Marine Corps Veteran Victor “Brute” Harold Krulak is today’s Veteran of the Day.
Victor “Brute” Harold Krulak was born in January 1913 in Denver, Colorado. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, but fearing a negative impact from his Jewish birthright, he became Episcopalian.
Krulak graduated in 1934 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps but required an exemption due to his 5’ 4” stature. He wrestled in the academy and earned the nickname “Brute,” in jest because of his size, but he ultimately embodied the name as a preeminent strategist for the Marine Corps.
While stationed in Shanghai in 1937, Krulak recognized the value and potential of using retractable ramps on U.S. boats. When his idea was not considered, he built a model and discussed it with builder Andrew Higgins, who implemented aspects of Krulak’s design into World War II “Higgins boats.”
In 1945, Krulak, a lieutenant colonel, planned the April 1 attack on Okinawa, Japan. He also led a battalion in a separate battle that served as a diversion for the invasion of Bougainville. He refused to be evacuated despite being wounded, earning him a Navy Cross. After World War II, Krulak co-authored the first textbook for helicopter pilots and war planners for the Marine Corps.
In Korea, Krulak advised Gen. Douglas MacArthur on the amphibious landing at Inchon that reclaimed Seoul from North Korea. In 1955, Krulak became a general at age 42. He was named President Kennedy’s special assistant for counterinsurgency and special activities in Vietnam and, by 1963, was a three-star general. Overall, he made 54 trips to Vietnam, utilizing what he called the “inkblot strategy” of winning the hearts of the locals to spread counterinsurgency.
Krulak earned numerous decorations in addition to a Navy Cross, including a Distinguished Service Medal, a Legion of Merit, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, an Air Medal and a Presidential Unit Citation.
Krulak retired from military service in 1968 and worked as a columnist and executive for Copley newspapers, retiring in 1977. He published his book, “First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps,” in 1984. It remains on the official reading list for Marines. Krulak was named “Citizen of the Year” by San Diego Uplifters, a group of professional and business leaders, and he served as president and trustee of the Zoological Society of San Diego.
He died on Dec. 29, 2008. He is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.
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The Kremlin warned Thursday that a possible prisoner swap with the United States involving American basketball star Brittney Griner needs to be negotiated quietly without fanfare.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that Washington had offered Russia a deal that would bring home Griner and another jailed American, Marine veteran Paul Whelan. A person familiar with the matter said the U.S. government proposed trading convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Whelan and Griner.
Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges in 2020. He and his family have vigorously asserted his innocence. The U.S. government has denounced the charges as false.
Asked about the U.S. offer, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied that prisoner swaps were typically negotiated discreetly behind the scenes.
“We know that such issues are discussed without any such release of information,” Peskov told reporters during a conference call. “Normally, the public learns about it when the agreements are already implemented.”
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He emphasized that “no agreements have been finalized” and refused to provide further details.
In a separate statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russian and U.S. officials have conducted negotiations about possible prisoner exchanges and “there has been no concrete result yet.”
“We proceed from the assumption that interests of both parties should be taken into account during the negotiations,” Zakharova said.
Blinken’s comments marked the first time the U.S. government publicly revealed any concrete action it has taken to secure Griner’s release. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and player for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury was arrested at a Moscow airport in mid-February when inspectors found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a news conference, Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at the State Department in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/AP)
In a sharp reversal of previous policy, Blinken said he expects to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the proposed prisoner deal and other matters. It would be their first phone call since before Russia sent its troops into Ukraine.
Russia has for years expressed interest in the release of Bout, a Russian arms dealer once labeled the “Merchant of Death.” He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012 on charges that he schemed to illegally sell millions of dollars in weapons.
Griner’s trial on drug charges started in a court outside Moscow this month, and she testified Wednesday that she didn’t know how the cartridges ended up in her bag but that she had a doctor’s recommendation to use cannabis to treat career-related pain.
The 31-year-old has pleaded guilty but said she had no criminal intent in bringing the cartridges to Russia and packed in haste for her return to play in a Russian basketball league during the WNBA’s offseason. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of transporting drugs.
On Wednesday, Griner testified that a language interpreter translated only a fraction of what was being said while she was detained at Moscow’s airport and that officials told her to sign documents, but “no one explained any of it to me.”
