Item
Jocelyn Penagos Oral History, 2021/05/05
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Jocelyn Penagos Oral History, 2021/05/05
Description (Dublin Core)
Jocelyn Penagos was born and raised in Columbia until the age of eight when she finally followed her older brother's footsteps and moved with her family to Florida. Leaving Colombia was a callous but necessary thing that she felt she had to do. Upon arrival in America, she began watching a movie and listening to music to better learn English. After being fluent in both languages and graduating High School, Jocelyn joined the armed services and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. She is still currently enrolled in the Marine Corps and is going on her ninth consecutive year. Jocelyn shares her experiences with covid from a military point of view. She offers great insight into what had changed or been created because of the lockdown and the virus. Jocelyn also shares with us her struggles to see her mother in Columbia because of fears that she could be the reason for her death.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Partner (Dublin Core)
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Health & Wellness
English
Home & Family Life
English
Social Distance
English
Travel
English
Immigration
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Collection (Dublin Core)
Curatorial Notes (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
12/13/2021
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
05/01/2023
05/02/2023
Date Created (Dublin Core)
05/05/2021
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Jackson Macy
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Jocelyn Penagos
Location (Omeka Classic)
53201
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
Video
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:43:47
abstract (Bibliographic Ontology)
Jocelyn Penagos was born and raised in Columbia until the age of eight when she finally followed her older brother's footsteps and moved with her family to Florida. Leaving Colombia was a callous but necessary thing that she felt she had to do. Upon arrival in America, she began watching a movie and listening to music to better learn English. After being fluent in both languages and graduating High School, Jocelyn joined the armed services and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. She is still currently enrolled in the Marine Corps and is going on her ninth consecutive year. Jocelyn shares her experiences with covid from a military point of view. She offers great insight into what had changed or been created because of the lockdown and the virus. Jocelyn also shares with us her struggles to see her mother in Columbia because of fears that she could be the reason for her death.
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
JIM 0:03
Good evening, my name is Jack Macy, and Today is May 5, 2021. The time on deck is 641. And as of today, regarding COVID-19 in the USA, there are 32 million cases 574,000 deaths. In Wisconsin alone, we have 600,000 cases and 6,850 deaths. The percentage for the US population of vaccination is roughly 31.8%. With those stats being out of the way, we'll proceed. Do you consent to being filmed and recorded for the Western Wisconsin COVID-19 Archive?
JP 0:17
I do.
JIM 0:30
Please state your full name, age, race, and sex.
JP 0:33
Jocelyn Penagos, 27 years old, Hispanic.
JIM 0:38
Can you go over your background a little bit from your childhood to your present quick and brief manner?
JP 0:50
Okay, so I was born in 1993. In Colombia, the country, the area is called Cali, which is the area of the country. Cali is not the capital of Colombia, that would be in Bogota. During the timeframe that I was born, the drug cartel was being exploited because of the death of Pablo Escobar. A lot of the documentaries that Netflix has released depict very vivid [inaudible] images and videos of what I lived through. So, the Cali cartel and the Medellin cartel were in great war. I grew up in a country that was divided. Where we couldn't even trust our own airplanes, because Pablo Escobar blew it up. A country that was trying to bring its own democracy and presidents down to make them believe that it was okay to move drugs around. They were trying to also influence the United States at the time. So, it was challenging to feel safe, going to school, to feel safe doing anything. So, I'm not an only child, I have an older brother. He was born in Miami when it was nearing his time of becoming 18 years old. Columbia has a law where you have to serve. And due to the turmoil, that my country currently was living. We were all going through, my mother feared him dying. To be honest, I can't remember off the top of my head the stats, but it was almost 75% of all the police officers that were essentially military recruited, died due to the problems that were going on. So, at the time, my mom feared it and decided that because my brother was born in the United States, he should go and pursue a life there. So, I was left kind of without an older brother to protect me and show me the ways of how to, you know, not be so gullible and think that humanity or people are friendly. So yeah, that was kind of my snippet of my youth until I came to the United States. I was the age of 12. I definitely didn't think I was going to stay here. I didn't really know much about the United States, aside from Disney World. Didn't know English. I only knew thank you and hello. So came to United States. I was visiting Jersey at the time. And my mom decided that she wanted to pursue the American dream. She didn't want to go back to Columbia. Because I mean, by the age of I believe I was six or seven, I had already been held at gunpoint. So, to say that, you know, being a mother, she wanted to pursue the pursue the American dream, but also provide opportunities at the time my own country wasn't able to provide to me. So, I mean, she decided to stay in the United States. And I mean, I'm, I'm proud to say that it's horrible at the same time, because I understand that at one point, I was an illegal immigrant. We were pursuing asylum because of our own, you know, danger. One of my grandparents was abducted by the gorilla. And like I mentioned before, I think altogether, I think I can help three times by the time I actually got out of Columbia. And we were being threatened to be also abducted by the gorilla. So long story short, we stayed in New Jersey, I didn't understand the legalities of it. I just knew my mom was very cautious when there were police around and I understood that we needed to hurry up if we weren't store, we couldn't seem so non-American. So, plenty of times, I found myself wearing American t-shirts, and I was, didn't know why. Because I just play the role of an American. But anyway, um, because of the fact that she was always working, trying to make ends meet, I didn't really have anybody to teach me English. So, I was blessed enough that God gave me a reasonable knocking on my head. And I was able to learn English by reading books and watching TV. So, I think by my second month, I had grasped a good understanding of English and, then made my way down to Florida, where believe it or not, my math teacher, my fifth-grade math teacher, I noticed was fancying my mother. And long story short, they ended up together, I hooked them up. So, at times, I nudged them, like, “Hey, I can't really go to that, do that homework, because I have to go translate for you.” And they got married. And then I pursued my military career because I was extremely humbled. And I felt honored to state in a country like this, that Not, not only did they give me, but you also know, the peace of mind that, believe it or not, I couldn't, I couldn't even wear a watch a nice watch if you had a nice phone, they would bust the window and cut, they would even take your phone, they will cut your hand. So, you know, when you take those little things. And you say America like I wanted to serve, and I wanted to, to give back to the country that has given so much to my family.
JIM 7:17
That honestly, is a fantastic story. And I think your case for the archive is going to be perfect. Very unique. So, with that background being out of the way, we're talking about a bit of bit COVID. So, when you first learned about COVID-19, what were your first initial thoughts about it? And how have your thoughts changed since?
JP 7:40
Okay, so when I learned I had learned about it, I was actually visiting my family in Colombia. I was a, I believe it was like January, mid-January, I was over there in Colombia, visiting my grandma. And I heard about it and I was confused because I didn't think it was going to stay around. I thought it was going to be something that, you know, people freaked out initially over, but it wasn't going to stay long-term. And it you know; we didn't know too much about it. I didn't think they was going to hinder my ability to visit my grandma. Um, but I mean, ever since I saw her, but I never thought I couldn't come visit her because of what if she, you know, passes away? What if I am not? I contracted on the way to visit her, and essentially, I, cause her to get ill. My grandma is 93 years old here and 26 days, 24 days. But yeah, I mean, essentially, I didn't know that this was possibly going to be the last time that I see my grandma. One thing is having the military tell me I can't visit her due to location, situation mission. Another thing is having a disease and myself become potentially something that could harm somebody that I loved the most.
