have to say.

Tiffany: Thank you for your time today and your service in the United States military.