Griner also said that besides the poor translation, she received no explanation of her rights or access to a lawyer during the initial hours of her detention. She said she used a translation app on her phone to communicate with a customs officer.
Her arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington ahead of Russia sending troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. Griner’s five months of detention have raised strong criticism among teammates and supporters in the United States.
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The Biden administration has faced political pressure to free Griner and other Americans whom the U.S. has declared to be “wrongfully detained” — a designation sharply rejected by Russian officials.
Washington has long resisted prisoner swaps out of concern that they could encourage additional hostage-taking and promote false equivalency between a wrongfully detained American and a foreign national regarded as justly convicted.
In April, however, the government struck a deal to trade U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed for jailed Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.
Matthew Lee and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Even as the United States reeled from the Japanese advance throughout the Pacific in 1942 and the military sought desperately to ramp up the American war machine, it was remarkable that James Cook Sr. was even allowed to enlist.
It took the existential threat of world war for the military to open new roles to African American men, and Cook was in the first wave of Black Marines. Cook started his military journey at Camp Montford Point, a segregated Marine training camp in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and went on to serve in the Pacific Theater.
Growing up, James “Jimmy” Cook Jr., who is now 75 and a Knoxville resident, knew nothing about his father’s storied place in history as one of the Montford Point Marines, who served in all-Black units and distinguished themselves in war.
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Now, Jimmy Cook will receive on his father’s behalf the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress can award for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions.
The Montford Point Marines were awarded the honor in 2012 after President Barack Obama announced the group distinction in 2011, noting the members’ personal sacrifice during World War II. But Cook Sr. had passed away at 81 in 2005, and it was only recently that Jimmy Cook learned what his father was due.
“You know when I found this out, I knew he had done some amazing things, but that just topped it for me. I’m like, ‘Oh, my God,’” he said.
Jimmy Cook, himself a retired Army veteran who served in Vietnam, will travel to a ceremony set for Aug. 25 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, during the 57th annual Montford Point Marines Day. Other Montford Marines or their families will be presented the award as well.
It wasn’t until Jimmy Cook was in high school in the early ‘60s that he stumbled upon a trunk in the attic filled with military uniforms and awards. He asked his dad if he was in the Army.
“And he said, ‘No son, I was in the Marines.’ And that was the end of it,” Jimmy recalled.
Jimmy says his dad kept his thoughts and memories of his military service to himself. “The only thing he would say is that he was stationed in the Pacific.”
Then, in 2021, Jimmy was casually talking to a retired Marine who revealed to Jimmy about his father’s forgotten Congressional Gold Medal.
Jimmy began doing online research on Camp Montford Point and requested his father’s military records to verify he was one of the Montford Marines. Reduced staffing due to COVID-19 caused delays in securing the records, but Jimmy’s sister made her own discovery while cleaning out their mom’s garage.
“She gave me this big envelope with all of his records in it and I just about went to tears,” Jimmy recalled.
James Cook Sr. was kind and soft-spoken. But in hindsight, there were glimmers of his military background, Jimmy said, describing his father as a disciplinarian.
“I tell people, by the time I got to basic training in ‘65, I thought it was Girl Scouts compared to dealing with my daddy. But like I said, he was a very patient man,” Jimmy joked.
Living in Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife, Earline, and five kids, Cook Sr. worked as an electrician and owned a television and radio repair shop. He was using skills he had learned from the Marines, where he served as a radar operator.
But Jimmy has come to learn more of what his father carried with him after the Marine Corps.
“[The Montford Marines] caught hell because they were the first to integrate. And they stuck them in the back of Parris Island and made them build their own barracks. It was just God awful,” Jimmy said.
As Jimmy has learned more about his father’s experience, his respect for the man has grown even more.
“My chest sticks out a block away. I’m just so proud of him and to know what he endured and went through,” he said.
Jimmy wishes his dad was able to receive the medal himself, but he is honored to accept it on his behalf.
WHEELING, W.Va. — A lifetime of work on the tarmac and in the clouds earned a Wheeling man the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in recognition of decades of smooth flying.