JIM 9:11
That's a very interesting case. Especially in your shoes at the military, it seems like they're not letting you leave. And, you know, through personal thought you don't want to armor as you said, I mean with that, you know, basically I'll just move on to my next point, which was those are more those were your most concerned issues with COVID-19 was regarding your family. Is that correct?
JP 9:42
I mean, I don't think a dummy just my grandma, my mom, she was going through a couple surgeries herself. Um, and I, you know, I the military restricted us for recollection right now. for about six months. We couldn't travel. We couldn't leave A certain mileage, if I'm not mistaken, was 250 miles away from there. So, I mean, I couldn't drive I couldn't fly. And, you know, knowing, and understanding the laws in the military, even if I did do it, what if, once again, I injured or hurt my family, because of my desire to be there for her to drive her to get a surgery, you know, it's, it's crazy how, and at the glimpse of, you know, of a minute of it, it's like, everything is done, you no longer have the ability and the freedom. I mean, I've experienced a lack of freedom in the military. But now it's like to see humanity experienced it, and to see how people, men kids, I started to, you know, have panic attacks, experienced depression, like, I started to try and figure out how can I be there for other people? You know, but yeah, it was, it was very interesting. And I think, if anything, it's, it's given a lot of people a glimpse of what freedom really means, what military personnel really have to go through.
JIM 11:23
Yeah, and you mentioned you grew up in Colombia, and you lived in Florida. Where do you live now?
JP 11:31
Well, I got stationed in Milwaukee didn't know anything about it. I was a seasoned marine. And the individual that is in charge of moving me to places asked me, you know, what would you like to go? And I'd been in the Marine Corps now for nine years as of this summer. And I thought, Okay, well, finally, somebody is asking me, so I'm going to, I'm going to say my truth, I would love to be in Florida to be with my family. I would love to either go there, New York or California. And they came back and say, well, you got either Ohio, Texas or Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I said Texas, and they came back around and said Milwaukee then bought it. All I knew was I like to ride Harley’s; I've been a motorcycle rider. So, I thought maybe that would be a plus. Because, you know, in the military, we always try to find pluses. And then I heard about the cheese. And I mean, I like cheese. But I love cows, too. It's kind of big animals. So, I started to try and figure out where the fun parts of Milwaukee would be. I heard about the festivals and the diversity. But unfortunately, I got here in September of 2019, and then everything got shut down.
JIM 13:00
That's awful. Well, you know, so you arrived, and work was going on? Right? But has COVID has it changed your employment as far as maybe a day-to-day workflow or, just entirely has changed?
JP 13:23
You know, it's funny that you say that because in 2019 when I got here, I was introduced to the program of Toys-for-Tots. You know, I've heard a lot about it know, the Marine Corps represented it, I understood at a very small part of it, but I didn't know what it actually encompassed. So, I was blessed enough to experience Toys-for-Tots where people didn't have to wear a mask and stuff like that. But as soon as that, like I said that January of 20 occurs, I come back from Florida, and then we get slapped with your teleworking. And I mean, I'm, I'm not going to lie, but I was extremely happy. I was like, wait a second, I get to be at home and make my breakfast and make my lunch and, and log on the computer whenever I would like to. But little by little, I was like, man, I don't even know these men. I don't even know all these Marines that are in my unit. I know their grunts I know they're not accustomed too much to when female Marines, you know, so my brain is going, and I was hoping to have some interaction with them. But honestly, it wasn't until July that I was able to even see them. And there's 150 of them. And there's only one of me, and it was hard to even get them to turn off to see what their personalities would be like. Not only that, but I also mean Toys for Tots for 2020 was it was up in the air. We didn't know if we were going to do it. I was given the position as coordinator, and I was facing an uphill battle of trying to figure out how can I represent and provide to the community. And, and a lot of, you know, new people that perhaps in the past had a stable job now needed it more than ever. So definitely, it definitely made myself in the Marines that assisted me with it. Think outside the box, not only that, destroy the box and try and figure out how can we provide How can we get the word out there. So, it was definitely crazy. But it ended up in and a great avenue being created in new ideas. And I love that's what I love about working with Marines because, especially with this group of Marines, they're local to the community. They know exactly what works and what doesn't work. So, if anything, although it's, I feel like it's a blessing in disguise, because I felt like through it all, at least, in that specific program, it provided Marines, the ability to shine and become better leaders, and if anything, have confidence in themselves.
JIM 16:13
Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned you saw the effects of toys for tots and possibly their families, and the Marines as well. So, with that being said, how have the people around you been affected as far as their employment with COVID-19?
JP 16:31
Well, um, personally, my brother, he's a chef for Disney. And I mean, the year started out in 2020, everything was great. By March, he lost his job. By March, he lost his job. And I had actually started working at Amazon. So, I found myself working 40, on top of the Marine Corps work, I was working at least 40 hours, 35 hours a week, to provide money for my brother for my family. Because now, you know, there wasn't rent. Unemployment was backed up with so many people, you know, losing their job. I, it was very stressful. My mother, you know, her hours were cut greatly, because they hadn't, you know, still come up with the visors, the little window stuff for everybody's job. We were running out of masks. So, it was definitely a time of panic. For my family in Colombia. My grandma doesn't drive. She's 93. My aunt doesn't drive it either. So how are we going to get food to them? I can't fly, I can't see them. They're by themselves. It was definitely extremely stressful. And my point, trying to figure out how can I- Who can I pay in Colombia to get them food? Can they be clean? Can I assure you that they're not going to get you know, infected? Do we leave it at a, you know, 72 period outside of their house? Like it was extremely stressful.
JIM 18:10
So, with not being able to see your family for such a long time, because of COVID? Do you think your communications skills have gone down? either from family, friends, or just strangers? Do you think that the communication barrier has been weakened, or maybe raised? Or do you think it's impacted at all?
JP 18:31
I mean, personally, I will say that for the first think all the way up until October, I mentally hunkered down to focus myself on military work on Amazon work on schoolwork, and how I was going to overcome this whole post-retired situation. And it greatly impacted negatively my communication skills, my family, because my brother wanted somebody to speak to somebody that he could tell his fears to. And I failed as a sister because all I cared about was providing money. Where I wanted was, I want to talk to you, I want you to listen to me. And I want to be heard from my mother, unfortunately, also going through surgeries because of her carpal tunnel. I just focused on that. And she was going through depression. She at one point admitted wanting to commit suicide and it rocked me to my bottom to know that I wasn't listening, and I wasn't paying attention. I was trying to, if anything put the Marine Corps first and not my family.
