SGT Connie R. Spinks Oral History Tape 2, Side A

title:

SGT Connie R. Spinks Oral History Tape 2, Side A

creator:

Spinks, Connie Rose (1982 October 12 - )

subject:

Army

description:

Tape 2 of 2, side 1 of 2. Connie Rose Spinks was born on October 12, 1982 in Asheboro, North Carolina. After graduating from Southwestern Randolph High School in 2000, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go to college or start working, so she enlisted in the Army Reserve to get some life experience and travel while also receiving money she could use for school. She had six uncles and two cousins in the Army at the time, but her father didn’t initially want her to join because he was protective of her. She went to basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina the day after her 18th birthday in October 2000. Fort Jackson was generally rather relaxed as far as military training goes, so going to the much stricter Fort Bragg, North Carolina for advanced training was a sort of reality check for her. She was activated for homeland security in 2000 for around six months, and again in 2002 initially to go to Iraq, but her team wasn’t selected to go overseas. She and her team found out they would be going overseas in September 2004 at the end of 2003, with about 8 months to prepare. For six months, they did language training to learn Arabic and Kurdish, which was key to her working in Civil Affairs. They had around two months to relax with friends and family before going to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin for a 30-day field training and Fort Bragg to ship out to Kuwait and Iraq. They were in Kuwait for two weeks, preparing for their arrival in Iraq. In Iraq two days a week she would be on gate guard and tower guard, and the rest of her week would be spent gong on Civil Affairs missions with interpreters and Iraqi people outside the wire. About once every two weeks there were attacks on the towers and occasionally at the gate. The female battle buddy system for guard duty was implemented soon before their arrival because of a sexual assault that had occurred on duty in a tower in a different unit. On October 13, 2004, she was going out on a mission and was a SAW gunner on the middle vehicle of the convoy. While they were driving, she saw a car trying to get between herself and the first vehicle, which sped up after she told them to stop. It crashed into the side of her truck and exploded. She was ejected from the vehicle and sustained severe injuries, including burns and broken bones. She was quickly sent to Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas because of the burns she sustained, while everyone else who was injured were receiving treatment at Fort Bragg. She thought they were all doing well, and didn’t find out until she was being released from the hospital that two men had died. As of the interview, she was still recovering from the injuries and was only part-way through her physical therapy plan. She was incredibly discouraged when she began, thinking often about how active she had been before compared to her incredibly limited mobility since the attack. She received her Purple Heart in December, which meant it was presented to her by Denzel Washington rather than President Bush, who was going to be at the hospital in January. As of the interview, she was in the process of being medically discharged after six years in the Army. When she left the service in 2006 Spinks had reached the rank of sergeant, and for her service she was awarded a Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Scott, Kate M.

date:

2006-01-26

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

877.02; 2006.877

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

597601

coverage:

Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq)—2003-2011 | 2000-interview

rights:

Unrestricted