thedrifter
08-19-07, 09:04 AM
Most people in Christopher Harty’s position might choose just to get paid while taking it easy on a Florida beach. Though the option was available to the Marine Corps Chief Warrant Officer 5, he seems to find greater satisfaction in hard work. Not an often desired feature for a retirement package.
After more than 30 years of military service, the 56-year-old retired and began working with New Jersey’s Department of Treasury, Division of Taxation and Office of Criminal Investigation. He left that to go back to work for the Corps January 2004 with the Logistics Resource Coordination Center, Installation and Logistics, Headquarters Marine Corps, an activated reserve unit.
This isn’t the first time the Marine Corps has called upon the retired Vietnam veteran. He was also recalled for six months in April 2003, leaving behind his job at the Treasury Department as well as a position at Camden County College teaching Criminal Justice Studies.
Harty was provided the opportunity to deploy when the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned, or MCCLL, required a senior ranking Marine to serve here as a liaison officer for 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward).
“I put my meat-hook in the air and said ‘Hey, pick me.’ And they did,” Harty said.
Over his 38 years of service, Harty preserved many of the characteristics he had when he enlisted at age 18. He certainly doesn’t seem to have lost his willingness to serve his country.
“The whole reason I joined the Marine Corps at that time was to go to Vietnam,” said Harty. “I never was, and I pray to God I never become, one who ducks an obligation. You get duties and responsibilities; you meet them, face them and do them. You might not always like it and it may not always be pleasant, but too bad.”
Harty explained that enlisting in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam era not only allowed him to serve his country, but also had additional incentives as well.
Many employers refused to hire young men who didn’t have draft deferments. This didn’t leave Harty many options. Interview after interview, he was turned down for the likelihood of being drafted.
Harty also said he and his father had “a really contentious relationship,” which also inspired him to join. His father, a former sailor, didn’t approve.
“I was going anyway. When I joined, I was invited out of the house,” Harty said. “Never went back. That’s just part of life. That’s how it is. Things happen.”
Many things happened as the years went on. He enlisted January 1969 to serve as a repair shop machinist. Four years later, his contract ended and he began serving as a reservist and a uniformed police officer with the Cherry Hill Police Department in New Jersey. Harty earned the position of detective five years later.
Harty said he may have faced more dangers in Cherry Hill than he did with the Marine Corps. As a police officer, he sustained a shotgun blast to one hand and rolled a vehicle on the other during two separate incidents. But he didn’t let Vietnam’s dangers turn him off and he wasn’t going to let New Jersey’s either.
Shortly after making detective, Harty and his partner needed to apprehend a 17-year-old kid. After about a half hour of talking, the young man began moving toward his room where he had a bayonet collection. Harty had enough.
“I said, ‘Ya know what? Talking’s done.’”
That’s when Harty made a move to strong-arm the juvenille, taking him down. Harty was able to apprehend the individual but sustained a serious injury during the melee. The suspect had struck Harty over the head with a telephone.
“Opened me up from one side to the other. I just drug him down the steps. Bled all over, but I still got him cuffed,” Harty said. “…That was just one of the many times I came home kind of broke and battered. She was always there to kind of put the pieces back together.”
The she Harty refers to is Monica Harty and the two have been married as long as he has been married to the Corps. He said he won her over by being “Mr. Warmth and Personality.”
Harty considers himself to be very lucky for the wife he describes as a “strong, loving woman” who has been invaluably supportive, tending to his wounds whether physical or emotional.
The Harty’s lost their oldest son, Chris, in 1995 to a vehicle accident. He was 25 years old. Harty described the loss as “a scar that never truly heals.”
“It’s something you learn to live with. Maybe that’s what closure is; living with it,” Harty said. “But life does go on. Not easily, but it goes on.”
In addition to the loss of Chris, Monica has stood by her husband through the dangerous nature of his work, including military deployments and a law enforcement career that included approximately 17 years with the SWAT team.
“I have worried about him every time he left the house, but yet trusted that he was well-trained because of the training he received while in the Marines,” Monica explained via e-mail.