Al Depto, an Elm Grove native, was presented with the award at a pilots’ picnic at the Wheeling-Ohio County Airport on June 25. The award recognizes certified pilots with more than 50 years of piloting and operations experience who have maintained their good standing. Depto’s partner, Mary C. Davis, submitted his application to the Federal Aviation Administration in secret, catching him completely by surprise when the award was presented at the picnic.
“The FAA gentleman started by explaining what the Wilbur and Orville Wright Award is and what qualifications were needed, and then my name came up,” he said. “They asked if I had anything to say, I opened my mouth, and nothing came out.”
Depto said he dreamed of flying ever since he was a young kid, imagining running down the sidewalk and flying, like Superman, around Elm Grove. Depto said he’d loved aircraft and regularly went to look at commuter aircraft at the local airport, but growing up, he had no aspirations of becoming a pilot.
His career began as an aircraft mechanic shortly after high school. He enlisted for the Marine Corps, fully expecting to become an infantryman, but his recruiter steered Depto toward aviation, where there was a critical need for engineers and mechanics.
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“I could not, for the life of me, … figure out how these huge, metallic machines could suspend in the air and transport people,” he said. “I was born in 1945, and it was common for people, men especially, to feel obligated to serve their country in the military. … Long story short, I was accepted, I took the test, went into the aviation program in Memphis, took various classes to become a mechanic.
“I was sent to a squadron headquarters, originally stationed at Santa Anna, California, and there were three jets waiting for me, still 18 years old. They told me, ‘Those are yours!’ so I had complete and utter responsibility for those jets straight out of school.”
Depto said he eventually made the same qualifications that the pilots did in his time there, obtaining ejection seat training, high-pressure altitude training, physiological training, and his own G-suit and oxygen equipment. Depto began to fly in the rear when openings presented themselves. After four years, he was transferred to another outfit, where he served as captain until his discharge in 1967.
Depto earned his civilian certification while enlisted at the age of 19 in 1965 at Wheeler Air Force Base in Hawaii. When he returned home, Depto graduated from West Liberty State College in 1972 with a degree in education and a minor in geography, pursuing a career in adult education.
Since leaving the Marines, Depto has been a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a large, international organization for aviators. Depto is also a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, where he participates in the Young Eagles program, which promotes interest in aviation in local youth.
“We fly these kids and introduce them to the world of aviation, hoping they’ll find a career in it,” he said of the Young Eagles. “When they board our aircraft, they have a look on their face as if they were staring at a Tyrannosaurus rex. No fear, just awe. We fly around, and I let them take the controls.
“One young lady, around 13 or 14, landed, ran up to her parents, jumped on her father, and started yelling, ‘I got to fly the airplane!’” he added.
In a less official capacity, Depto also participates in the “Come Fly With Me” fundraiser, where private flights with Depto and other pilots are offered as raffle prizes and other fundraising efforts for local causes. These flights, he said, typically involve flying the passenger over the location of their choice, such as their neighborhoods.
Depto holds his memories of the Marine Corps dear to his heart, as the only enlisted non-pilot authorized to fly in the jets he serviced.
“I’m with these pilots in the back seat of this jet, we’re doing barrel rolls and simulated attacks on barges in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, doing all these things you’d see in ‘Top Gun,’” Depto said. “That is an experience that I wouldn’t sell for $25 million.”
BROADWAY, Va. — In the garish light of a ground floor production space, Ian Young — a young entrepreneur based in Broadway — excitedly clicked through a project management software called Notion.
“It’s really great because you can tag all the dates,” Young said. “You can plan for a certain day. It’s amazing. That’s kind of how I plan for everything.”
Young has it pegged down to the day when his product — different varieties of microgreens — will be ready to harvest, package and sell, labeling efficiently stacked plastic palettes of seeds and soil at different stages of planting on tall racks outfitted with lights.
In the headquarters of his business, MicroBite Farms, Young — a transitioning veteran who served in the Marine Corps — grows over a dozen varieties of microgreens, green plants like broccoli and cilantro that are densely planted from seeds and harvested in under three weeks when they’ve grown their first set of leaves. They’re distinct from “sprouts,” which are grown in water.
In this June 28, 2022, photo, microgreens from MicroBite Farms sit for sale at the Harrisonburg, Va. Farmers Market. (Jillian Lynch/Daily News-Record via AP)
“I lost so much weight when I started eating these,” Young said. “I got kind of fat when I got out of the Marines. There are just so many health benefits.”