JIM 19:53
Yeah, so you would agree with that although overall COVID-19 has affected everybody more negatively than positively as a whole?
JP 20:02
Most definitely. Oh, yeah, most definitely, I think, um, I mean, I know that I have some demons in the closet, and they definitely came out. I feel like human interaction is extremely important. Not only that, just the small liberties in life, of being able to go out and people watch, you can't even people watch anymore. You can't sit there and watch two couples and you know, figure out like, Oh, is that their first day? You know, the small things that I mean, I do silly stuff like that. And you can't even do that. Because now their face is covered. They're scared to be around you. I mean, dating. I was stationed in the Middle East. So, I and I'm proud LGBT, I came to walk, and I was like, hey, freedom, I can be myself. And it's like, why can't you see your face? I can't be anywhere around you. I feel like and even hearing it from my friends, the amount of, of my friends that were going through anxiety, anxiety, depression. Just then It was crazy. I mean, I'm used to it, because I'm in the military. But now, from the civilian spectrum, what I saw, it was it was worried it made me extremely worried.
JIM 21:22
Yeah, um, you know, just to go off of that, with your military background, how do you think it's impacted military personnel? Maybe as far as both their communication skills? How has? Do they talk different with each other? Are they allowed to do certain things? Are they not allowed to do certain things, and I know you're a high-ranking official, so you might have more say on the rules, the rules are set, and how they're basically overseen.
JP 21:54
Um, I think that, if anything, I mean, what I witnessed the time, the long time that we spent teleworking as a company, created this camaraderie, and this sense of fellowship, that perhaps the Marines never thought they would have with each other. It created of creativity in the courses that they were trying to run. But essentially, it also, in a way, kind of created some, some division, because I felt submarines definitely, you know, didn't feel like they were affected. I mean, unfortunately, we were the tip of the spear for a reason. So that means that we are going to follow the CDC guidelines, we are going to follow the guidelines that are provided to us for safety. But we are going to train, we are going to continue to ensure that you're prepared for any, any, any, anything that happens in the nation. I mean, we witnessed it, how the National Guard got activated in DC, I'm sure they weren't happy about it. But that's what we, that's why we're there. That's why we signed a contract. And that's what you need us for, as a country. So, like I said, it created creativity, creative fellowship, and camaraderie, to see the Marines reach each other, whether it be playing Call of Duty, or these conversations that they had. But it also definitely made some individuals upset that they were being put at risk, not only themselves these Marines locally here, I mean, they go back to see their families, they don't have what I would my issue, you know, I'm sure that they wanted to have parties, I'm sure they wanted to visit grandparents and, and cousins and so on, and I'm sure a lot of them weren't able to, because they just came in contact potentially with 150 130. Marines.
JIM 23:54
Right. Um, you know, so if we're still talking about COVID and the impacts of it, have you personally had COVID?
JP 24:06
Yes, Yes, I did have COVID. Um, it was funny, funny that you say that like I said, we started drilling back up, again, I believe it was in August, it was in full force, we're, we're starting to figure out starboard. So, like, for instance, and non-military verbiage we were trying to figure out, okay, we're going to do at one point, we said we're going to do from letter A of the alphabet of their last name, to M. And they're going to come from this period of time to this period of time, and then we're going to clean the facility and then we're going to have the other Marines come in. We try, to the best of our ability to be safe to wear masks and, you know, even try and teach these classes. I mean, I don't know if you've ever tried to do it but try and scream at 115 Marines at the same time, the same volume to try to explain a class. I mean, I must Sexual Assault representative and how much yell at you about the whole class. But uh, yeah, in November, we gathered all together, we- I was busy with Toys-for-Tots. And that drill weekend, one of the other staff and CEOs texted the group chat and said, I just got tested positive, as our major instructed that all of us must get tested. And I have been feeling a little bit sick. But, you know, I, I got tested positive, I thought I was fine until maybe three or four days after that, that, you know, especially Marines because we're so poor. We all fancy ourselves indestructible and, you know, if you went through boot camp and you're not going to ever die, but I found myself struggling to bring my dogs up. After walking them. I found myself having a heartbeat of 140 after walking them. And I didn't want to say anything but my Hispanic mother about grabbed a flight to slap the living silly out of me to not anything bad. But yeah, I found myself going to the ER twice. Um, yeah, so it was it was challenging. And even after testing negative, I mean, I can't say I'm at 100% my fitness rate right now but even walking, even running. I just I had to get accustomed to what life would be after COVID.
JIM 26:45
Yeah, absolutely. And I know family is a big priority for you or friends as well as have any of them had COVID you know?
JP 26:54
Thankfully, my mother and father have not. My brother got COVID, his wife had COVID, both of my nephews had COVID, my aunt got COVID, my grandma did not get COVID. Yeah.
JIM 27:12
You know, so while you're in quarantine or just when you come back from work, what do you do for fun while you have COVID? or What did you do?
JP 27:22
Um, good questions. So, a lot of Call of Duty I almost reached the highest levels of call duty was actually pretty bad. I walked my dog. I did some schoolwork online. I tried an attempted to do some recipes, some new healthy recipes, and failed quite a bit. I set, you know, smoke alarm off quite often. And I think that's about it. I mean, I'm, I'm a very calm, easy chill kind of person. Oh, I day drank. I did do that. I'll be honest.
JIM 28:05
What about your family? What do you keep in contact with them? You call them, text them, FaceTime? What have they been doing for fun while they're on lockdown, or just when they come home from virtual work or whatever it is, however, their life has been impacted?
JP 28:22
You know, funny that you say that my parents got because they were indoors almost all the time. They started to get into this home improvement show. And only then like maybe once or twice a week. And from one week to the other. My mom and my dad decided to have this amazing lightbulb idea to knock one of the walls of the house down. get themselves into like, if I'm not mistaken, $10,000 in debt, because they wanted to increase the home value. I mean, don't get me wrong, it looks beautiful. But turning back around and talking about it. They were like, we don't even know why we did that. There was so bored that they wanted to do this home improvement in their own home because they were bored. Right? I mean, you know, my parents, like, you know, they're up there in age and they're wise and wisdom and all this stuff. And I never, ever thought they would do that. I would expect that from a young marine to go outside and go get a Mustang because he or she is bored. But my parents to get themselves into that much of financial debt because they're bored. And then later on for them to admit, that was most crazy. Yeah, I mean, my brother. He's a chef, so he didn't really have too much of ability to work because Disney was shut down. So, he definitely gained like 20 pounds. Yeah.
JIM 30:07
Would you rate your lockdown success for you personally or no success or something you are proud of essentially?
JP 30:23
My lockdown success, no success, or something that I'm proud of?
JIM 30:27
Yeah, where would you rate it? Are you happy with the lockdown? And what you've done with it with your time? Or are you nothing's improved, something's improved, or you feel like you've gotten worse at something?