She went on to explain she understood who and what she fell in love with. Though she worried for her husband’s safety, she said she did not object to the service he so willingly provided.
“To prevent him from doing so would be unconscionable,” she explained. “He would not be happy with himself and, if he is not happy, how can we be happy as a couple or a family?”
As much time as Harty may have spent away from his family, Monica explained that they have, in many ways, also benefited from his Marine Corps experience.
“The Corps had an immense effect on him as a father, husband, police officer and all around human being,” she said. “He also instilled those qualities in his sons and continues to instill them in our grandchildren. “
Harty’s guidance seems to have especially had an impact on his youngest son, Aaron, who served as a Marine Corps infantryman for four years.
“He never pressured me to enlist,” said Aaron. “I could see firsthand, on a daily basis, the kind of positive impact the Marine Corps can have on a person. I knew I needed to be that kind of person. We are Marines through and through.”
Harty returned from a deployment in support of Operation Desert Storm only two days before Aaron graduated basic training. He said he immediately headed south to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., to see his son graduate.
Aaron now has children of his own and a wife to help raise them.
“That’s another woman who runs my life,” Harty joked. “I have a great daughter-in-law who is a fine mother to those three grandchildren. So God’s blessed me. I’m very, very fortunate.”
Aaron also explained he feels fortunate. Not only to have his wife, but to have his father.
“He is one of the most dedicated, disciplined and motivated individuals around,” he said. “Is it hard for all of us that he's over there again? Of course it is. But if I could, I'd be there too and I understand and appreciate what he's doing.
“I’m actually a little jealous,” he said. “I miss him and look forward to him coming home.”
Along with Aaron and the rest of the family, students at Camden County College in New Jersey await his return. Harty will resume his position there as a professor, which he formerly held from January 1996 until he was activated in 2003.
Until Harty returns home, the Marines around him are the closest things Harty has to both a teaching job and a present family.
“As far as family goes, they are a loose-knit group of relatives. As long as you’re a Marine, you’re always going to have friends when there are other Marines around,” Harty explained. “But my wife thinks it’s time for me to grow up and stop playing with the boys.”
After more than 30 years of military service, the 56-year-old retired and began working with New Jersey’s Department of Treasury, Division of Taxation and Office of Criminal Investigation. He left that to go back to work for the Corps January 2004 with the Logistics Resource Coordination Center, Installation and Logistics, Headquarters Marine Corps, an activated reserve unit.
This isn’t the first time the Marine Corps has called upon the retired Vietnam veteran. He was also recalled for six months in April 2003, leaving behind his job at the Treasury Department as well as a position at Camden County College teaching Criminal Justice Studies.
Harty was provided the opportunity to deploy when the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned, or MCCLL, required a senior ranking Marine to serve here as a liaison officer for 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward).
“I put my meat-hook in the air and said ‘Hey, pick me.’ And they did,” Harty said.
Over his 38 years of service, Harty preserved many of the characteristics he had when he enlisted at age 18. He certainly doesn’t seem to have lost his willingness to serve his country.
“The whole reason I joined the Marine Corps at that time was to go to Vietnam,” said Harty. “I never was, and I pray to God I never become, one who ducks an obligation. You get duties and responsibilities; you meet them, face them and do them. You might not always like it and it may not always be pleasant, but too bad.”
Harty explained that enlisting in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam era not only allowed him to serve his country, but also had additional incentives as well.
Many employers refused to hire young men who didn’t have draft deferments. This didn’t leave Harty many options. Interview after interview, he was turned down for the likelihood of being drafted.
Harty also said he and his father had “a really contentious relationship,” which also inspired him to join. His father, a former sailor, didn’t approve.
“I was going anyway. When I joined, I was invited out of the house,” Harty said. “Never went back. That’s just part of life. That’s how it is. Things happen.”
Many things happened as the years went on. He enlisted January 1969 to serve as a repair shop machinist. Four years later, his contract ended and he began serving as a reservist and a uniformed police officer with the Cherry Hill Police Department in New Jersey. Harty earned the position of detective five years later.