Before becoming a vendor at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and selling to CrossKeys Vineyards bistro and offering delivery and subscription for the tiny plants, Young — who has always had a green thumb — said he began growing microgreens as a hobby and for their superior nutrient content after having served in the military for four years.
“I just love doing this. It doesn’t feel like work to me. I love interacting with the customers at the market,” Young said. “The restaurant customers are all super friendly.”
These infant-versions of green plants also pack full-grown peppery, sweet and spicy flavors, depending on the plant. Young sells around a dozen varieties, including Red Acre cabbage, Daikon radish, sunflower, broccoli and salad mixes that combine varieties.
“I’ll eat [salads with microgreens] plain without any dressing because it’s just so full of flavor,” Young said. “You’re getting such a huge bang for your buck as far as nutrition.”
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To grow them, he starts seeds in a palette of soil that’s weighed down with a concrete block. A subsequent “black out”” phase encourages the plants to develop longer stems. It’s a characteristic that attracted Leonel Velazquez, new executive chef of CrossKeys Vineyards, to partner with MicroBite as one of its first small local vendors.
“We like his product and we were excited to bring it on,” Velazquez said. “We use it for our dishes here at the bistro and for our events. They’re clean, they have good taste. I like to have micros with bigger stems and he does that.”
Young, who’s currently working toward a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, said he started selling microgreens to restaurants around State College, Penn., but launched right around the pandemic and business was slow.
“I’ve always enjoyed the idea of being my own boss, but when you actually do it it’s really hard. I’m always learning and sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing,” Young said.
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Young said being in the Marines — where it’s important to be on time and prepared — helped him develop the “self-management” he needed to run his own business full-time.
“I don’t think I could have done this before the Marines,” Young said. “You have to take care of yourself and stay fit and show up on time every day. That helps a lot with this. I don’t have days off. If I forget to water or something, the (plants) die.”
Hooked on efficiency, Young said one of the things he likes about this business is the ability to produce a lot of food without using any chemical fertilizers in a small, indoor space.
“That’s kind of the endgame for me is to control everything using the sun but not direct sunlight,” Young said. “Freshness is kind of hard to come by. Distributing on a larger scale but also maintaining quality is my longer-term goal.”
Young, who said he’s found his passion in growing microgreens, said he hopes to scale the business up a large degree. Young said his goal, which “sounds like a dream right now,” is to create a large solar-powered facility.
“At some point you just have to take a chance on something, whether it’s a career track or whatever it may be. And for me, this is it,” Young said.
When Medal of Honor recipient and retired Marine Sgt. Maj. John L. Canley was speaking about his award in 2018, he said it meant a lot to him because of what it meant for his fellow Marines.
“It’s not about me,” he had said at the time, according a recent Marine Corps press release. “It’s about the Marines who didn’t receive the appropriate recognition when we got home.”
Now, for three of those Marines, the time for that recognition finally has arrived ― all because Canley, who died in May at age 84, had put the packages in.
Three Marine Corps veterans who fought alongside Canley were awarded the Bronze Star Medal on June 24 at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, more than 54 years after the Marines’ courageous actions in Vietnam.
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Riflemen John Ligato III and Larry Lewis, and corpsman Michael Ker, all with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, were awarded for their heroism in Vietnam combat.
“Nobody wanted any medals … but the one thing [Canley] said every time he was interviewed, every time … was that his junior enlisted Marines got no recognition,” Ligato told Marine Corps Times in July.
All three men had put themselves in the line of enemy fire to complete their mission and rescue fallen comrades during the Battle of Hue City in early 1968, according to a Marine Corps press release.
The group followed the lead of Canley, the company’s gunnery sergeant, who took over after that unit’s commander was injured in battle.
Ker’s citation read, “His company commander suffered a life threatening wound to his femur. Utilizing an entrenching tool as a splint, Hospital Corpsman Second Class Ker and two Marines lifted the stricken commander onto a poncho and carried him to safety amid withering small arms, rocket, and automatic weapons fire.”
Ligato helped cover Canley as the Marines “cleared the building from room to room engaging in close combat with the enemy.”
