Oral History of Giada Bleeker

title:

Oral History of Giada Bleeker

creator:

Bleeker, Giada (1988 September 17 -

subject:

US Marine Corps | Cultural Support Team (CST)

description:

Giada Bleeker was born and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona, and her dad was in the Marine Reserves in Phoenix, Arizona, so he went on deployment throughout her childhood. After graduating high school, she attended the University of Arizona for a semester, but didn't think it challenged her enough. On a whim, she walked past a recruiter’s office and went in to talk to a Marine recruiter, joining in 2008. Her dad was deployed when she signed up, and when he first found out he told her to join the Air Force instead. She stuck with the Marines. She took the language aptitude test and went into language institute. At the time she joined, all women went to Parris Island, South Carolina for training. She then went to Monterrey, California for her language training, where she learned Pashto in a 47-week program. On top of learning the language itself, they were trained in cryptology practices that would help analyze what was collected and translated. She remembers hearing about 9/11 on the radio in the morning when she was in seventh grade, but it didn't as directly impact her until her dad deployed later in 2001. She deployed to Afghanistan in 2010, and at the time the military didn't have enough linguists in Dari, Farsi, and Pashto, even with the assistance of Afghan locals. This meant she had an incredibly quick turnaround after getting through her linguist training, joining the 1st Radio BN in Camp Pendleton before being sent quickly to Camp Leatherneck in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. When they first got there, they were excited to get going even though they weren't sure yet what exactly they'd be doing, and because they were in high demand people at the base were all quite excited to see and welcome them. Giada starter off in OCAC, where they'd collect and translate enemy communications to provide support for troops out on the front. After a couple of months there, the Female Engagement Team was set up and reached out to her battalion, because they were desperate for linguists who were women. The Female Engagement Team was the precursor to the Cultural Support Team (CST), which did search and interrogation work but focused on broader communication and support efforts for women and children connected with a Civil Affairs unit. This first deployment was in Nauzad, and since she was on one of the first teams to go out there, there was very little formal training beforehand. She volunteered to stay on for a full year on this deployment, spending about 5 months on the Female Engagement Team before going back to Nauzad for a couple months, then to Sangin in late 2010 for the rest of her deployment. While in Sangin, the team had coordinate a doctor and an Afghan midwife to set up pop-up medical clinics for women struggling to access healthcare, but because it was rather risky this was halted. Giada returned home in January 2011, and went on her second deployment at the very beginning of 2012. On this deployment, she spent the entire time back at OCAC. This second time around, the base was much larger than it had been on her first deployment, and almost looked like it was being set up as a permanent base. Her third and final deployment was as a civilian contractor from 2016-2021, and this time around she worked with the CST as a linguist. Between her first and third deployment, they'd shifted from Operation Enduring Freedom, which had more direct combat, to Operation Resolute Support, which was focused on training Afghan forces. At this stage, the CSTs were largely in Kabul, providing support and training from a distance for FTPs that were elsewhere in Afghanistan. She didn't work much directly with the CSTs in Kabul, mostly working with the FTPs at this stage. She was always impressed with the FTPs she worked with, because they all went to such great lengths at great risk to themselves to do this work because they cared so much about it. She's not sure why she went back as a civilian, she just felt drawn to it despite uncertainty over what exactly she'd be assigned to. She thinks that her experience there helps with her current work assisting with relocation for people coming to the US from Afghanistan, because she has a more direct understanding of what they've gone through. In the future, she wants people to make sure they really work to care about and help each other to the best of our ability. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Gill, Dennis

date:

2022-10-07

type:

Moving Image

format:

Born Digital

identifier:

1360; 2022.1360

source:

CST - FTP

language:

English

relation:

NR

coverage:

Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)—2001-2014 | 2008-2013

rights:

Unrestricted