thedrifter
08-08-06, 07:16 AM
Portrait: Steve Diemler - From Marine to marshal
By Bob Watson
News Tribune
Steve Diemler was destined to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
“My dad (and) two out of his three brothers” were Marines, Diemler recalled last week as he prepared for the weekend Support Your Troops event. “I remember reading the Marine Corps handbook as a kid and trying to emulate the manual of arms with a play rifle, and bayonets and everything. ...
“I was just Marine Corps, from the git-go.”
Although he served in the Marine Corps only four years, his experience made a strong impression.
“Two of (my sons) are currently on active duty,” Diemler said. “The oldest one was in the Marine Corps eight years, and now he's become active Army National Guard, stationed in Springfield.”
Diemler shipped out for boot camp a week after his Helias High School graduation in 1973.
Four years later, he again was a civilian.
“I spent the whole four years in southern California,” he said.
After Diemler's father, Stan Diemler, retired from his post as Cole County's clerk, Steve Diemler worked in his father's tax accounting service while also starting his college education at Lincoln University.
But his graduation would be delayed about 15 years, after “a good friend of mine” in California suggested he take a job as an instructor, teaching the Kuwait Air Force how to use a radar system.
“I went over there for what was supposed to be just a year,” Diemler said, “and, when the year was up, they ended up needing two permanent people as technical support for the systems over there.
“I ended up going back for a total time of about 10 years.”
Eventually, his wife and sons would join him in the Middle East for parts of his time there. And that job has been the best of his career so far, Diemler said.
“The work was good, the people were good,” he said. “I had a lot of good friends in the Kuwaiti Air Force.”
An old family friend and former Little League baseball coach encouraged Diemler to join the Marine Corps League.
His father was commandant of the local group in the 1950s, and this year Diemler has the honor of leading the Central Missouri Detachment.
“We're a service organization. We don't just sit around and swap war stories,” Diemler said. “Probably one of the most important things that (we do) is do military honors for funerals.”
The group also is “heavily involved” in the national Toys for Tots program.
With the Marine Corps' Silent Drill Team playing a central role in Saturday's Support Your Troops event, the detachment had an extra presence.
“I hope people take away (from Saturday's program) some respect for what these young men and women are doing (in the war),” Diemler said.
Diemler's full-time job is chief marshal for the Cole County circuit court.
“We're their security when they're in the courthouse,” he said, while glancing at a security monitor . “We have to keep an eye on what's going on not only in the courtrooms (but) if something happens in one of the offices, we're going to have to step out and go deal with it, along with the sheriff's office.”
He said the marshals' job is made more difficult by the physical conditions of an older, less-secure building.
“People have a tendency to think that the biggest threats are the convicted killers and really bad people in jail,” he said. “I'm not saying they're not a threat, but ... the biggest threat is the guy coming off the street who has a particular beef with government, a judge, a prosecutor or someone else who happens to be in the courthouse, and there's no way to anticipate that.”
Diemler's interest in law enforcement followed his father's 20 years in the Cole County sheriff's department.
Steve Diemler worked for the Fulton Police Department, Cole County Sheriff and Missouri attorney general before becoming a Cole County deputy marshal.
Diemler and his wife have been married 31 years, after meeting “because of Lawrence Welk.”
On leave one weekend, Diemler and a buddy were walking along Sunset Boulevard, and decided to see the Welk Show because they had nothing else to do.
“I guess it was a dinner-dance kind of thing, and the maitre'd ... sat us at a table with this family that had several girls in the family.”
Diemler's buddy “hit it off with one of the girls” and, when they came back to Hollywood a couple of weeks later, that girl introduced Diemler to her roommate, Rita Garcia.
Eventually, Diemler married Rita, “in spite of the fact that, if the Marine Corps wanted you to have a wife, they'd issue you one.”
Ellie
By Bob Watson
News Tribune
Steve Diemler was destined to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
“My dad (and) two out of his three brothers” were Marines, Diemler recalled last week as he prepared for the weekend Support Your Troops event. “I remember reading the Marine Corps handbook as a kid and trying to emulate the manual of arms with a play rifle, and bayonets and everything. ...
“I was just Marine Corps, from the git-go.”
Although he served in the Marine Corps only four years, his experience made a strong impression.
“Two of (my sons) are currently on active duty,” Diemler said. “The oldest one was in the Marine Corps eight years, and now he's become active Army National Guard, stationed in Springfield.”
Diemler shipped out for boot camp a week after his Helias High School graduation in 1973.
Four years later, he again was a civilian.
“I spent the whole four years in southern California,” he said.
After Diemler's father, Stan Diemler, retired from his post as Cole County's clerk, Steve Diemler worked in his father's tax accounting service while also starting his college education at Lincoln University.
But his graduation would be delayed about 15 years, after “a good friend of mine” in California suggested he take a job as an instructor, teaching the Kuwait Air Force how to use a radar system.
“I went over there for what was supposed to be just a year,” Diemler said, “and, when the year was up, they ended up needing two permanent people as technical support for the systems over there.
“I ended up going back for a total time of about 10 years.”
Eventually, his wife and sons would join him in the Middle East for parts of his time there. And that job has been the best of his career so far, Diemler said.
“The work was good, the people were good,” he said. “I had a lot of good friends in the Kuwaiti Air Force.”
An old family friend and former Little League baseball coach encouraged Diemler to join the Marine Corps League.
His father was commandant of the local group in the 1950s, and this year Diemler has the honor of leading the Central Missouri Detachment.
“We're a service organization. We don't just sit around and swap war stories,” Diemler said. “Probably one of the most important things that (we do) is do military honors for funerals.”
The group also is “heavily involved” in the national Toys for Tots program.
With the Marine Corps' Silent Drill Team playing a central role in Saturday's Support Your Troops event, the detachment had an extra presence.
“I hope people take away (from Saturday's program) some respect for what these young men and women are doing (in the war),” Diemler said.
Diemler's full-time job is chief marshal for the Cole County circuit court.
“We're their security when they're in the courthouse,” he said, while glancing at a security monitor . “We have to keep an eye on what's going on not only in the courtrooms (but) if something happens in one of the offices, we're going to have to step out and go deal with it, along with the sheriff's office.”
He said the marshals' job is made more difficult by the physical conditions of an older, less-secure building.
“People have a tendency to think that the biggest threats are the convicted killers and really bad people in jail,” he said. “I'm not saying they're not a threat, but ... the biggest threat is the guy coming off the street who has a particular beef with government, a judge, a prosecutor or someone else who happens to be in the courthouse, and there's no way to anticipate that.”
Diemler's interest in law enforcement followed his father's 20 years in the Cole County sheriff's department.
Steve Diemler worked for the Fulton Police Department, Cole County Sheriff and Missouri attorney general before becoming a Cole County deputy marshal.
Diemler and his wife have been married 31 years, after meeting “because of Lawrence Welk.”
On leave one weekend, Diemler and a buddy were walking along Sunset Boulevard, and decided to see the Welk Show because they had nothing else to do.
“I guess it was a dinner-dance kind of thing, and the maitre'd ... sat us at a table with this family that had several girls in the family.”
Diemler's buddy “hit it off with one of the girls” and, when they came back to Hollywood a couple of weeks later, that girl introduced Diemler to her roommate, Rita Garcia.
Eventually, Diemler married Rita, “in spite of the fact that, if the Marine Corps wanted you to have a wife, they'd issue you one.”
Ellie