“When the attack stalled due to fierce resistance, another Marine maneuvered amid enemy rocket and automatic weapon fire to employ an explosive charge,” his citation reads. “Private First Class Ligato exposed himself to enemy fire in order to provide cover for the Marine, enabling success of the mission.”
Canley initially received the Navy Cross for his valiant initiative during the war. He later was notably upgraded to a Medal of Honor in 2018, following a decade of campaigning by Ligato and others.
It made Canley the first living Black Marine to receive such an honor.
Congresswoman Julia Brownley, D-California, helped Ligato to speed up the Congressional process for Canley to obtain his award.
“Humble in every interaction we had, Sergeant Major Canley always spoke of his fellow Marines,” she said in a statement. “They served as an inspiration to him, and they serve as an inspiration to us all to live up to the ideals of this great nation for which they served to protect.”
“When Sergeant Major Canley passed earlier this year, I found comfort in knowing that these men, his brothers in uniform, were duly recognized.”
The San Diego installation’s commanding general, Brig. Gen. Jason Morris, along with retired Maj. Gen. Ray L. Smith, who relieved Canley of his command during the Battle of Hue City, presented the awards.
Also in attendance were 12 other Alpha 1/1 veterans and the Canley family.
The Bronze Star Medal — a highly respected military decoration given to service members who distinguish themselves while engaged in action against a foreign force — is not the only award the Marine veterans have received. Ligato previously was awarded three Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam.
After being expelled from college, Ligato served in the Marine Corps from 1967 until he was wounded in 1969.
Although his recruiter initially told him he would be assigned embassy duty and could avoid being deployed to Vietnam, that quickly changed. It would not be long before he and his fellow Marines followed Canley into enemy fire.
After the war he went into a career with the FBI. He is also an author and now hosting his own talk show on YouTube.
The day after the ceremony the members of Alpha 1/1 attended the christening of the newest U.S. Navy expeditionary sea base class ship, the expeditionary mobile base John L. Canley, according to the press release. The ship, officially designated in honor of Canley in November 2020, began its service 34 days after its namesake passed away in May.
“I was with him when he found out that they were naming the ship after him,” said Ligato, who also shared that Canley was able to visit the ship while it was being built. “And he’s not like a jump up and down guy, but he had this little smile when he was happy about something.”
Although Ligato lost touch with many of his fellow Marines following the war, he was thankful for social media in helping them to reconnect so that men like Canley could be rightfully honored.
He argued however that there is still much more work to be done.
“The Marines of Alpha Company, they are unrecognized … people don’t know about the Alpha Company Marines,” said Ligato.
In July 2017, Brian Easley woke up and tried to rob a bank in the suburbs of Atlanta. Easley had served as a supply clerk and lance corporal in the Marine Corps and was honorably discharged in 2005 after a deployment to Iraq. At the time of the attempted robbery, the 33-year-old was living in a motel, having spent more than 10 years in his post-Marine Corps life splitting time between friends’ houses, Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, and nonprofit housing facilities. He had bounced around in a way that may be familiar to other military veterans – odd jobs here and there, a child he tried to stay in touch with, and periodic trips to the VA.
When he walked into that Wells Fargo bank branch, Easley told the customers and many employees to exit, and that his backpack was filled with C-4 explosives. The story of his life and how he ended up in that Georgia bank is now the subject of a new movie, “Breaking,” starring John Boyega as Easley.
During the attempted robbery, Easley was noted for his calm demeanor. He asked for his monthly VA disability payment – $892 – and spoke to 911 and local news reporters in a way that was described as “very respectful.” At the end of the day, though, Easley would lay dead, shot by a member of the local police SWAT Team.
From the trailer, Easley appears in a sympathetic light. This is a film about someone pushed to the brink. Easley speaks with a police negotiator, played by Michael Kenneth Williams, and a reporter played by Connie Britton.
It’s a difficult needle to thread. Easley’s story is sadly familiar, though. Another military veteran trying to navigate life after an enlistment. A diagnosis of PTSD. Difficulty maintaining a job. Bouts of anger.
“You’re not in the Marine Corps anymore, so what’s your purpose?” one of Easley’s Marine Corps friends told Task & Purpose in 2021.