JP 30:40
Think that question warrants like it being broken up. I would be personally; I would say a success. Just because I mean, with the amount of stuff that I've lived through in my life, it wasn't a frickin year. I'm alive. My family is alive. Thankfully, I'm blessed to say that. I was able to, you know, provides for my family. I grew as an individual I learned, and I adapted, you know, kind of like how Marines do. But at the same time, I would also say, I wasn't proud of some of the decisions I was making. I was drinking quite a bit that didn't help me or my liver. Um, but yeah, overall, I mean, I would say, I was one of the few then I have not witnessed or had one of my family members passed away. Because I will admit to you, there were plenty of times that I contemplated what would happen, especially with my grandma being 93 years old. If she does pass away, I think if I would have experienced a death in my family, the quick would have been, you know, horrible frickin years, I would have deemed it not a success. But just from my personal experience. It was it was good. It was a good year.
JIM 32:06
Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's, that's good. You know? And, you know, while you're sitting indoors, you're locked down. What, uh, what, what source of information? Were you getting all this from for as far as statistics about COVID? Were you more inclined to be on social media through Facebook, Instagram, and so forth? Or were you still sticking with the news everyday radio?
JP 32:30
Oh, no, I was I was doing everything I was doing. I mean, I was listening to, you know, Fox and ABC and all these news media. But I was also trying to seek outside information through Facebook, Instagram, and I hate to say because I don't really like too much social media, social media. But even tik tok sometimes had information that the news still hadn't had. It's crazy to say, but and like I said, I don't like it. But yes, I was definitely looking at those maps to see which states were the hottest. which states could I travel to which chicks Can I not travel to? Especially with my position in the military, I need to make sure that I'm providing the most accurate information to my Marines to make sure that they're safe if they are willing to travel. I mean, at one point, I traveled to Pennsylvania. And, you know, I needed to know, do I need to quarantine after coming back from there? I needed to know who was infected, who was not how many deaths were happening. I like I said, I, my concern was not so much, for my safety. My concern was, what if at one moment one of my family members passes away, and I need to go visit them, I don't want to kill my parents, my dad if my mom passes away, I don't want to kill my aunt if my grandpa passed away.
JIM 33:52
Right. And, you know, with gathering information about COVID-19. I don't know if you're, like watching the politics or understanding any of that. But how do you how well do you think your politicians handled the COVID-19 live down here either in Wisconsin, or as you say, your parents live in Florida, so maybe you're paying attention to that as well.
JP 34:20
I don't think it was handled the way it should have. Florida, unfortunately, is a state that is ran by tourism 100%. If you don't open up the state, you don't get businesses. You don't get businesses working. We don't get money flowing in. I mean, like I said, my brother was direct, directly affected because you His job was in there. How are you going to get Disney open? If people keep dying? Yeah, so I don't feel like Florida should have opened as quick as they did. Wisconsin itself, I feel like Wisconsin did a good job. To be honest. Right away, things were being closed down my favorite taco place, which closed down a little opened up a month ago. And I was extremely. So, I mean gyms, gyms were being closed down. Whereas I would say Texas, Florida. They were they're very quick to open things up. Unfortunately, COVID kind of hit at the worst time. The country split, the country is free politically and the country was split between, you know, for president at the time, I think it was a year full of turmoil and extreme, extreme things that, in my opinion, have divided us more than unified us.
JIM 35:53
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely an interesting year toy one. You know, I just want to touch it's obviously 2021. Now and the pandemic started in 2020. Do you? Do you think that in that time period, we have been, have we handled the situation? Is it being too long? Or has it been just the right amount of time? Because we're nearing the end of it, we're getting our vaccines out? Do you think as a country, we've taken too long of a period?
JP 36:39
Um, I feel like if we would have stuck, stuck it a little longer, for example, like countries like Italy, where they shut down for longer than we did. But that allowed them to recover quicker. Whereas, because of the freedoms within the states, and their rights, you know, one state didn't agree with the other, which has now prolonged the process overall. I mean, factored in with the presidential election, and other problems that have occurred in the country. I feel like we have done our best to inform the Americans to take care of the Americans and at the same time, get the vaccinations out. So, I mean, to answer your question, with everything, that I know how you know, how the United States is, I feel like we've done just enough to keep our people come to show that we do care, to stimulate our country to open up the jobs. I feel like we've done enough. I mean, we are a country of freedom, and as much other people might disagree or agree. Although we didn't follow things the way other countries did. We did it the American way. And ultimately, it got us where we're at right now. Are their issues or their problems? Has COVID brought up and shines light to a lot of issues? Yes, it has. But if anything, we've always grown from our toughest moments.
JIM 38:27
Yeah, absolutely. And as we're talking, the vaccination is currently out. And there's a couple options. So, have you been? Have you been vaccinated? You, yourself personally?
JP 38:42
No, I have not. No, I have not. Personally, to be honest, like I said, I don't feel like it's my time to do it yet. Although there have been problems with, for example, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And they've been so little baby problems. I just would rather wait for more time to pass. I know the Marine Corps is going to. In the military, the duty is going to require one point for all of us to have it. I know there's been gossiping and conversations about you know, travel being restricted, is that even allowed it does that infringe against our rights or freedoms? I just personally, I know all that talk, and all that stuff is getting stirred up. But at the moment, I would wait. I would like to wait until either one half to 100 do it to visit my family to you know, go to Colombia, or to I am I feel safer with the vaccine that is being provided.
JIM 39:51
Yeah, absolutely. And just to touch back on your military side, what, rules or restrictions did you have for your Marines when they came on base with COVID? Or if they were there, the testing set in stone? And what were essentially Well, what would happen if they had COVID?
JP 39:46
I am I feel safer with the vaccine that is being provided.
JIM 39:51
Yeah, absolutely. And just to touch back on your military side, what, rules or restrictions did you have for your Marines when they came on base with COVID? Or if they were there any testing set in stone? And what were essentially Well, what would happen if they had COVID?
*This portion of the transcript was missing and was added by Arizona State University*
JP 40:14
So, when we started drilling in person, definitely the temperature checks were being conducted prior to Marines actually getting out of the car and trying to come into the facility that we have. So I mean, right off the bat, as soon as they came into the gate, they were being temperature checked, they were being asked all the multiple questions we've been being asked, you know, have you come in contact? Have you had a fever? Have you been throwing up, etc, etc. So those questions we've been screened out, have you traveled outside this area, we traveled outside the United States after they passed through that section, they were brought inside today, she see, but we essentially separated them from one place to the other so that they wouldn't get near each other. Mask, of course, 100%. And once they actually came back from the field, they were sprayed down with with a liquid that I can't even I don't I can't even say the name. But um, yeah, their packs, and when cells were sprayed down, you know, hand sanitizer was provided. Yeah, through the whole time I, we have done our best to separate them with the six feet apart. And we went from going to one of our training facilities in through buses, who having at 1.6, or seven buses, to provide that space for all the Marines to have, you know, to feel safe, and at the same time, following the CDC guidelines.
