00:00:03JASON BEYER: My name is Jason Beyer, and I'm a graduate of CSUSM (California State University San Marcos). Today's date is Monday, November 17, 2025. And we're conducting this interview at CSUSM in the CSUSM library, located in San Marcos, California. Today I'll be interviewing veteran Edwin Lebrado Jr. This oral history will help preserve the lived experiences of United States military veterans. Please state your name—your full name.
00:00:43EDWIN JOSEPH LABRADO JR.: I'm Edwin Joseph Labrado Jr.
00:00:47JASON BEYER: Your branch of service.
00:00:49LABRADO: The United States Army.
00:00:51BEYER: The highest rank that you attained?
00:00:53LABRADO: I was captain in the Army's Signal Corps (United States Army Signal Corps).
00:00:57BEYER: And then please state the war or conflict that was happening during your time in service.
00:01:02LABRADO: Well, actually there was several. One was the Vietnam War was going on, and also the Cold War in Europe as well.
00:01:10BEYER: Okay. So now we're gonna begin with introductions. Where were you born and raised?
00:01:16LABRADO: I was born in Santa Barbara, California, and I went to school there—elementary school, high school, and I went to UC Santa Barbara.
00:01:26BEYER: What was life like for you growing up in Santa Barbara?
00:01:30LABRADO: Well, I really enjoyed it. It's a beautiful area. It's right by the coast, and I thought I had a great childhood there.
00:01:43BEYER: Did anyone in your family ever serve in the military before you?
00:01:48LABRADO: Yeah, my dad did. My dad served with Patton's Third Army (General George S. Patton; Third United States Army), and he was in what they call the "Super Sixth," the 6th Armored Division. And he participated in the invasion of Europe all the way through the end of the war. And he was a combat engineer.
00:02:14BEYER: What were you doing before you joined the service? Did you hold any jobs or were you attending school?
00:02:20LABRADO: Well, like I said, I went to the University of California, Santa Barbara, and basically I was working on my bachelor's there, and that was my prior experience—prior to entering the Army. I was in the Army's ROTC program (Reserve Officers' Training Corps), and there I participated in their four year program.
00:02:43BEYER: What led to your decision to serve? Were you drafted or did you enlist or were you commissioned as an officer?
00:02:51LABRADO: Well, as I mentioned, I was part of the reserve officers' training program there. So after the four years, you are commissioned in the Army. There was approximately—when I started—around 200 cadets that first started out, and about a hundred of us graduated in June of 1968. And our program, again, was a four year program. And we were trained essentially as infantry. We went to classes, and we also trained—like Port Hueneme—on some of the weekends. Port Hueneme is a naval facility near Ventura (California). And then we also trained at Camp Roberts, which is just up the coast from Santa Barbara. And we would train—in those days we used an M1 rifle, which is the old rifle—actually it was called a Garand. It was used in World War I in the Korean War. And so we got to use that initially, and then gradually we then used the M14 and then the M16, And then we would go to Camp Roberts some weekends where we would learn more about, you know, basic tactics, map reading and things like that to supplement our classwork, which was usually regarding military law, tactics, and history types of programs.
00:04:22BEYER: Why did you choose the specific branch that you joined, that you served in?
00:04:28LABRADO: Well, I was in the Signal Corps. And the way the Army works—which is probably like the other services—they more or less can request certain areas or branches, and that's real important because that branch basically is your job during your service in the military. And in our program, the ROTC program, you are ranked for the entire nation for all the colleges that are graduating their officers. And you're ranked, and based on that ranking they give you priority in terms of your selections—you usually get three selections. And I was fortunate enough to get one of my three, which was the Signal Corps. But the Army is a big organization—probably one of the largest—and so we have a lot of branches. We have like 17 branches. We normally have like the ones you would think of—the infantry, armor and artillery—but we have the chemical corps, the ordinance corps, the veterinarian corps. We have all these different corps. So once you're selected, actually, for a particular branch, then that becomes the branch that you will usually remain in for the balance of your service.
00:05:48BEYER: So we're moving on to your early days of your military experience. What kind of training or schooling did you complete while you were in the early days of service?
