Ismael Medina enlists in the military
Right out of high school, Ismael Medina finds work by enlisting in the United States military. Joining it with no english experience, Medina found it mentally challenging at first as he made it through boot camp while overcoming the language barrier. Medina participates in many historic events in his time in the military.
TM: Talk to me about your years in the service over all.
IM: So, I did 24 years active duty as an infantryman, airborne infantryman. Started in – Actually, I came here to Fort Jackson to get my shots and my haircut and my equipment. And from there, we were bussed to Fort Benning, Georgia for basic training and advanced individual training. From there, interesting enough, when they noticed that I didn’t speak English or understand English, they sent us to a school, quite a few of us. Most came from Puerto Rico and they sent us to this school for about a month and a half, two months to learn English. But we didn’t learn no English, because most of the soldiers in that school, they were Hispanic, so we spent all day speaking Spanish. So, after about two months or so, they sent us back to basic training. And I did really good there with basic training. Even though I didn’t speak it, I started to understand it and I just watched while people do and that’s what I did. And I did very well to the point that the friend of mine reminded me that at one point right before graduation, I was the runner up running for the best soldier in the cycle. And from there, I went to Berlin brigade, Germany, 1980. I got to Berlin in February 1984 and I was there until August ’85. During that time was the Berlin Wall was still up. One neat experience that I remember about that particular assignment is that there was an agreement between the Russians, the French, the British army, and the U.S. army to guard Rudolf Hess. He was the right man of Hitler. He was captured in the end of the World War II. He was sent to prison for life. So, the agreement was that each of all these four countries were going to guard him for a month at a time and we rotate our guard duty. So, when I look back in history, I said, “Wow. I was part of that, being the guard of Rudolf Hess, his right hand man.” Very neat experience and yeah. Yeah. So, I got to see him. One day I was on the guard post and by that time, he was really old. So, he came out to the yard to walk around and he look up and I got to see him. From there, I went to Fort Benning, Georgia mechanized infantry. I was there from 1985 through 1987. Went to many training exercise in California. I went to airborne school, the paratrooper school. From there, I was like two months before – because when I signed for the army, I came for three years. So, I was supposed to get out in August 1986. Two months before – oh no. December ’85, I went to Puerto Rico and I met my wife. So, I went back in April and we got married in April. She stay in Puerto Rico. I came back to Fort Benning, Georgia, because I was going to get out of the army. And then, the army send me a letter saying that at that time they were trying to reduce the members of the army, so they give me the option to get out two months early, 60 days early so I could get out in June. And at that point, I was married for, what, two months. May and June, two months. And I told my wife at the time, “Yeah, just come over and spend the next two months with me and we go back to Puerto Rico.” And then, she came over and then we started thinking. And, oh, I asked her, “Should I get out and we go back to Puerto Rico or should I do three more years and we get all the furniture for the house and we go back to Puerto Rico and we get our own house in Puerto Rico?” And she said she agreed. So, I extended for three more years in the army. She came over and from there, we went Alaska, Alaska for four years. Yeah, four years in Alaska. My daughter born, like I say, in December – no, in January ’88. So, she came to join me and my wife in March ’88. You want me to talk about one of the highlights of that tour in Alaska? So, in 1988, August 5, 1988, we went from Fairbanks, Alaska to Fort Chaffee, Little Rock, Arkansas for a training exercise. So, we flew from Alaska to Fort Chaffee. So, we were in airborne company, so we did inflight rigging, inflight review. When I say inflight rigging, you get your parachute on in the plane and then we jump into the training exercise. We got all the equipment. We got all the meals to start the actual exercise and mission. And it was August 5, 1988 that we had a jump, combat jump at night, night combat jump at 3:08 in the morning and there was total chaos inside our airplane. So, the door were opened. Soldiers were going out the door to jump and I was not able yet to hook up to the cable. So, I managed my way to hook up to the cable and made my way out the door. As soon that my chute opened, I had a lower jumper to my right and I look up and I have another jumper to my left. Before I knew, my right leg got tangled on the suspension line of the lower jumper. So, you’re supposed to lower – well, you got your parachute the back and the reserve on the front, then you got your rucksack, big backpack, hanging here and the weapon. And you’re supposed to at one point release it, let it hang. Same thing with the rifle. Get your feet and knees together, prepare to land. But then I was ready, my leg was tangled. I was just trying to untangle my foot, so I never dropped my rucksack or released my weapon. So, when I land, I land with my feet open. And the (inaudible) [00:29:16] of the rucksack broke my tib and the fibula. So, that company set me back as far as being on jump status. From there, I