thedrifter
11-07-07, 09:13 AM
Don Kappel, A Proud Marine
Featured Photo:Chesterfield County Public Affairs Director Don Kappel is known to be serious when necessary, but he also has a welcome sense of humor.
By Becky Robinette Wright, special correspondent
Featured in November 8, 2007 print edition
He was a young boy growing up in New York City, living in the Bronx, when his dream began calling to him.
“There was a billboard near my home. I was only about ten- or eleven-years-old at the time. The billboard was advertisement to join the Marines; there was also a recruiting booth nearby. I passed both all the time,” said Don Kappel, Chesterfield County Public Affairs Director.
“I thought to myself how sharp the Marines looked. What I saw in them is what I wanted to grow up to be. The desire, all the way back then, was born, and I said to myself, ‘One day I’m going to be a Marine!’
It was to be a little while before that dream became a reality.
“I was in my second year of college in Connecticut,” Kappel explained, “I was twenty at the time I signed up for a Marine Corps’ Platoon Leaders Class program. That allowed me to finish my sophomore year. Then I went to ten weeks of Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Va. When I finished college I went on active duty as a 2nd Lieutenant.”
In his twenty-two year career as a Marine, Kappel has served in Japan, the Philippines, Cuba, Iraq, as well as numerous places along the East Coast. He also served at sea.
Eventually Kappel was assigned to headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he headed the Community Relations Branch, serving as an ‘Official Marine Corps Spokesman’ in the Corps’ media branch.
Not all of his days in the service were calm. Kappel had a scary adventure when a helicopter he was in went down.
“About twenty-eight hours of travel, I traveled from Cherry Point, N.C., to Iraq in the spring of 1991,” Kappel remembered.
“I went to Germany, then to Turkey, where I boarded a Navy helicopter. We headed to Iraq, or least that was the plan. As we began to head over the mountains, suddenly the main hydraulic seal ruptured. It spewed red fluid over us and everything in the helicopter. The pilots did a great job of getting us down safely, but it was rougher than any amusement park ride I have ever been on! I got violently ill from being tossed around. Fortunately the only thing hurt was my pride. I prayed all the way down!”
Kappel’s writing talents were revealed early when in the fifth grade when he had his first story published in the school’s newspaper. Later, at 16, he was published in Leatherneck Magazine. His work was titled “You’re a Marine.”
Writing kept tugging at him.
Kappel’s peers began encouraging him in Public Affairs work. “I wrote a staff report for a general. He called me in and said it was really well written and that I should consider Public Affairs as a career field in the Marines,” Kappel shared. “I was later transferred to Public Affairs and I served in it ever since, in the Marines, and now for Chesterfield County.”
In 1994 Kappel became a part of Chesterfield County Public Affairs.
“I started as a front-line employee as a Media Officer working with reporters to facilitate them in getting information out to the public,” Kappel said.
“About two years later, the department director left and I applied for the job. I currently direct 10 extremely bright, professional men and women who are absolutely the best at what they do: writing, editing, marketing, graphic design, public relations, video production and more. We provide service to all county departments. This team has earned more national awards for its communications work than any other similar-sized county in the nation. We prepare the county’s brochures, do media training, work with reporters,
etcetera.”
“I’ve dedicated my adult life to helping to keep the lines of communication open between government and the people.”
Kappel has a special inspiration to keep him going.
“The best thing that ever happened to me, happened to me when I returned from my first tour of duty in Okinawa, Japan and was assigned to Hartford, Conn.,” Kappel proudly said. “I met my wife there and now we have been married over twenty-six years. We’ve raised two beautiful daughters. I am a lucky man!”
Ellie
Featured Photo:Chesterfield County Public Affairs Director Don Kappel is known to be serious when necessary, but he also has a welcome sense of humor.
By Becky Robinette Wright, special correspondent
Featured in November 8, 2007 print edition
He was a young boy growing up in New York City, living in the Bronx, when his dream began calling to him.
“There was a billboard near my home. I was only about ten- or eleven-years-old at the time. The billboard was advertisement to join the Marines; there was also a recruiting booth nearby. I passed both all the time,” said Don Kappel, Chesterfield County Public Affairs Director.
“I thought to myself how sharp the Marines looked. What I saw in them is what I wanted to grow up to be. The desire, all the way back then, was born, and I said to myself, ‘One day I’m going to be a Marine!’
It was to be a little while before that dream became a reality.
“I was in my second year of college in Connecticut,” Kappel explained, “I was twenty at the time I signed up for a Marine Corps’ Platoon Leaders Class program. That allowed me to finish my sophomore year. Then I went to ten weeks of Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Va. When I finished college I went on active duty as a 2nd Lieutenant.”
In his twenty-two year career as a Marine, Kappel has served in Japan, the Philippines, Cuba, Iraq, as well as numerous places along the East Coast. He also served at sea.
Eventually Kappel was assigned to headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he headed the Community Relations Branch, serving as an ‘Official Marine Corps Spokesman’ in the Corps’ media branch.
Not all of his days in the service were calm. Kappel had a scary adventure when a helicopter he was in went down.
“About twenty-eight hours of travel, I traveled from Cherry Point, N.C., to Iraq in the spring of 1991,” Kappel remembered.
“I went to Germany, then to Turkey, where I boarded a Navy helicopter. We headed to Iraq, or least that was the plan. As we began to head over the mountains, suddenly the main hydraulic seal ruptured. It spewed red fluid over us and everything in the helicopter. The pilots did a great job of getting us down safely, but it was rougher than any amusement park ride I have ever been on! I got violently ill from being tossed around. Fortunately the only thing hurt was my pride. I prayed all the way down!”
Kappel’s writing talents were revealed early when in the fifth grade when he had his first story published in the school’s newspaper. Later, at 16, he was published in Leatherneck Magazine. His work was titled “You’re a Marine.”
Writing kept tugging at him.
Kappel’s peers began encouraging him in Public Affairs work. “I wrote a staff report for a general. He called me in and said it was really well written and that I should consider Public Affairs as a career field in the Marines,” Kappel shared. “I was later transferred to Public Affairs and I served in it ever since, in the Marines, and now for Chesterfield County.”
In 1994 Kappel became a part of Chesterfield County Public Affairs.
“I started as a front-line employee as a Media Officer working with reporters to facilitate them in getting information out to the public,” Kappel said.
“About two years later, the department director left and I applied for the job. I currently direct 10 extremely bright, professional men and women who are absolutely the best at what they do: writing, editing, marketing, graphic design, public relations, video production and more. We provide service to all county departments. This team has earned more national awards for its communications work than any other similar-sized county in the nation. We prepare the county’s brochures, do media training, work with reporters,
etcetera.”
“I’ve dedicated my adult life to helping to keep the lines of communication open between government and the people.”
Kappel has a special inspiration to keep him going.
“The best thing that ever happened to me, happened to me when I returned from my first tour of duty in Okinawa, Japan and was assigned to Hartford, Conn.,” Kappel proudly said. “I met my wife there and now we have been married over twenty-six years. We’ve raised two beautiful daughters. I am a lucky man!”
Ellie