Harty said he may have faced more dangers in Cherry Hill than he did with the Marine Corps. As a police officer, he sustained a shotgun blast to one hand and rolled a vehicle on the other during two separate incidents. But he didn’t let Vietnam’s dangers turn him off and he wasn’t going to let New Jersey’s either.
Shortly after making detective, Harty and his partner needed to apprehend a 17-year-old kid. After about a half hour of talking, the young man began moving toward his room where he had a bayonet collection. Harty had enough.
“I said, ‘Ya know what? Talking’s done.’”
That’s when Harty made a move to strong-arm the juvenille, taking him down. Harty was able to apprehend the individual but sustained a serious injury during the melee. The suspect had struck Harty over the head with a telephone.
“Opened me up from one side to the other. I just drug him down the steps. Bled all over, but I still got him cuffed,” Harty said. “…That was just one of the many times I came home kind of broke and battered. She was always there to kind of put the pieces back together.”
The she Harty refers to is Monica Harty and the two have been married as long as he has been married to the Corps. He said he won her over by being “Mr. Warmth and Personality.”
Harty considers himself to be very lucky for the wife he describes as a “strong, loving woman” who has been invaluably supportive, tending to his wounds whether physical or emotional.
The Harty’s lost their oldest son, Chris, in 1995 to a vehicle accident. He was 25 years old. Harty described the loss as “a scar that never truly heals.”
“It’s something you learn to live with. Maybe that’s what closure is; living with it,” Harty said. “But life does go on. Not easily, but it goes on.”
In addition to the loss of Chris, Monica has stood by her husband through the dangerous nature of his work, including military deployments and a law enforcement career that included approximately 17 years with the SWAT team.
“I have worried about him every time he left the house, but yet trusted that he was well-trained because of the training he received while in the Marines,” Monica explained via e-mail.
She went on to explain she understood who and what she fell in love with. Though she worried for her husband’s safety, she said she did not object to the service he so willingly provided.
“To prevent him from doing so would be unconscionable,” she explained. “He would not be happy with himself and, if he is not happy, how can we be happy as a couple or a family?”
As much time as Harty may have spent away from his family, Monica explained that they have, in many ways, also benefited from his Marine Corps experience.
“The Corps had an immense effect on him as a father, husband, police officer and all around human being,” she said. “He also instilled those qualities in his sons and continues to instill them in our grandchildren. “
Harty’s guidance seems to have especially had an impact on his youngest son, Aaron, who served as a Marine Corps infantryman for four years.
“He never pressured me to enlist,” said Aaron. “I could see firsthand, on a daily basis, the kind of positive impact the Marine Corps can have on a person. I knew I needed to be that kind of person. We are Marines through and through.”
Harty returned from a deployment in support of Operation Desert Storm only two days before Aaron graduated basic training. He said he immediately headed south to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., to see his son graduate.
Aaron now has children of his own and a wife to help raise them.
“That’s another woman who runs my life,” Harty joked. “I have a great daughter-in-law who is a fine mother to those three grandchildren. So God’s blessed me. I’m very, very fortunate.”
Aaron also explained he feels fortunate. Not only to have his wife, but to have his father.
“He is one of the most dedicated, disciplined and motivated individuals around,” he said. “Is it hard for all of us that he's over there again? Of course it is. But if I could, I'd be there too and I understand and appreciate what he's doing.
“I’m actually a little jealous,” he said. “I miss him and look forward to him coming home.”
Along with Aaron and the rest of the family, students at Camden County College in New Jersey await his return. Harty will resume his position there as a professor, which he formerly held from January 1996 until he was activated in 2003.
Until Harty returns home, the Marines around him are the closest things Harty has to both a teaching job and a present family.
“As far as family goes, they are a loose-knit group of relatives. As long as you’re a Marine, you’re always going to have friends when there are other Marines around,” Harty explained. “But my wife thinks it’s time for me to grow up and stop playing with the boys.”