recover. Went to [regi ?] school, did not make it, but it was next time that I jump after that incident. From there, I was selected to be a drill sergeant. Department of the Army, they select so many people. According to them, it’s supposed to be the top five percent soldiers. And so, I got selected to be a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson here. So, we came here in 1992. I went to the drill sergeant school. Graduated drill sergeant school, did two years as a drill sergeant. And then I was asked or I volunteered to ask to do drill sergeant duty for another year. So, I went to the drill sergeant to be an instructor at the drill sergeant academy at that time. From there, we went to Italy, Vicenza, Vicenza, Italy. I got there in March ’96. At that time, that particular unit that I was going to, that unit was already deployed to Bosnia. So, when I started making contact with the unit, they told me that it’s best for me to go. Well, it was no choice. I had to go by myself, because they didn’t know if as soon as I get to Vicenza, Italy, I was going to deploy to Bosnia. So, they told me, “Yes, you coming over, but it’s just going to be you by yourself. So, that way, if you come, you just get your equipment and keep on going versus trying to settle your family and look for a house and all that stuff.” So, to avoid all that, I went by myself to Italy. My wife stayed here, Fort Jackson and then later on went to Puerto Rico. But I remember it was April, early April. Our unit was on readiness, the highest readiness, so because our mission was to – our main responsibility was Africa. So, we got a call. Our unit was on alert and we shared that duty for about 30 days and we rotated that. So, we got an alert that in Sierra Leone, Africa, Liberia, they were having a – at that time there was a civil war or a big thing down there. And they were really close to the U.S. embassy. So, to the point that the ambassador in Liberia, he request evacuation or support or security. So, Bill Clinton ordered that mission. Because there was already five or six marines in that embassy, but that was not enough to protect. So, we got a call to go to Liberia, Africa. And that was one of the most – what do I call it – one of the most significant event or experience in the army. Because at that time, again, my wife was in Puerto Rico with the kids. I just got there and my unit, they just got back from Bosnia, so I did not go to Bosnia. But again, we were on alert. Now we going to Africa, so I didn’t know what was going on I mean as far as I did the mission, but then it was a big mess down in Liberia. Talking about soldiers – not soldier, civilian rebels with AK-47 RPG. It was a total mess. So, what the first thing that cross your mind is what’s going to happen to my family, if I don’t come back. So, you don’t think as much as what’s going to happen to you, but what’s going to happen to them. That was my biggest deal. What is going to happen to them, if I don’t come back? So, a friend of mine, he got there before me. So, he was in the same situation as I that his family was back in the States, because his family, his sons, they were still in high school. So, he didn’t want to pull them way from high school until the summer comes around. But we became really good friends. And he started me to invite me to church. He was a Christian. “Let’s go to church. Let’s go to church.” “No, I’m good. I’m good. I’m good.” Until bam, until that day that I remember that I went to his room and I told him, “We got the call. We’re going to Africa in the next 18 hours we’ll be out of here. My wife doesn’t know anything about this. I would like for you to call my wife and let her know I’m good. I’m fine, but I’m going to Liberia, Africa, because of this mission. Just tell her that I’m going to be okay.” But yeah, to make her aware. Because it was late at night, so I didn’t want to call the States that late at night and give her bad news. So, I told him what to do. And at that time, he said, “Okay, Ismael. He talked to me about Jesus again one more time and I became a Christian that night.” He say, “Man, you should accept Jesus as your savior,” and I did that that night. So, I went to Africa and we were there for about 12, 17 days, something like that. That one was a tough, tough, tough mission. I remember going into the embassy. Going into the embassy, the embassy, the helipad, the landing site for the aircraft was really small. But lucky for us that we had the best special operation aviation unit that was. Because they arrived. When we got to the embassy, the Navy SEALs were already there securing the embassy. So, but again, that was the most scary situation. And going into an unknown place at night, everything is black out. There’s no light in the embassy on purpose. You don’t know what to expect and you’re already in the air with a helicopter that easy target. And day before, the base shot a helicopter with RPG 7s. So, that was the most scary part. For you, that was the moment. That was the moment going to the embassy at night to land, that was the roughest point. But again, we made it. We made it. We land, secure the area. We went inside the embassy. We did our thing. Very scary mission that it had the potential to blow into a big thing according to the report. To the point that we were – one of our position was right on the fence inside the balcony and you could see outside the embassy the Liberians in masses. Talk about trucks just like you see on tv. Trucks full of young soldiers, civilian basically, but rebels with AK-47, RPG-7. They just driving through the street and shooting. And they come to the fence and they look at you. And our rule of