00:06:01LABRADO: Well, once you're commissioned—let's say in the Signal Corps, in my case—then you have to go to what they call a basic officers leadership course (Basic Officer Leaders Course). And there you learn your job, and it's usually a couple—two months, usually eight weeks—and each branch, you know, has different requirements. And in my case, the Signal Corps, the basic course was in Fort Gordon, Georgia. And there you learn how the tactical employment of communications equipment out in the field, because usually when you graduate from there, then you wind up going into the artillery, infantry or armor—and so those are combat, we call 'em combat branches—so there you need to know how to interact with that type of environment. And then, some folks are selected to go in additional training—like I was selected to go to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where I was in a course called the Communications Officers Course. And there I learned how to operate radios, and that was the branch that was involved in data communications, encryption, you know, things like that. And that was a eight-week course as well. So that was kind of like a summary of the training that you would get after you are initially inducted into the Army.
00:07:43BEYER: What was it like training with encryption and learning that?
00:07:49LABRADO: It was real interesting. I was kind of interested in computers and the like. And you have to remember, this is back in 1969 and a lot of the computers were these old IBMs where you use these cards—IBM cards that you punch out. You know, the different holes, and they had card readers. And so computers were at its infancy—but you know we were progressing. And encryption was important because later I wound up in missile systems. And there encryption is a really big deal because you have, you know, the codes—launch codes for nukes and stuff. And so that was really helpful to me, you know, to get that kind of a background before I actually got assigned to a unit.
00:08:37BEYER: What was your first assignment after basic training?
00:08:41LABRADO: Well, I was assigned to Fort Ord, California, which is just up the coast. It's close to Monterey. And it was—I really enjoyed it there because I liked the weather and everything, but this was a very large fort there. And I was assigned to a signal battalion. And my job was to support the units—the infantry units primarily—that were in training there with communication and also support some of the schools they had there for advanced training. Usually when you have basic training, the enlisted men undergo further training—like in radios or wiremen and whatever—and we also supported those units as well.
00:09:31BEYER: When you were at Fort Ord, I remember recalling during your pre-interview, didn't you have a special assignment for like burial ceremonies?
00:09:41LABRADO: Yes. When you're—in the military you always get extra duties, and because Fort Ord had a large military establishment, when a serviceman was killed in action and the family wanted a burial detail—which was the highest level where they would have, you know, riflemen for the rifle squad for the volley. And then they would also probably have six pallbearers, a bugler and an NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer). They would usually have a lieutenant go with that detail to provide services, you know, for the service member that was killed in action. And for us, it's a big deal when a serviceman gets injured or in this case killed, the utmost respect and honor is allocated to him and his family. And so I would be in charge of putting it all together—getting all the soldiers together and trying to make sure they're trained. And a lot, you know, of this work is done with the NCOs because they're the experts in these areas. And we would take a van—usually a small bus sometimes. But in one case we went up to Oakland, and we went there and there were protesters there—'cause this was in 1969, '70, so there was a lot of protesting the Vietnam War. And so it was really disheartening to us because when we entered the cemetery there were protestors there and they had signs that they were chanting, you know. And some of the signs that, you know, like they were like, "A life wasted," you know. And really derogatory kinds of messages. (Phone ringtone plays and automated voice says, "Unknown caller." The phone is silenced.) I thought I turned that thing off. Is it off?
00:11:54BEYER: So back to the—so there was a service member that was being buried?
00:12:01LABRADO: Correct. And so I'm in this bus with probably about 20 soldiers, and most of them have just returned from Vietnam. And most of them had, you know, post-traumatic stress (Post-traumatic stress disorder; PTSD). So they were real upset. And so, you know, we had to be—I had to contain them and make sure they'd get off the bus. And fortunately when we got into the cemetery, they had a gate there. So these protestors were not able to get in onto the grounds of the cemetery, which was good because that way they didn't interfere with the ceremony. But, you know, I get it. You know, people have a right to freedom of speech. You know, that's one of the things that soldiers do—they try to uphold the constitution. But there comes a point where, you know, you can get to a limit where it's just not respectful, you know, to do that in this type of a situation—especially a ceremony—a burial ceremony.
00:13:12BEYER: What was the hardest adjustment to military life for you?
00:13:17LABRADO: Well, I think that initially when you get in the military, it's a whole new environment. I mean, it's 24/7 when you get into the military. You don't control necessarily where you go. I mean, you can ask to go to certain forts and certain locations, but you really don't have a final say. It's that whole saying, you know, "The military will put you where they need you," or, "The Army will assign you where they need you." And especially when there's a war like the Vietnam War going on, then yeah, you wind up going anywhere you want. You get—you move constantly. And you're constantly having to go and learn different kinds of tasks even though you're within a certain branch. You have to learn to work with different people, different superiors and all. That's fine, but it's very condensed. It happens a lot more often, especially when you're first starting off. You have to go into different training environments and you have to adapt. And a lot depends on rank, too. I mean, if you're a Private E1 one, you know, you don't get the same kind of benefits you would as a Second Lieutenant. I mean, the living conditions—and if you have a family, too. You know, it's awkward, constantly moving around, especially if you deploy overseas. Sometimes you can move with your family to a house and the government provides—the military provides housing for you—sometimes not. So it's like going into a new world in a new environment. So you have to adapt.
