thedrifter
08-18-07, 06:03 AM
Marine’s message appeals to viewers
Recorded shortly after Iraq war started, instructor’s spoken word is a hit on the Net
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, August 18, 2007
WASHINGTON — In the last week, Staff Sgt. Lawrence Dean II’s inspirational performance about U.S. troops who enlisted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been seen by hundreds of thousands of Web surfers and turned him into a minor celebrity almost overnight.
That’s a shock to him, since the poem itself is several years old. And he didn’t even know it was online.
“I guess that’s just God’s way of getting the message out,” he said. “I don’t really know how or why it’s getting attention now.”
The three-and-a-half minute video, recorded shortly after the start of the war in Iraq, features the avionics instructor in a barracks at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. In it, he builds from a remembrance of New York City to a yelling rebuke for the terrorist attacks there.
“So as long as I’m breathing, I’ll run through hellfire, meet the enemy on the front line, look directly in his face, stare directly in his eyes and scream, ‘I am America, we will not be terrorized, we will not be terrorized, I will not be afraid,’” Dean bellows.
The 12-year Marine, who has taught at Cherry Point since 1996, said he has written a number of spoken-word pieces over the years — reflections on life, gang violence and the military. This one was written for his grandmother, who asked why anyone would join the military and risk going to war.
He repeated the speech at base events and to young Marines in his classes, and one student asked if he could videotape it to show his parents.
Dean doesn’t know exactly when that was or what happened to the tape, but last year it was put up on YouTube and a few other video-sharing sites. Last week a handful of popular military bloggers linked to it for the first time, and suddenly it was an Internet hit.
Fox News Channel showed the clip during one show before reporters could identify him. Dean said he has received a number of other media calls, simply wanting to know who he is and what inspired his words.
“I’ve gotten great reaction before, but it’s always smaller crowds,” he said. “My groups, the Marines I work with, they really understand it. But it’s great to get that message out there.”
Dean said he has more spoken-word projects he’d like to do, and other ideas of how to broadcast his creativity and messages.
But before that, he has more an important priority, one that’s no surprise: “Eight more years in the Marine Corps, at least.”
Ellie
Recorded shortly after Iraq war started, instructor’s spoken word is a hit on the Net
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, August 18, 2007
WASHINGTON — In the last week, Staff Sgt. Lawrence Dean II’s inspirational performance about U.S. troops who enlisted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been seen by hundreds of thousands of Web surfers and turned him into a minor celebrity almost overnight.
That’s a shock to him, since the poem itself is several years old. And he didn’t even know it was online.
“I guess that’s just God’s way of getting the message out,” he said. “I don’t really know how or why it’s getting attention now.”
The three-and-a-half minute video, recorded shortly after the start of the war in Iraq, features the avionics instructor in a barracks at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. In it, he builds from a remembrance of New York City to a yelling rebuke for the terrorist attacks there.
“So as long as I’m breathing, I’ll run through hellfire, meet the enemy on the front line, look directly in his face, stare directly in his eyes and scream, ‘I am America, we will not be terrorized, we will not be terrorized, I will not be afraid,’” Dean bellows.
The 12-year Marine, who has taught at Cherry Point since 1996, said he has written a number of spoken-word pieces over the years — reflections on life, gang violence and the military. This one was written for his grandmother, who asked why anyone would join the military and risk going to war.
He repeated the speech at base events and to young Marines in his classes, and one student asked if he could videotape it to show his parents.
Dean doesn’t know exactly when that was or what happened to the tape, but last year it was put up on YouTube and a few other video-sharing sites. Last week a handful of popular military bloggers linked to it for the first time, and suddenly it was an Internet hit.
Fox News Channel showed the clip during one show before reporters could identify him. Dean said he has received a number of other media calls, simply wanting to know who he is and what inspired his words.
“I’ve gotten great reaction before, but it’s always smaller crowds,” he said. “My groups, the Marines I work with, they really understand it. But it’s great to get that message out there.”
Dean said he has more spoken-word projects he’d like to do, and other ideas of how to broadcast his creativity and messages.
But before that, he has more an important priority, one that’s no surprise: “Eight more years in the Marine Corps, at least.”
Ellie