Easley’s story is a complicated one. He had his share of misdeeds, and there is, of course, the trauma indicted upon the people who were held hostage on that day. Easley was not a perfect victim of wrongdoing in any sense. That he arrived at the point of trying to rob a bank for his VA disability payments, though, is certainly worthy of exploring on film.
The film debuts in theaters on August 26.
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A chance encounter with a Marine security guard at a U.S. embassy drove young boy Sam Farran to later enlist in the Marine Corps on an open contract on Nov. 2, 1978.
The Lebanese-born, U.S.-raised Marine later transitioned to the Marine Corps Reserves, but his Arabic-speaking background led to an assignment helping translate during the Persian Gulf War and later a job with the Defense Intelligence Agency and private security work across the Middle East during the height of regional turmoil.
Those events led to Farran, 61, being taken hostage by Shiite Houthi rebels in 2015 and held for six months in a 5-by-12-foot cell. His training helped him survive but he knew at any moment a single bullet could end his life.
Farran collected experiences throughout his life to share his story, as an Arab-American, Muslim Marine who’d weathered the life of a hostage and lived in the book “Tightening Dark,” which he co-authored with Benjamin Buchholz, former U.S. defense attaché in Yemen, in 2021.
The retired Marine warrant officer spoke with Marine Corps Times about his time in the Corps, his time as a hostage and what he’s learned in the process.
Editor’s note: The following author Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.
Sam Farran, a retired Marine warrant officer, authored the book “Tightening Dark” with Benjamin Buchholz about his time in service and as a hostage in Yemen. (Hatchette Books)
Q: Can you tell readers why you joined the Marine Corps?
A: I was born in Lebanon but in 1968 my family moved to Libya. It was there, at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, where I first saw a Marine in uniform.
He was dressed in an immaculate, deep blue uniform with red stripes on the legs as well as medals and insignia everywhere on his chest and along his high, starched collar.
This man held a rifle over one shoulder, smartly and confidently, and he squared his corners, turning at right angles, sharp in all his movements as he stepped into position beside the doorway, there to bring the rifle’s buttstock crashing down beside his foot before he seemed to freeze in place, standing their statute still. It was something aspirational.
I started talking to recruiters when attending Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan. Over my mother’s protests I enlisted on three-year open contract my senior year. My parents were skeptical but when I came home my dad took me everywhere, insisting I wear my uniform.
Q: What did you do in the Marines?
A: I served as an engineer for my first, active-duty enlistment then I joined the Marine Corps Reserve near home in Michigan after finishing my active-duty time.
I had taken a language test for Arabic when on active duty, but the proctor thought I cheated. I was offended that he didn’t trust that I knew the language well enough not to cheat, so I didn’t pursue that track.
But when the Persian Gulf War kicked off, the Corps needed Arabic speakers, so I was pulled to work on interrogator/translator assignments with the Defense Intelligence Agency.
After the war I saw a job advertisement in a Marine Corps Reserve magazine and applied. As a warrant officer I was the most junior rank in my defense attaché class, which threw the joint military instructors and staff since the rest were all commissioned officers.
I worked doing training for partner nations in the Middle East after 9/11. And I continued for more than a decade with the Corps and DIA doing that work before retiring from the Marine Corps in 2008.
Q: What did you do after your time in the Corps?
A: After serving as a defense attaché, mostly in the Middle East, I worked as an analyst and facilitator for U.S. and foreign companies need of security consultation in the region.
Q: The book covers this in detail but what can you tell readers here about your time as a hostage and any lessons you learned?
A: On March 27, 2015, about a dozen armed Houthi rebels in official uniforms, part of a unit a counterterrorism unit the United States helped create to fight al-Qaida, stormed the building where I stayed.
They confiscated electronics and handcuffed me and Scott Darden, another American working in Yemen. Over the next six months I endured beatings, taunting and interrogations.
Imagine the irony, I’d been kidnapped by members of the Yemeni National Security Bureau, which I helped create.
At times, the situation and my thinking turned dark. They’ve got nothing to lose. They don’t have to report to anyone. They don’t have to affirm anything. I could just disappear. They’re going to do it. They’re going to shoot me right here, in this room, and it’ll all be over.
But eventually, I was freed and came home to my family.