00:15:04BEYER: So we're moving on to your deployment experience when you first got to Europe. You had mentioned that you were stationed in Europe during the Cold War—
00:15:18LABRADO: Mm-hmm. (Labrado nods his head affirmatively.)
00:15:19BEYER: —and so what was that like for you?
00:15:21LABRADO: Well, again, the Cold War occurred right after the end of World War II. And as you probably know, when the Russians liberated Europe, those countries that they liberated, they wanted to maintain their political system, so they became communist countries heavily influenced by Russia. And in those days, Russia had—sort of like the United States had—they had the United Soviet Socialist Republic (The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). They were like a federation of states. They were like 17 states that encompassed the USSR. Plus they had the Warsaw Pact, which was another six or seven countries, and they sort of duplicated NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization). And so in those days, back in the 1970s, for instance, Russia was a real prevalent opponent because they had like 22 countries that they could control in one way or the other. And one of those countries was East Germany—'cause East Germany was split in half—again—where the Russians had taken over the territory in Germany, that became dominated by Russia and became communist. Anyway, so in Europe we had of course NATO, and we were concerned with making sure that the Russians didn't invade—or the Soviet Union—Western Europe. So the problem was they were very close, you know? They were right on the borders. And so this was something where we as soldiers wanted to be sure that we were able to react and defend Western Europe. So that was kind of the situation. And simultaneously the Vietnam War was going on. And to give you a perspective, there was around 300,000 as I recall, military presence—U.S. presence—in Europe. And there was about 550,000 soldiers in Vietnam and around 65,000 in Korea. And so most of the focus was in Vietnam. But you couldn't leave Europe undefended because the Russians then might take advantage. And so it's one thing if you lose war in Vietnam, but a whole other scenario if you get into a conflict with Russia, because Russia has the nukes. And so you wanna make sure that that portion of the world is secure. So that's—so the environment that we were in way back in the 1970s.
00:18:22BEYER: Was it—I've often heard one veteran describe it as, it was hard because you have the Vietnam War happening and then you're in Europe during the Cold War, and then there's protests happening stateside. One veteran described it as every time there was a protest, the Russians will get more bolder in Europe. Did you experience anything like that?
00:18:49LABRADO: Not a lot that I noticed. In terms of the protest, one of the things that was interesting to me is—I mentioned to you that I went to school at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Well, when I was in Europe, there was a community right next to the campus called Isla Vista, and the bank got burned as a result of a protest—an anti-war protest. It burned a Bank of America down. And I was in Europe at the time. And I was saying, "Wow." You know, 'cause this was a big deal for us, you know, to see that happening—especially in my case, which is right next to the school I graduated from. And I think that was—we got information about the protests and what was going on in the states, but it didn't directly affect us as far as I'm aware of in terms of deployments of any troops in Europe—Russian troops.
00:19:55BEYER: What was your job in Europe to do while you were in Europe?
00:20:01LABRADO: Well, I was a battalion signal officer for a Nike Hercules missile battalion. And these are surface to air missiles. They're about 42 feet high, so they're big missiles. And their main objective is to shoot down medium- or high-altitude aircrafts—meaning bombers—and they're radar guided. And they are—we use them as—you can use 'em like for artillery—that is, you can hit land targets with it. We can also shoot down incoming missiles, but our main function would be to shoot down aircraft. And then also we had nuclear warheads on these missiles in the event that went into a nuclear war. And so we had—in my battalion, for instance, we had about 12 of these missiles deployed in various firing batteries. So we could shoot 12 off at one time. So the scenario would be, once the president declares war, we would get notified and then we would then react accordingly. And hopefully it would not be a nuclear war because that would be, you know, that would be horrible. And then we would then fire our missiles and deploy them, as, you know, required. And our main focus was to defend Ramstein Air Force Base—which was a large air force base in Western Europe—and also the NATO troops that were in the western portion of Germany. So usually what would happen when we go on alert is we saw a concentration of enemy, in this case, Russian troops concentrated in one area and like they were gonna deploy. Or if we saw any kind of aircraft coming over that looked like they were going in our airspace, we would then go on alert. And what would happen typically is the Russians would try to, you know, annoy us. They would send the planes towards our airspace and then the Air Force would send fighters out, and of course we would be ready to shoot down, you know, the Russian bombers or whatever if they got past the fighters. But they usually turned around, you know. They were just trying to make everybody aware that they were there. And then two, the other dimension is the political situation. Like, well, not so much the protestors was an issue, but if there was any kind of—well, like the JFK assassination, something like that, or the Cuban crisis (Cuban Missile Crisis), or any kind of real major assassination or political discord—then we would go on alert because we would not know how Russia would react. So we wanted to be sure, you know, that we were ready. So we were always on duty 24/7. I was really pleased that I had really good NCOs in my company because they were critical. I mean, those were the folks that actually did the work and made sure the men were doing their assigned tasks. So I was real fortunate in that respect.
