| Home is the Sailor from the Sea, the Hunter from the Hill. A young man who grew up with my children is back from his time in the Corps. I am so thankful he is back, and immensely proud of him.
He was a serious, well liked student in high school. He was defensive captain of his football team and vice-president of his senior class. He wasn’t flashy, but always serious and thorough (and that applied to both athletic and academic endeavors). Because of this he was recruited for football scholarships by a number of Colorado Universities. He chose, instead to enlist in the Marine Corps in June of 2001.
He passed boot camp and went on to serve in the 2nd Marine Division aboard good, old Camp Swampy. He was a SAW gunner, and he was as serious about that as he was about school. He served with Task Force Tarawa in 2003. He served in Afghanistan in 2004 as a fire team leader and in Iraq again from March through September of this year as a squad leader.
He is home now; out of the Corps, and preparing to go into college. I imagine he’ll be serious about that, too. He doesn’t volunteer much about his experiences. It’s something he did, something he’s proud of, but the important things are the goals ahead of him.
I served in the Corps, and served proudly. I learned how tough it was to command a team and a squad. It’s tough to do even when people aren’t shooting at you. He did it when they were shooting at him. He has, as the old saying goes, “Seen the Elephant”. As I matured, I wondered if we would ever see the like of my father’s generation, heroes who went to war and then came home to build a new America. I see it in our children.
… Tis evening on the moorland free,
The starlit wave is still:
Home is the sailor from the sea,
The hunter from the hill.
A.E. Housman
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