thedrifter
04-17-07, 06:29 AM
E-town man promoted to Marines' highest rank
28-year vet appointed sergeant major in ceremony at Fort Indiantown Gap.
By TIM MEKEEL
Lancaster New Era
Published: Apr 16, 2007 2:53 PM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Donnie G. Boyer remembers being a young Marine in the 1960s, watching the older troops set a good example.
Decades later, the roles are reversed. It's Boyer, now 58, who's setting the tone for the troops.
"I'm working with 18-year-old kids," said Boyer. "Some of them think I'm an old man, I guess. But I do what they do."
And he does it well. The Elizabethtown reservist was promoted Saturday from first sergeant to sergeant major.
Sergeant major and master gunnery sergeant are "E9" grade positions, the highest rank possible for an enlisted Marine.
"I didn't expect to get there, with my age, starting late like that," he said. "I would have thought that they'd pick someone younger.
"But don't get me wrong. I'm happy they picked me. I still think I have something to contribute," he said.
Boyer was promoted in a ceremony at Fort Indiantown Gap, where his Harrisburg-based reserve infantry unit, Echo Company, spent the weekend in training.
"I don't know if I'm the oldest (sergeant major), but I'm near the top," he said.
Boyer, who will mark 28 years in the Marines this July, including active and reserve duty, is a tax preparer who credits the service with giving him purpose and self-discipline.
"There's nothing I don't like about it. They're good quality people. Honor, duty, country — I like what the Marine Corps stands for. I always did. You could say I'm a flag waver, sure," he said.
Boyer joined the Marines in 1968, following his freshman year at Elizabethtown College, where he was more enthusiastic about socializing than studying.
News accounts of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese launching the Tet Offensive that year against the American and South Vietnamese forces got him thinking that "it was time to go serve my country."
He spent two years on active duty, getting orders to ship out to Vietnam. But the day before his unit was to depart for Vietnam, they were sent to Cuba instead.
After his stint on active duty, Boyer returned to Elizabethtown College for three more years with a new focus.
"The Marine Corps got me on track. The Marine Corps definitely got me thinking straight," he said.
Boyer, who initially stayed in the reserves until 1974, also studied at American University's National Tax Practice Institute and earned the enrolled agent designation from the IRS.
He rejoined the reserves in 1985, getting activated most recently in 2003-04, going to Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Japan and Iraq, where he spent eight months. His son John, also a Marine, was stationed in Iraq at the same time.
Though he was overseas, Boyer didn't worry about his two businesses — Colonial Tax Service and Donnie G. Boyer & Co. Notary Messenger Service, where his wife Karen and their
other son Chad also work.
The businesses were in the experienced hands of Lee Kerr, founder of Lancaster-based Crosswalk Investment Advisory, who Boyer met in the reserves and who volunteered to run them in Boyer's absence.
When Boyer returned stateside, he merged the businesses into Crosswalk, though Boyer remains their president and enrolled agent.
In addition, he raises black Angus beef on the 20-acre farm the family has on Country Squire Road.
Boyer plans to stay in the reserves until he hits the mandatory retirement age of 60, despite the risk of returning to active duty and going overseas to a hostile land.
"I understood that from the day I signed up (in 196 ...," he said. "It's the same situation now, although I'm in the reserves. If they call us up, I know I need to go. I have no problem with that."
Ironically, he averted a certain call-up by getting promoted. Echo Company, with 202 troops, has been notified that it will be called up in 2008.
But a company does not have a sergeant major. A sergeant major is assigned to a battalion, a larger unit, so Boyer will be reassigned.
CONTACT US: tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030
Ellie
28-year vet appointed sergeant major in ceremony at Fort Indiantown Gap.
By TIM MEKEEL
Lancaster New Era
Published: Apr 16, 2007 2:53 PM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Donnie G. Boyer remembers being a young Marine in the 1960s, watching the older troops set a good example.
Decades later, the roles are reversed. It's Boyer, now 58, who's setting the tone for the troops.
"I'm working with 18-year-old kids," said Boyer. "Some of them think I'm an old man, I guess. But I do what they do."
And he does it well. The Elizabethtown reservist was promoted Saturday from first sergeant to sergeant major.
Sergeant major and master gunnery sergeant are "E9" grade positions, the highest rank possible for an enlisted Marine.
"I didn't expect to get there, with my age, starting late like that," he said. "I would have thought that they'd pick someone younger.
"But don't get me wrong. I'm happy they picked me. I still think I have something to contribute," he said.
Boyer was promoted in a ceremony at Fort Indiantown Gap, where his Harrisburg-based reserve infantry unit, Echo Company, spent the weekend in training.
"I don't know if I'm the oldest (sergeant major), but I'm near the top," he said.
Boyer, who will mark 28 years in the Marines this July, including active and reserve duty, is a tax preparer who credits the service with giving him purpose and self-discipline.
"There's nothing I don't like about it. They're good quality people. Honor, duty, country — I like what the Marine Corps stands for. I always did. You could say I'm a flag waver, sure," he said.
Boyer joined the Marines in 1968, following his freshman year at Elizabethtown College, where he was more enthusiastic about socializing than studying.
News accounts of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese launching the Tet Offensive that year against the American and South Vietnamese forces got him thinking that "it was time to go serve my country."
He spent two years on active duty, getting orders to ship out to Vietnam. But the day before his unit was to depart for Vietnam, they were sent to Cuba instead.
After his stint on active duty, Boyer returned to Elizabethtown College for three more years with a new focus.
"The Marine Corps got me on track. The Marine Corps definitely got me thinking straight," he said.
Boyer, who initially stayed in the reserves until 1974, also studied at American University's National Tax Practice Institute and earned the enrolled agent designation from the IRS.
He rejoined the reserves in 1985, getting activated most recently in 2003-04, going to Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Japan and Iraq, where he spent eight months. His son John, also a Marine, was stationed in Iraq at the same time.
Though he was overseas, Boyer didn't worry about his two businesses — Colonial Tax Service and Donnie G. Boyer & Co. Notary Messenger Service, where his wife Karen and their
other son Chad also work.
The businesses were in the experienced hands of Lee Kerr, founder of Lancaster-based Crosswalk Investment Advisory, who Boyer met in the reserves and who volunteered to run them in Boyer's absence.
When Boyer returned stateside, he merged the businesses into Crosswalk, though Boyer remains their president and enrolled agent.
In addition, he raises black Angus beef on the 20-acre farm the family has on Country Squire Road.
Boyer plans to stay in the reserves until he hits the mandatory retirement age of 60, despite the risk of returning to active duty and going overseas to a hostile land.
"I understood that from the day I signed up (in 196 ...," he said. "It's the same situation now, although I'm in the reserves. If they call us up, I know I need to go. I have no problem with that."
Ironically, he averted a certain call-up by getting promoted. Echo Company, with 202 troops, has been notified that it will be called up in 2008.
But a company does not have a sergeant major. A sergeant major is assigned to a battalion, a larger unit, so Boyer will be reassigned.
CONTACT US: tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030
Ellie