Robert Morris University Oral History Center Iraq/Afghanistan Veterans Project Transcript of an Oral History Interview with BENJAMIN AARON STAHL Interior Communications Specialist, US Navy June 13, 2016 Stahl, Ben (1978 –), Oral History Interview, June 13, 2016. Biographical Sketch: Dr. Stahl joined the United States Navy serving onboard USS Gladiator as an Interior Communications Specialist. Dr. Stahl and his crewmates would then deploy to Naval Station Bahrain; being reassigned as MCM Crew Constant onboard USS Dexterous. Performing maritime security, Dr. Stahl and crew searched for waterborne explosives in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Topics Covered in Interview: 9/11 US Navy Interior Communications Specialist USS Gladiator, Texas USS Dexterous, Naval Station Bahrain Minesweeping Waterborne Mines Norther Arabian Gulf Umm Qasr 32nd Naval Station, SWRMC Interviewed by Joshua Caskey Transcribed by Adam Salinas Edited by Adam Salinas and John McCarthy [00:00:04] JC: This interview is part of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran’s Project undertaken by the Oral History Center at Robert Morris University. I am Josh Caskey, and today is June 13, 2016, and I am joined by Ben. How are you doing today, Ben? BS: Good, how are you? JC: I’m doing well. BS: Thanks for inviting me up. JC: Yeah, no problem. Thanks for coming. So, for the record, can you state your full name? BS: Benjamin Aaron Stahl. JC: And do I have your consent to interview you today? BS: Yes. JC: Excellent. Alright, so Ben, when were you born and where were you born? BS: Born August 10, 1978, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Not Magee Hospital like everyone else. I was one of the first cohorts brought into Forbes Regional. JC: Oh, okay. BS: I was born in Forbes Hospital, yeah in 1978. JC: Awesome. BS: Good summer for babies. JC: Awesome (laughs). And what service did you end up joining and serving in? BS: I joined the United States Navy. I served proudly as an interior communications electrician for a little over eight years pushing nine years with the delayed entry program and everything. JC: Okay, so what year did you end up shipping off for boot camp? BS: I joined in 2001. I shipped out early 2002 separated in 2010. JC: Sounds good. And then what did you get out as, what rank? BS: E-6, First-Class Petty Officer. JC: Okay. And then you enlisted out of Pittsburgh you said? BS: I was out of, yeah, the Monroeville…Monroeville Navy recruiter in the Monroeville Mall. JC: In the mall, okay. Excellent. BS: I went up there after September 11th, and it was…there was a lot people. JC: Really? I bet. BS: Yeah, it was packed. People, you know, if you’ve ever been up there they have all the services in that little office, and it was kind of just a “hey, you wanna go? Okay come in here.” [00:02:07] JC: So given the fact that you literally joined right after 9/11, I mean, within in days, maybe? BS: Oh yeah, I had to lose a lot of weight. I’m a big body. JC: (laughs). BS: So they, you know, I went in there, got information, signed up, and had to lose, I think, I think I had to lose upwards of 70 pounds to ship out to boot camp. JC: Oh, wow. BS: So I just went on a, you know, full-on training regimen and dropped that down and shipped out late…shipped out in March of 2002, so it took me about four…about six months to drop that weight. JC: Wow, that’s pretty quick though. BS: Yeah. JC: So obviously 9/11 had a huge impact on you. Can you tell me a little bit about that? BS: Yeah, you know, as much bad came out of that day I certainly, you know, for my generation more good came out of it. I think it certainly served as the impetus for a lot of people to get their shit together and realize that you’re a part of the country, you’re a part of, you know, what we’re going to be doing moving forward, and it was important to get involved. I saw that as, you know, this isn’t just…we’re living in…everything wasn’t all just great, you know, the way it was up until then. They say that was, you know, the day that changed everything. It certainly changed everything for me. You know, it gave me the perspective, and, you know, the end result of that was me joining the Navy, and that certainly, you know, that changed my life for the better. It gave me direction, it gave me purpose, it gave me, you know, a mission, it gave me, you know, it taught me a lot of things but… JC: That’s good, yeah. Did you have a history of family service? BS: All marines (laughs). JC: Really? Wow. BS: So, you know, I broke the mold and had to deal with all of the, you know, the jokes that go back and forth between Marine Corps and the Navy. And…yeah, I came home that first…my uncle was a retired Gunnery Sergeant, saw me in my dress blues almost had a heart attack. JC: (laughs). BS: Couldn’t believe it, and, yeah so I broke form and joined the Navy. [00:04:17] JC: Wow, that’s…that’s a common story we keep hearing. That sometimes there’s service in other branches and people do their own thing, and that’s very important. So what attracted you to the Navy? BS: The whole mystique and the lure. I think, you know, there’s the military and, you know, serving and, you know, one of the ground forces, you know, the Army or the Marine Corps, there’s that. I think there’s something…it’s a whole other ball of wax. I think when you start talking about the Navy. I mean you’re serving your country, but there’s just an adventure. There’s the, you know, the mystique of being a sailor. And, you know, growing up, you know, I would always…you know when I was a kid I was super into Popeye, and even growing up I’d see the pictures of World War II sailors out sitting on decks smoking cigarettes with their sleeves rolled up and their…you know the bell bottoms and, you know, their utility pants. Just…that personified cool and just…you know, a tough guy that’s going to get stuff done. And, you know, that’s… that was very appealing to me. Just, you know, being a part of that culture and, you know, being able to make myself part of that and bring that back, and, you know, take that with me as I move forward in life. It was…you know, if…joining up for the armed forces, I couldn’t see anything other than the Navy. It was just… JC: Okay. BS: You know, going…it just appealed to me. Sailing around the world, working, I mean what else is there? JC: Yeah? BS: You know, you get to go out to sea. You can…that’s when…when you’re out at sea, that’s all that matters. You kind of get the opportunity to put everything behind you and focus on the mission. And there’s that…the clarity that you get when you, when you have a tangible finish line. The only…you’re only purpose is to keep that ship, you know, they say keep the screws turning, the lights burning. And that’s all that matters. So you get to kind of just leave all your problems ashore and get out to sea and kind of immerse yourself in the mission. JC: That makes sense, yeah. So did you end up serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation During Freedom, or both? [00:06:32] BS: Operation Iraqi Freedom. JC: Okay. What was your understanding of what was going on with the Iraq War when it kicked off in 2003? BS: Well, when it kicked off we were doing…we initially got sent to do Q routes. So basically we… JC: Can you explain what that is? BS: Yeah. They call it cutting the lawn or mowing the lawn. So, essentially, you know, I was on…the only ships I was assigned to was minesweepers. So, for that deployment I was on the USS Gladiator, and we left from Texas, went through the Panama Canal, and then we were charged with mapping the magnetic signature of the west coast of the United States of America. So, you know, three nautical miles out we picked up the…deployment group that we went with, a bunch of other minesweepers. We mapped the magnetic signature from San Diego up to Seattle, and we just went back and forth with the sonar down. And you pick up refrigerators, cars, but, you know, we were out there to make sure there was no water-born mines or any other explosive devices that might otherwise cause a barrier to our shipping routes or are maritime security. As, you know, the guys that were shipping Marines out from San Diego, the last thing you want is, you know, the USS Wasp to hit a mine with a ton of Marines headed over to Iraq. JC: Okay. BS: We made sure there’s no mines on the West Coast. Then we loop back and made it to home port in Ingleside, Texas.