JIM 41:43
Yeah. Well, you know, not to drag this line as long as it needs to go. But I'll finish off with where do you see us with COVID-19? Where do you see us as a country moving forward? Do you think this will help us or not essentially?
JP 41:56
With COVID? I don't want to say I lean either way. I mean, I feel like it could for talking about percentages, because I mean, I like to deal with numbers. I say it, I lean more towards it, helping us than dividing us and separating us. But you also, I would be a fool to say that if we don't take into consideration the current problems that we deal with in the United States. Yeah, I'm, I feel like it has definitely has brought us together, and it's made us appreciate and appreciate the small things in life and appreciate, you know, human communication.
JIM 43:06
Yeah, absolutely. Um, do you have any final thoughts or words that you'd like to say?
JP 43:16
No.
JIM 43:17
All right. Well, I just want to thank you very much for being a part of our COVID-19 archive here at Western Wisconsin. And it was a very, very interesting time. And your story is very, very interesting. So thank you very much for your time, and I've got nothing else for you. Thank you.
JP 43:41
All right. Take care.
Good evening, my name is Jack Macy, and Today is May 5, 2021. The time on deck is 641. And as of today, regarding COVID-19 in the USA, there are 32 million cases 574,000 deaths. In Wisconsin alone, we have 600,000 cases and 6,850 deaths. The percentage for the US population of vaccination is roughly 31.8%. With those stats being out of the way, we'll proceed. Do you consent to being filmed and recorded for the Western Wisconsin COVID-19 Archive?
JP 0:17
I do.
JIM 0:30
Please state your full name, age, race, and sex.
JP 0:33
Jocelyn Penagos, 27 years old, Hispanic.
JIM 0:38
Can you go over your background a little bit from your childhood to your present quick and brief manner?
JP 0:50
Okay, so I was born in 1993. In Colombia, the country, the area is called Cali, which is the area of the country. Cali is not the capital of Colombia, that would be in Bogota. During the timeframe that I was born, the drug cartel was being exploited because of the death of Pablo Escobar. A lot of the documentaries that Netflix has released depict very vivid [inaudible] images and videos of what I lived through. So, the Cali cartel and the Medellin cartel were in great war. I grew up in a country that was divided. Where we couldn't even trust our own airplanes, because Pablo Escobar blew it up. A country that was trying to bring its own democracy and presidents down to make them believe that it was okay to move drugs around. They were trying to also influence the United States at the time. So, it was challenging to feel safe, going to school, to feel safe doing anything. So, I'm not an only child, I have an older brother. He was born in Miami when it was nearing his time of becoming 18 years old. Columbia has a law where you have to serve. And due to the turmoil, that my country currently was living. We were all going through, my mother feared him dying. To be honest, I can't remember off the top of my head the stats, but it was almost 75% of all the police officers that were essentially military recruited, died due to the problems that were going on. So, at the time, my mom feared it and decided that because my brother was born in the United States, he should go and pursue a life there. So, I was left kind of without an older brother to protect me and show me the ways of how to, you know, not be so gullible and think that humanity or people are friendly. So yeah, that was kind of my snippet of my youth until I came to the United States. I was the age of 12. I definitely didn't think I was going to stay here. I didn't really know much about the United States, aside from Disney World. Didn't know English. I only knew thank you and hello. So came to United States. I was visiting Jersey at the time. And my mom decided that she wanted to pursue the American dream. She didn't want to go back to Columbia. Because I mean, by the age of I believe I was six or seven, I had already been held at gunpoint. So, to say that, you know, being a mother, she wanted to pursue the pursue the American dream, but also provide opportunities at the time my own country wasn't able to provide to me. So, I mean, she decided to stay in the United States. And I mean, I'm, I'm proud to say that it's horrible at the same time, because I understand that at one point, I was an illegal immigrant. We were pursuing asylum because of our own, you know, danger. One of my grandparents was abducted by the gorilla. And like I mentioned before, I think altogether, I think I can help three times by the time I actually got out of Columbia. And we were being threatened to be also abducted by the gorilla. So long story short, we stayed in New Jersey, I didn't understand the legalities of it. I just knew my mom was very cautious when there were police around and I understood that we needed to hurry up if we weren't store, we couldn't seem so non-American. So, plenty of times, I found myself wearing American t-shirts, and I was, didn't know why. Because I just play the role of an American. But anyway, um, because of the fact that she was always working, trying to make ends meet, I didn't really have anybody to teach me English. So, I was blessed enough that God gave me a reasonable knocking on my head. And I was able to learn English by reading books and watching TV. So, I think by my second month, I had grasped a good understanding of English and, then made my way down to Florida, where believe it or not, my math teacher, my fifth-grade math teacher, I noticed was fancying my mother. And long story short, they ended up together, I hooked them up. So, at times, I nudged them, like, “Hey, I can't really go to that, do that homework, because I have to go translate for you.” And they got married. And then I pursued my military career because I was extremely humbled. And I felt honored to state in a country like this, that Not, not only did they give me, but you also know, the peace of mind that, believe it or not, I couldn't, I couldn't even wear a watch a nice watch if you had a nice phone, they would bust the window and cut, they would even take your phone, they will cut your hand. So, you know, when you take those little things. And you say America like I wanted to serve, and I wanted to, to give back to the country that has given so much to my family.
JIM 7:17
That honestly, is a fantastic story. And I think your case for the archive is going to be perfect. Very unique. So, with that background being out of the way, we're talking about a bit of bit COVID. So, when you first learned about COVID-19, what were your first initial thoughts about it? And how have your thoughts changed since?
JP 7:40
Okay, so when I learned I had learned about it, I was actually visiting my family in Colombia. I was a, I believe it was like January, mid-January, I was over there in Colombia, visiting my grandma. And I heard about it and I was confused because I didn't think it was going to stay around. I thought it was going to be something that, you know, people freaked out initially over, but it wasn't going to stay long-term. And it you know; we didn't know too much about it. I didn't think they was going to hinder my ability to visit my grandma. Um, but I mean, ever since I saw her, but I never thought I couldn't come visit her because of what if she, you know, passes away? What if I am not? I contracted on the way to visit her, and essentially, I, cause her to get ill. My grandma is 93 years old here and 26 days, 24 days. But yeah, I mean, essentially, I didn't know that this was possibly going to be the last time that I see my grandma. One thing is having the military tell me I can't visit her due to location, situation mission. Another thing is having a disease and myself become potentially something that could harm somebody that I loved the most.
JIM 9:11
That's a very interesting case. Especially in your shoes at the military, it seems like they're not letting you leave. And, you know, through personal thought you don't want to armor as you said, I mean with that, you know, basically I'll just move on to my next point, which was those are more those were your most concerned issues with COVID-19 was regarding your family. Is that correct?