engagement was not to lock and load. That was crazy. Because we have a machine gun facing the street and they just park right there and they just coming toward you and we could not lock and load, so that we don’t say that we are a threat to them. But again, if any of them would have start shooting, we didn’t have no choice, because of by the time you react and try to lock and load, you’d be dead. So, that was kind of craziness to follow those orders and be very disciplined. One of the things that I have a report that is special regiment command wrote about that operation and they said that they were very impressed. Because although we trained with them in the past, but the discipline of our unit not to fire or make a big deal. It was pretty key. Because that could have turned out to be a big, big thing just like Blackhawk, Somalia. From there, I continued back to Fort Jackson. From Fort Jackson, I was in charge of the (inaudible) [00:38:47] range. I also worked at the hand grenade range. And there was this day. I want to say it was August 5, if I’m not mistaken. I got to look back on my award. August 5, 2000. I was in my bay and the soldiers, they come to me. The basic trainees, they come to me with two grenades on their chest with the flood vest. And they give them to me and when we get the command from the tower, I give them the grenade and they get to throw the grenade down range. Well, I got this particular female soldier. She was very scared. So, I give her – She gave me the two grenades. I put it on the floor. I took one out of the can and give it to her, make sure she grab it the right way. So, I give her the command proper grip. Make sure she has the proper grip on the grenade. She said, “No, no, I don’t have it.” So, try it again. Proper grip. She said, “No.” Third time. Proper grip? She said, “Yes.” So, I tell her. All right. You’re going to twist and pull that pin. No, safety clip. She did that. The next one, “You’re going to pull and twist the grenade and throw.” Well, she went to throw and somehow the grenade landed on the corner of the bay. So, we also practice the grenade drop drill. Just in case they drop it, they can get up by themselves and we go next. But the soldier, she – I give her the command to drop the grenade, so she can get out, but she froze right there. So, I had to pull her back. And we were going back, me and her, and on the back wall of the grenade pit, that’s like a knee wall. So, on the back, it’s knee wall high and on the front and the sides about 3-4 feet high that you can duck underneath. So, I was pushing her back and we, when we hit the wall, we flip and I put myself on top of her. And it seemed like forever for that grenade to go off. At one point, I was going to even look and “Hey, that thing, are we sure, we put the pin?” And boom, that thing exploded. That was (laughs) – yes, that was something else. It was really scary. I was hyped up. I wanted to continue. I look at the NCO at the top, the non-commissioned officer. I said, “Let’s go. Let’s go. I’m good.” But you can’t do that. You have to shut down that lane. You have to call for DOD, the MP, just everybody comes. But I was so – the adrenaline rush, I was ready to go. Ready to go. And to that day, later on that day, I calmed down. The next day I was really, really, really scared looking for very hesitant, I guess. Really, really just – not jumpy, but really anxious. Yes. So, that was another big experience that I will never forget. Yeah. From there, I went to Korea. Korea. And, again, the intensity was really high. The stress was really high, because the unit that I was assigned to, we were three kilometers from the DMZ of North Korea. So, we were always at a high alert state, because we were so close to them. And we did a lot of exercise to get ready for that attack, if that ever happened. So, we did practice that on a monthly basis. Monthly basis you get the alarm go off through the whole camp and you go through the whole procedure of taking all the equipment out and getting ready to defend. Our mission was to leave and take all the equipment with us, destroy the computers, if we need to and also move to another camp and establish security for the helicopter battalion on that airfield. That was our mission, if we make it out of there alive. So, in theory, we’re supposed to be extracted out by air helicopters and without a doubt we’d never made it there being so close to there and with so many field artillery pointed at us, there’s no way we were going to make it out of there. And then from there, I came back to Fort Benning, Georgia – I mean to Fort Jackson. Because when I went to Alaska, my family stayed here at Fort Jackson. I couldn’t take them, especially because being so close to the DMZ, you don’t have time to start planning to take family members out of there. So, therefore, there’s no family member that close to the North. So, the family, the soldiers that were able to take their family with them, they were further south. But where we was assigned to the second 90, was too close to the DMZ to North Korea. You will be there by yourself. So, again, that was the roughest part about that assignment was being away from the family for so long. That was another rough part in that assignment. From there, I came back to Fort Jackson. At that time, I had 20 years in the army and I became an assistant inspector general for the commanding post at Fort Jackson helping soldiers and family members. Yeah. That’s basically about it as far as the military experience and big things that 24 years. And again, the one in Berlin was kind of neat also being close to Russia. So, yeah. Quite a few interest places that I’ve been into.