00:23:40BEYER: Were there any lighthearted memories or humorous events that you'd like to share?
00:23:44LABRADO: Well, there was one. My soon to be wife, Linda, she went to visit one of her relatives in France, so she went over to Germany. So we spent a couple of days—I got leave—and so I, at that time had a 1957 Volkswagen Beetle, and it was really kind of a relic in that it had—it only operated three out of four cylinders and it rusted out all of the floor of—the vehicle had rusted out because, you know, they use a lot of salt and it snows a lot. And so you could actually put your foot completely down into the road. So we put a piece of plywood there. And the other cool part of that VW was it didn't have a gas meter, so you never knew how much gas you had. So you had this little knob that if you saw the car sputtering, you twist the knob one direction and you get another gallon of gas and you go to a gas station. Anyway, what happened is it started to rain and we got stranded in the middle of nowhere in this VW and we were trying to figure out, you know, how we were gonna get back to—well, I was gonna get back to my duty station, 'cause you know, if you don't show up on time, it's a bad thing. You know, (Labrado laughs) if you're in the military, you could be AWOL (Absent Without Leave). So anyway, everything worked out. But it was really funny because we were in the VW and it's raining and we're we trying to hitch a ride, you know, to get back to my fort. And in the end we looked back and it was funny.
00:25:28BEYER: Did you carry any rituals or keepsakes, or did you do anything for good luck during your time in service?
00:25:33LABRADO: Well, one of the things, in my unit we had firing batteries, and we don't put all of our firing batteries all together—you know, I had to spread 'em out. A firing battery would be maybe five or six missiles in one site. And, then we'd have maybe another firing battery five or ten miles from our battalion operation center—and we'd have 'em spread out. And I would go to these firing batteries sometimes to inspect them and stop off to have a meal. And they would have what they call in Germany gasthauses. And they're kind of like inns where you go in and you could have food and have a bar. And they even had, usually, a little hotel. You could stay there overnight. And I would collect from each gasthaus a glass, because each of these gasthauses specialized in certain kinds of beer. And so I came back with about 30 of these glasses of beer where they had these really cool emblems—because the Germans were really big on beer—and each of the breweries had their own emblem. So I thought that was kind of cool. And it brought back, you know, fond memories of going and interacting with the Germans in their, like, inns.
00:26:55BEYER: So now we're coming up to your transition out of service. Where did you go immediately after you separated from service?
00:27:04LABRADO: Well, I went back up to Santa Barbara, and I resumed my education, and I was working on a master's. And basically that's what I came back to.
00:27:21BEYER: How were you received by your family and your community back in Santa Barbara?
00:27:27LABRADO: My family was great. It was really pleased to see me. They were happy to see me, of course. The community was sort of lukewarm, you know. Some people were kind of lukewarm, when they saw someone in uniform during, you know, the 1968 through '70, '71. And so they were kind of aloof, you know. The Germans on the other hand probably viewed us differently. They saw us as defending or at least preventing the Russians from invading. But in the states, a lot of people thought that the war was an unjust war and it was an unpopular war. And some of that got reflected, you know, on servicemen.
00:28:19BEYER: Was that hard for you to take in?
00:28:22LABRADO: Well, initially when you're, like, in Europe and, you know, you get the impression that you're there to protect United States—in this case from an attack, but—and then you find a lot of the citizens really aren't supporting you. That, you know, they think you really are pursuing an unjust war. And so it's kind of awkward because on one hand you're thinking that, "Gosh, we're doing a good thing here." But then on another hand, a lot of the citizens really didn't respect the uniform or the military at that point. And this is only a small portion of the population, but they were very vocal, and a lot of them, of course, were college kids and especially males because, you know, they were the ones who were gonna get drafted. So they were vociferous and—you know.