JP 9:42
I mean, I don't think a dummy just my grandma, my mom, she was going through a couple surgeries herself. Um, and I, you know, I the military restricted us for recollection right now. for about six months. We couldn't travel. We couldn't leave A certain mileage, if I'm not mistaken, was 250 miles away from there. So, I mean, I couldn't drive I couldn't fly. And, you know, knowing, and understanding the laws in the military, even if I did do it, what if, once again, I injured or hurt my family, because of my desire to be there for her to drive her to get a surgery, you know, it's, it's crazy how, and at the glimpse of, you know, of a minute of it, it's like, everything is done, you no longer have the ability and the freedom. I mean, I've experienced a lack of freedom in the military. But now it's like to see humanity experienced it, and to see how people, men kids, I started to, you know, have panic attacks, experienced depression, like, I started to try and figure out how can I be there for other people? You know, but yeah, it was, it was very interesting. And I think, if anything, it's, it's given a lot of people a glimpse of what freedom really means, what military personnel really have to go through.
JIM 11:23
Yeah, and you mentioned you grew up in Colombia, and you lived in Florida. Where do you live now?
JP 11:31
Well, I got stationed in Milwaukee didn't know anything about it. I was a seasoned marine. And the individual that is in charge of moving me to places asked me, you know, what would you like to go? And I'd been in the Marine Corps now for nine years as of this summer. And I thought, Okay, well, finally, somebody is asking me, so I'm going to, I'm going to say my truth, I would love to be in Florida to be with my family. I would love to either go there, New York or California. And they came back and say, well, you got either Ohio, Texas or Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I said Texas, and they came back around and said Milwaukee then bought it. All I knew was I like to ride Harley’s; I've been a motorcycle rider. So, I thought maybe that would be a plus. Because, you know, in the military, we always try to find pluses. And then I heard about the cheese. And I mean, I like cheese. But I love cows, too. It's kind of big animals. So, I started to try and figure out where the fun parts of Milwaukee would be. I heard about the festivals and the diversity. But unfortunately, I got here in September of 2019, and then everything got shut down.
JIM 13:00
That's awful. Well, you know, so you arrived, and work was going on? Right? But has COVID has it changed your employment as far as maybe a day-to-day workflow or, just entirely has changed?
JP 13:23
You know, it's funny that you say that because in 2019 when I got here, I was introduced to the program of Toys-for-Tots. You know, I've heard a lot about it know, the Marine Corps represented it, I understood at a very small part of it, but I didn't know what it actually encompassed. So, I was blessed enough to experience Toys-for-Tots where people didn't have to wear a mask and stuff like that. But as soon as that, like I said that January of 20 occurs, I come back from Florida, and then we get slapped with your teleworking. And I mean, I'm, I'm not going to lie, but I was extremely happy. I was like, wait a second, I get to be at home and make my breakfast and make my lunch and, and log on the computer whenever I would like to. But little by little, I was like, man, I don't even know these men. I don't even know all these Marines that are in my unit. I know their grunts I know they're not accustomed too much to when female Marines, you know, so my brain is going, and I was hoping to have some interaction with them. But honestly, it wasn't until July that I was able to even see them. And there's 150 of them. And there's only one of me, and it was hard to even get them to turn off to see what their personalities would be like. Not only that, but I also mean Toys for Tots for 2020 was it was up in the air. We didn't know if we were going to do it. I was given the position as coordinator, and I was facing an uphill battle of trying to figure out how can I represent and provide to the community. And, and a lot of, you know, new people that perhaps in the past had a stable job now needed it more than ever. So definitely, it definitely made myself in the Marines that assisted me with it. Think outside the box, not only that, destroy the box and try and figure out how can we provide How can we get the word out there. So, it was definitely crazy. But it ended up in and a great avenue being created in new ideas. And I love that's what I love about working with Marines because, especially with this group of Marines, they're local to the community. They know exactly what works and what doesn't work. So, if anything, although it's, I feel like it's a blessing in disguise, because I felt like through it all, at least, in that specific program, it provided Marines, the ability to shine and become better leaders, and if anything, have confidence in themselves.
JIM 16:13
Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned you saw the effects of toys for tots and possibly their families, and the Marines as well. So, with that being said, how have the people around you been affected as far as their employment with COVID-19?
JP 16:31
Well, um, personally, my brother, he's a chef for Disney. And I mean, the year started out in 2020, everything was great. By March, he lost his job. By March, he lost his job. And I had actually started working at Amazon. So, I found myself working 40, on top of the Marine Corps work, I was working at least 40 hours, 35 hours a week, to provide money for my brother for my family. Because now, you know, there wasn't rent. Unemployment was backed up with so many people, you know, losing their job. I, it was very stressful. My mother, you know, her hours were cut greatly, because they hadn't, you know, still come up with the visors, the little window stuff for everybody's job. We were running out of masks. So, it was definitely a time of panic. For my family in Colombia. My grandma doesn't drive. She's 93. My aunt doesn't drive it either. So how are we going to get food to them? I can't fly, I can't see them. They're by themselves. It was definitely extremely stressful. And my point, trying to figure out how can I- Who can I pay in Colombia to get them food? Can they be clean? Can I assure you that they're not going to get you know, infected? Do we leave it at a, you know, 72 period outside of their house? Like it was extremely stressful.
JIM 18:10
So, with not being able to see your family for such a long time, because of COVID? Do you think your communications skills have gone down? either from family, friends, or just strangers? Do you think that the communication barrier has been weakened, or maybe raised? Or do you think it's impacted at all?
JP 18:31
I mean, personally, I will say that for the first think all the way up until October, I mentally hunkered down to focus myself on military work on Amazon work on schoolwork, and how I was going to overcome this whole post-retired situation. And it greatly impacted negatively my communication skills, my family, because my brother wanted somebody to speak to somebody that he could tell his fears to. And I failed as a sister because all I cared about was providing money. Where I wanted was, I want to talk to you, I want you to listen to me. And I want to be heard from my mother, unfortunately, also going through surgeries because of her carpal tunnel. I just focused on that. And she was going through depression. She at one point admitted wanting to commit suicide and it rocked me to my bottom to know that I wasn't listening, and I wasn't paying attention. I was trying to, if anything put the Marine Corps first and not my family.
JIM 19:53
Yeah, so you would agree with that although overall COVID-19 has affected everybody more negatively than positively as a whole?
JP 20:02
Most definitely. Oh, yeah, most definitely, I think, um, I mean, I know that I have some demons in the closet, and they definitely came out. I feel like human interaction is extremely important. Not only that, just the small liberties in life, of being able to go out and people watch, you can't even people watch anymore. You can't sit there and watch two couples and you know, figure out like, Oh, is that their first day? You know, the small things that I mean, I do silly stuff like that. And you can't even do that. Because now their face is covered. They're scared to be around you. I mean, dating. I was stationed in the Middle East. So, I and I'm proud LGBT, I came to walk, and I was like, hey, freedom, I can be myself. And it's like, why can't you see your face? I can't be anywhere around you. I feel like and even hearing it from my friends, the amount of, of my friends that were going through anxiety, anxiety, depression. Just then It was crazy. I mean, I'm used to it, because I'm in the military. But now, from the civilian spectrum, what I saw, it was it was worried it made me extremely worried.