Many Marines don’t get the training that I did, working in intelligence and serving as a defense attaché.
When Marines or anyone decide to get into this field, intelligence or special operations, I advise them to concentrate, to take their training very serious.
You might think ‘what are the chances of this really happening?’ They are 0.0001% chance, but believe me, I happened to be that 0.0001%.
It is particularly good training. I would advise that young lance corporal to not let what happened to me deter them. You just must go out there, take your chances, play it smart, take the countermeasures you are taught, which I did. But you get to a point where sometimes it’s out of your hands. You do everything you can.
Q: Another Marine veteran, Austin Tice, was taken hostage in Syria in 2012 while working as a journalist. Have you followed his story?
A: I’m familiar with the situation ― mostly what has been written about by media. His situation is terribly similar to mine, except going as a reporter to Syria and I was in Yemen.
I just cannot imagine what I went through in six months he is going through right now for 10 years. It is heartbreaking, it is just heartbreaking.
I’ve read about the failed attempts to get him out. Unfortunately, when the state department is playing a role, when the politics overcome the individual, it is sad to see those who are left behind.
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I take it personally and I tried to contact the family to see if there is a way that I can help. My release was conducted through a third country, Oman, and that was negotiated and that was what got me out.
Our government knew about it, coordinated it, but we had a third party that was involved able to get me out. There’s always sources out there that have these back channels, to get these deals done to get them out.
Q: What would you hope that Marines who read this book might take away from the experience?
A: I would like the Marines to get one thing and one thing out of it: The dedication that we put into ourselves and into the country, it’s not a waste. What we do is important, not only to our nation but to the entire world.
Everybody knows the No. 1 force in the world is the U.S. Marines. I would like them to understand their reputation around the world is very well-known and that is because of our dedication, our training and our purpose in this country to serve honorably, with dignity and integrity.
It’s always interesting when they ask me, being a Muslim immigrant in the Marine Corps. Mind you, I enlisted in 1978 and then in 1979 the American embassy was taken over in Tehran.
At that time, people in the United States can’t tell Farsi from Arabic, just that a Muslim is a Muslim. It was very difficult to be called by ignorant people a “raghead.”
But one thing I learned in the Marine Corps ― I’m not going to say the Marine Corps is 100% prejudice free, because it is not. But one thing I learned back then was the Marine Corps is one Marine Corps ― the green machine.
Despite the difficulties you go through at the end of the day, you know, what they always say, a bad day in the Marine Corps is better than any day outside.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
Marine Corps Veteran Gil Hodges is today’s Veteran of the Day
Gil Hodges was born in April 1924, in Princeton, Indiana. He was the middle of three children and had a decorated high school athletic career. According to a Baseball’s Biggest Sacrifice, he was a four-sport athlete and turned down a Major League Baseball contract with the Detroit Tigers during high school. He attended college at St. Joseph’s in Indiana, and later signed a deal with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943.
Hodges made his major league debut on Oct. 3, 1943, the same day the season ended, and then enlisted in the Marine Corps days later. He completed basic training in San Diego, and in March 1944 was stationed at Pearl Harbor. During his tenure in Hawaii, Hodges often demonstrated his baseball skills playing against other battalions, according to a Baseball in Wartime article.
Hodges was sent to Tinian Island and took part in the invasion of Okinawa in April 1945. In a letter to his family, he described a Japanese kamikaze that “crashed on the bow” of one of the American vessels and was sure that “quite a few” service members were hurt. Hodges wrote that he could “write all day” and still not cover everything he saw.
After the invasion, Hodges stayed on Okinawa working in intelligence and was charged with protecting classified documents during enemy raids. He was stationed on the island until October 1945 and was honorably discharged three months later at the rank of sergeant. He received a Bronze Star for his service during the invasion.
After his military service, Hodges returned to the Dodgers in 1946. He was an eight-time all-star; a winner of the Gold Glove award three times; and won two World Series with Brooklyn, according to Baseball’s Greatest Sacrifice. He later became the manager of the New York Mets, leading them to a World Series in 1969.
During spring training in 1972, Hodges suffered a fatal heart attack shortly before his 48th birthday. He was recently elected to the MLB Hall of Fame on the Golden Days Era ballot.
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