00:29:26BEYER: What was it like for you to adjust back to civilian life?
00:29:31LABRADO: Well, I think I had a smooth transition. Again, I went back to work on my master's and you know, was able to pick up where I left off. But I did notice that when I graduated from college, some of my friends went directly into their careers. And so one of my best friends, when I got out, he became a lawyer. He got his degree and everything. So there was a integral period of time there where a lot of my friends were actually further along in their careers because, you know, I had served in the military and, you know, they of course went into their particular careers.
00:30:18BEYER: What do you wish more people understood about veterans?
00:30:23LABRADO: Well, I think that people should really recognize and respect veterans because—and especially veterans that have served in combat roles, because they really have given a lot. Their families had to move constantly and frequently. Their servicemember is gone from the family. And when they serve in a combat role, a lot of the servicemen come back with like post-traumatic stress or physical injuries or mental injuries, and these folks need to be taken care of because they've given so much and that should be acknowledged and they should be supported by, you know, the community in the U.S.
00:31:22BEYER: Following up with the reflections, what message would you want to leave for future generations who may watch or hear this interview?
00:31:33LABRADO: Well, I think the first thing is that we, I was in a situation back in 1970, '71, where there was a real threat with Russia because the threat was one in which we could actually get in a nuclear war. And so there are like different stages of war—especially like in Europe—there's conventional war, which is what we would be involved in using, you know, normal kinds of warfare, like in Vietnam. And then there's also limited nuclear war where you would just contain the nuclear war within Western Europe or Eastern Europe. And then hopefully, you know, the politicians or the leaders of the countries would stop there and negotiate a peace. But then if you go into the next level, which is the level where you have and use intercontinental ballistic missiles, and that's Armageddon. I mean, that's when hundreds of missiles go back and forth. And so there's like these three levels, and we were in Europe as part of NATO primarily as a deterrent to make sure that we don't escalate into those levels. So right now, for instance, we have Russia invaded the Ukraine. So that's like a conventional war, which is—it's horrific, but you know, it's contained. But if we were part—if Ukraine was part of NATO, then you would have all the western countries in the US involved in a war with Russia. And at that point, you know, it can escalate. So the point is that deterrence has worked—at least up to this point deterrence, as far as the Russians invading the NATO countries. So I think in that respect, you know, I was proud to be part of that because this is a deterrent that needs to occur so that we don't get in a war with a country that has nukes because we don't want it to escalate or progress to an all out nuclear war. Like in my battalion for instance, we were a tactical unit, so we had to use anywhere from 2 kilotons to 20 kiloton warheads. But even a 20 kiloton warhead was devastating. For instance, in Nagasaki they had I think a 12 kiloton warhead used in that particular bombing, and 150,000 people died. So, but now if it becomes an intercontinental missile, some of those missiles have over 300 kilotons. So you can see that we are at the point now where we have to do everything we can to minimize conflict, 'cause you can never know when it escalates. So in that sense, I think that I was real comfortable with the fact that I was a part of deterring and hopefully preventing any kind of conflict to escalate, because, you know, the threat of nuclear war is horrific.
00:35:13BEYER: If you were to reflect on the journey of your service, what themes or life lessons emerge?
00:35:22LABRADO: Well, I think the most important thing is that you learn is service. I think that—well, I grew up in an age where John F. Kennedy said, you know, it's not what you can do for your country—it's what—it's basically what you could do for your country. And that's the critical thing. And I think that, you know, that could be, you know, volunteering, you know, in the Peace Corps or volunteering in hospitals—or actually it is working in gainful employment. In my case service was kind of important because I grew up in that environment, because my dad was in the military. So I think that's important. The need to serve in, some capacity, your country. Because you know, you look back and you see all the benefits this country has—I know we have our issues, but compared to other countries, and I visited a number of countries, our country's great—I mean, it's worth defending. The other thing I learned a lot personally is how to handle people. You know, how to motivate them, how to get them to do what you wanna do. And these were important skills that I learned when I went into the private sector and started working. And like, you learn that, 'cause when you're dealing with like soldiers, just because you have the rank doesn't necessarily mean they're gonna do it to their utmost ability. You have to be able to motivate them to get the most maximum output from them so that you can get the job done. And you have to—you learn a lot about supervision. And these are the kinds of skills that I learned.
00:37:13BEYER: Thank you again for sharing your story. It's an honor to help preserve it.