JIM 21:22
Yeah, um, you know, just to go off of that, with your military background, how do you think it's impacted military personnel? Maybe as far as both their communication skills? How has? Do they talk different with each other? Are they allowed to do certain things? Are they not allowed to do certain things, and I know you're a high-ranking official, so you might have more say on the rules, the rules are set, and how they're basically overseen.
JP 21:54
Um, I think that, if anything, I mean, what I witnessed the time, the long time that we spent teleworking as a company, created this camaraderie, and this sense of fellowship, that perhaps the Marines never thought they would have with each other. It created of creativity in the courses that they were trying to run. But essentially, it also, in a way, kind of created some, some division, because I felt submarines definitely, you know, didn't feel like they were affected. I mean, unfortunately, we were the tip of the spear for a reason. So that means that we are going to follow the CDC guidelines, we are going to follow the guidelines that are provided to us for safety. But we are going to train, we are going to continue to ensure that you're prepared for any, any, any, anything that happens in the nation. I mean, we witnessed it, how the National Guard got activated in DC, I'm sure they weren't happy about it. But that's what we, that's why we're there. That's why we signed a contract. And that's what you need us for, as a country. So, like I said, it created creativity, creative fellowship, and camaraderie, to see the Marines reach each other, whether it be playing Call of Duty, or these conversations that they had. But it also definitely made some individuals upset that they were being put at risk, not only themselves these Marines locally here, I mean, they go back to see their families, they don't have what I would my issue, you know, I'm sure that they wanted to have parties, I'm sure they wanted to visit grandparents and, and cousins and so on, and I'm sure a lot of them weren't able to, because they just came in contact potentially with 150 130. Marines.
JIM 23:54
Right. Um, you know, so if we're still talking about COVID and the impacts of it, have you personally had COVID?
JP 24:06
Yes, Yes, I did have COVID. Um, it was funny, funny that you say that like I said, we started drilling back up, again, I believe it was in August, it was in full force, we're, we're starting to figure out starboard. So, like, for instance, and non-military verbiage we were trying to figure out, okay, we're going to do at one point, we said we're going to do from letter A of the alphabet of their last name, to M. And they're going to come from this period of time to this period of time, and then we're going to clean the facility and then we're going to have the other Marines come in. We try, to the best of our ability to be safe to wear masks and, you know, even try and teach these classes. I mean, I don't know if you've ever tried to do it but try and scream at 115 Marines at the same time, the same volume to try to explain a class. I mean, I must Sexual Assault representative and how much yell at you about the whole class. But uh, yeah, in November, we gathered all together, we- I was busy with Toys-for-Tots. And that drill weekend, one of the other staff and CEOs texted the group chat and said, I just got tested positive, as our major instructed that all of us must get tested. And I have been feeling a little bit sick. But, you know, I, I got tested positive, I thought I was fine until maybe three or four days after that, that, you know, especially Marines because we're so poor. We all fancy ourselves indestructible and, you know, if you went through boot camp and you're not going to ever die, but I found myself struggling to bring my dogs up. After walking them. I found myself having a heartbeat of 140 after walking them. And I didn't want to say anything but my Hispanic mother about grabbed a flight to slap the living silly out of me to not anything bad. But yeah, I found myself going to the ER twice. Um, yeah, so it was it was challenging. And even after testing negative, I mean, I can't say I'm at 100% my fitness rate right now but even walking, even running. I just I had to get accustomed to what life would be after COVID.
JIM 26:45
Yeah, absolutely. And I know family is a big priority for you or friends as well as have any of them had COVID you know?
JP 26:54
Thankfully, my mother and father have not. My brother got COVID, his wife had COVID, both of my nephews had COVID, my aunt got COVID, my grandma did not get COVID. Yeah.
JIM 27:12
You know, so while you're in quarantine or just when you come back from work, what do you do for fun while you have COVID? or What did you do?
JP 27:22
Um, good questions. So, a lot of Call of Duty I almost reached the highest levels of call duty was actually pretty bad. I walked my dog. I did some schoolwork online. I tried an attempted to do some recipes, some new healthy recipes, and failed quite a bit. I set, you know, smoke alarm off quite often. And I think that's about it. I mean, I'm, I'm a very calm, easy chill kind of person. Oh, I day drank. I did do that. I'll be honest.
JIM 28:05
What about your family? What do you keep in contact with them? You call them, text them, FaceTime? What have they been doing for fun while they're on lockdown, or just when they come home from virtual work or whatever it is, however, their life has been impacted?
JP 28:22
You know, funny that you say that my parents got because they were indoors almost all the time. They started to get into this home improvement show. And only then like maybe once or twice a week. And from one week to the other. My mom and my dad decided to have this amazing lightbulb idea to knock one of the walls of the house down. get themselves into like, if I'm not mistaken, $10,000 in debt, because they wanted to increase the home value. I mean, don't get me wrong, it looks beautiful. But turning back around and talking about it. They were like, we don't even know why we did that. There was so bored that they wanted to do this home improvement in their own home because they were bored. Right? I mean, you know, my parents, like, you know, they're up there in age and they're wise and wisdom and all this stuff. And I never, ever thought they would do that. I would expect that from a young marine to go outside and go get a Mustang because he or she is bored. But my parents to get themselves into that much of financial debt because they're bored. And then later on for them to admit, that was most crazy. Yeah, I mean, my brother. He's a chef, so he didn't really have too much of ability to work because Disney was shut down. So, he definitely gained like 20 pounds. Yeah.
JIM 30:07
Would you rate your lockdown success for you personally or no success or something you are proud of essentially?
JP 30:23
My lockdown success, no success, or something that I'm proud of?
JIM 30:27
Yeah, where would you rate it? Are you happy with the lockdown? And what you've done with it with your time? Or are you nothing's improved, something's improved, or you feel like you've gotten worse at something?
JP 30:40
Think that question warrants like it being broken up. I would be personally; I would say a success. Just because I mean, with the amount of stuff that I've lived through in my life, it wasn't a frickin year. I'm alive. My family is alive. Thankfully, I'm blessed to say that. I was able to, you know, provides for my family. I grew as an individual I learned, and I adapted, you know, kind of like how Marines do. But at the same time, I would also say, I wasn't proud of some of the decisions I was making. I was drinking quite a bit that didn't help me or my liver. Um, but yeah, overall, I mean, I would say, I was one of the few then I have not witnessed or had one of my family members passed away. Because I will admit to you, there were plenty of times that I contemplated what would happen, especially with my grandma being 93 years old. If she does pass away, I think if I would have experienced a death in my family, the quick would have been, you know, horrible frickin years, I would have deemed it not a success. But just from my personal experience. It was it was good. It was a good year.
JIM 32:06
Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's, that's good. You know? And, you know, while you're sitting indoors, you're locked down. What, uh, what, what source of information? Were you getting all this from for as far as statistics about COVID? Were you more inclined to be on social media through Facebook, Instagram, and so forth? Or were you still sticking with the news everyday radio?
JP 32:30
Oh, no, I was I was doing everything I was doing. I mean, I was listening to, you know, Fox and ABC and all these news media. But I was also trying to seek outside information through Facebook, Instagram, and I hate to say because I don't really like too much social media, social media. But even tik tok sometimes had information that the news still hadn't had. It's crazy to say, but and like I said, I don't like it. But yes, I was definitely looking at those maps to see which states were the hottest. which states could I travel to which chicks Can I not travel to? Especially with my position in the military, I need to make sure that I'm providing the most accurate information to my Marines to make sure that they're safe if they are willing to travel. I mean, at one point, I traveled to Pennsylvania. And, you know, I needed to know, do I need to quarantine after coming back from there? I needed to know who was infected, who was not how many deaths were happening. I like I said, I, my concern was not so much, for my safety. My concern was, what if at one moment one of my family members passes away, and I need to go visit them, I don't want to kill my parents, my dad if my mom passes away, I don't want to kill my aunt if my grandpa passed away.
JIM 33:52
Right. And, you know, with gathering information about COVID-19. I don't know if you're, like watching the politics or understanding any of that. But how do you how well do you think your politicians handled the COVID-19 live down here either in Wisconsin, or as you say, your parents live in Florida, so maybe you're paying attention to that as well.
JP 34:20
I don't think it was handled the way it should have. Florida, unfortunately, is a state that is ran by tourism 100%. If you don't open up the state, you don't get businesses. You don't get businesses working. We don't get money flowing in. I mean, like I said, my brother was direct, directly affected because you His job was in there. How are you going to get Disney open? If people keep dying? Yeah, so I don't feel like Florida should have opened as quick as they did. Wisconsin itself, I feel like Wisconsin did a good job. To be honest. Right away, things were being closed down my favorite taco place, which closed down a little opened up a month ago. And I was extremely. So, I mean gyms, gyms were being closed down. Whereas I would say Texas, Florida. They were they're very quick to open things up. Unfortunately, COVID kind of hit at the worst time. The country split, the country is free politically and the country was split between, you know, for president at the time, I think it was a year full of turmoil and extreme, extreme things that, in my opinion, have divided us more than unified us.
JIM 35:53
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely an interesting year toy one. You know, I just want to touch it's obviously 2021. Now and the pandemic started in 2020. Do you? Do you think that in that time period, we have been, have we handled the situation? Is it being too long? Or has it been just the right amount of time? Because we're nearing the end of it, we're getting our vaccines out? Do you think as a country, we've taken too long of a period?
JP 36:39
Um, I feel like if we would have stuck, stuck it a little longer, for example, like countries like Italy, where they shut down for longer than we did. But that allowed them to recover quicker. Whereas, because of the freedoms within the states, and their rights, you know, one state didn't agree with the other, which has now prolonged the process overall. I mean, factored in with the presidential election, and other problems that have occurred in the country. I feel like we have done our best to inform the Americans to take care of the Americans and at the same time, get the vaccinations out. So, I mean, to answer your question, with everything, that I know how you know, how the United States is, I feel like we've done just enough to keep our people come to show that we do care, to stimulate our country to open up the jobs. I feel like we've done enough. I mean, we are a country of freedom, and as much other people might disagree or agree. Although we didn't follow things the way other countries did. We did it the American way. And ultimately, it got us where we're at right now. Are their issues or their problems? Has COVID brought up and shines light to a lot of issues? Yes, it has. But if anything, we've always grown from our toughest moments.
JIM 38:27
Yeah, absolutely. And as we're talking, the vaccination is currently out. And there's a couple options. So, have you been? Have you been vaccinated? You, yourself personally?
JP 38:42
No, I have not. No, I have not. Personally, to be honest, like I said, I don't feel like it's my time to do it yet. Although there have been problems with, for example, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And they've been so little baby problems. I just would rather wait for more time to pass. I know the Marine Corps is going to. In the military, the duty is going to require one point for all of us to have it. I know there's been gossiping and conversations about you know, travel being restricted, is that even allowed it does that infringe against our rights or freedoms? I just personally, I know all that talk, and all that stuff is getting stirred up. But at the moment, I would wait. I would like to wait until either one half to 100 do it to visit my family to you know, go to Colombia, or to I am I feel safer with the vaccine that is being provided.
JIM 39:51
Yeah, absolutely. And just to touch back on your military side, what, rules or restrictions did you have for your Marines when they came on base with COVID? Or if they were there, the testing set in stone? And what were essentially Well, what would happen if they had COVID?
JP 39:46
I am I feel safer with the vaccine that is being provided.
JIM 39:51
Yeah, absolutely. And just to touch back on your military side, what, rules or restrictions did you have for your Marines when they came on base with COVID? Or if they were there any testing set in stone? And what were essentially Well, what would happen if they had COVID?
*This portion of the transcript was missing and was added by Arizona State University*
JP 40:14
So, when we started drilling in person, definitely the temperature checks were being conducted prior to Marines actually getting out of the car and trying to come into the facility that we have. So I mean, right off the bat, as soon as they came into the gate, they were being temperature checked, they were being asked all the multiple questions we've been being asked, you know, have you come in contact? Have you had a fever? Have you been throwing up, etc, etc. So those questions we've been screened out, have you traveled outside this area, we traveled outside the United States after they passed through that section, they were brought inside today, she see, but we essentially separated them from one place to the other so that they wouldn't get near each other. Mask, of course, 100%. And once they actually came back from the field, they were sprayed down with with a liquid that I can't even I don't I can't even say the name. But um, yeah, their packs, and when cells were sprayed down, you know, hand sanitizer was provided. Yeah, through the whole time I, we have done our best to separate them with the six feet apart. And we went from going to one of our training facilities in through buses, who having at 1.6, or seven buses, to provide that space for all the Marines to have, you know, to feel safe, and at the same time, following the CDC guidelines.
JIM 41:43
Yeah. Well, you know, not to drag this line as long as it needs to go. But I'll finish off with where do you see us with COVID-19? Where do you see us as a country moving forward? Do you think this will help us or not essentially?
JP 41:56
With COVID? I don't want to say I lean either way. I mean, I feel like it could for talking about percentages, because I mean, I like to deal with numbers. I say it, I lean more towards it, helping us than dividing us and separating us. But you also, I would be a fool to say that if we don't take into consideration the current problems that we deal with in the United States. Yeah, I'm, I feel like it has definitely has brought us together, and it's made us appreciate and appreciate the small things in life and appreciate, you know, human communication.
JIM 43:06
Yeah, absolutely. Um, do you have any final thoughts or words that you'd like to say?
JP 43:16
No.
JIM 43:17
All right. Well, I just want to thank you very much for being a part of our COVID-19 archive here at Western Wisconsin. And it was a very, very interesting time. And your story is very, very interesting. So thank you very much for your time, and I've got nothing else for you. Thank you.
JP 43:41
All right. Take care.