fontman
10-21-08, 12:54 PM
Albany Marine Captured by Hollywood Producers
By Ed Lightsey
Vintage Lifestyle Magazine
October 2008 Edition
http://fontman.smugmug.com/photos/399325877_rpjaL-M.jpg
People take notice when Billy Bodette enters a room. Even when wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and flip-flops, he has a military bearing. The buzz-cut hair, the erect and muscular stature, the 4-inch scar running across his chin, the tattoos, and a voice that sounds like gravel being crushed, all combine to conjure up the popular image of a Marine drill sergeant, which he has been.
Tell him he looks and sounds like a man you don’t want to have an unpleasant encounter with in a dark alley, he stares you in the eye and firmly says, “No, no, you probably don’t want to do that.”
His look, the voice, and everything about him make Bodette seem to be sent from a Hollywood casting office to play the quintessential Marine, which is exactly what he has been doing this year.
First Sergeant William Earl Bodette Jr., who is currently stationed at Albany’s Marine Corps Logistics Base, was tapped by the History Channel to provide on-camera commentary for a series of 10 programs called “Battle 360,” which has run and re-run throughout 2008. And he just finished another series for the network called “Sins,” a program on how he deals with the stress of combat and its aftermath. That show will air later this year. In addition, Bodette has appeared on “The David Letterman Show” where he read a portion of that show’s popular Top 10 List. All that face time on television has given Bodette a touch of celebrity that he seems to find a little uncomfortable.
“It’s weird and very humbling because people recognize me all the time,” Bodette says. “They think I am some kind of celebrity, and all I am is a Marine who happened to be liked by some producers who put me on TV. It isn’t like I’m George Clooney.” Yet, people pick up his tabs in restaurants and bars and stop him in airports and on the street asking for his autograph. “I tell them no, but they can buy me a beer,” he says. “It’s just too weird, the idea of signing autographs. I am just a Marine.”
Well, like it or not, Billy Bodette – that’s the way he introduces himself – has gained celebrity status, particularly among military buffs, and he admits he is in discussions with Hollywood on future projects, quite a departure for a career built on a lifetime passion to be “just a Marine.”
Thirty-nine-year-old Bodette grew up in Clearwater, Fla., and has been a Marine for almost 20 years. It was his combat experience in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia that first attracted Hollywood producers to him. In Afghanistan, Bodette was awarded the Bronze Star, with a “V” for valor, for his actions on three separate occasions when his patrols were ambushed by the enemy.
According to the official citation, Bodette “disregarded his own safety and moved from position to position to direct U.S. and Afghan fire into the enemy ambush sites. His decisiveness and combat leadership enabled all three patrols to quickly overpower the enemy forces. Gunnery Sergeant Bodette was also directly responsible for establishing landing zone security for evacuating wounded U.S. and Afghan Forces. His actions were responsible for saving the lives of several Marines and soldiers, and for the destruction of numerous enemy elements.”
Bodette was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he received when his patrol was ambushed in Iraq. He was out of action for a month following two surgeries on bullet wounds to the hip and a ricochet to his hand. Bodette has received several other meritorious military awards, but it was his service in the search for the infamous terrorist Osama bin Laden that captured the attention of Hollywood producers. “They said they liked the way I looked on camera,” he says, with a chuckle. “And they asked if I’d be interested in doing some work for them. I said, ‘Sure.’”
Bodette’s combat record in Afghanistan was featured in the 2005 History Channel docudrama “Shootout: The Hunt for Bin Laden,” with an actor portraying him. “When the History Channel did the story about me, my son said, ‘Dad, that guy who played you was kind of a wimp,’” recalls Bodette, a divorced father of three. “I told him I couldn’t pick who played me. Now when I do the shows the kids have parties at the house and the other kids come over and watch me on TV. I do enjoy doing the shows. When I’m out there [in Los Angeles] they treat me like a celebrity; they treat me
really well. I just can’t believe it’s me they want. But my kids keep me really humble.”
For Bodette, the History Channel is a kind of electronic recruitment poster. “I hope I am a good advertisement for the Marine Corps,” Bodette says. “I hope young men and women look at me and say, ‘You know, that’s a professional guy. I want to get what he’s got.’” Like the best Marines, Bodette can use colorful language, something he’s keenly aware of when he films his shows.
“Sometimes when I’m on the History Channel talking I’ve cussed a few times,” he says. “And I’ve gone back and said, ‘Make sure you bleep that out if you have to use that portion.’ A lot of fathers watch that show with their children and I don’t want the first cuss word they hear to come from me, because I am a Marine and I want them to look at me as a pillar of discipline.”
Bodette reads military history, particularly accounts of combat in which a smaller force overcomes great odds to win a battle. “When I read of battles in the past that did or didn’t work out very well, I want to know why,” Bodette says. “I want to use those lessons as tools to help me be a better Marine, a better leader.” Asked to name the military leaders of the past that he admires, Bodette goes silent for a moment. “I can’t tell you all the people I admire because there are so many of them,” he says. “And a lot of them are a hell of a lot younger than me. I’ve seen 18- and 19-year-old Marines do some amazing things. They haven’t even had a chance to live their lives and they are willing to sacrifice to do their jobs for their country. Those are the guys I admire. And I do believe in my heart Americans appreciate what these Marines do.”
Bodette has completed filming his new show, “Sins,” but is uncertain when it will air. “It’s a show about human emotions,” he says. “They wanted to know how I could get shot, see my buddies wounded, even killed, and still maintain my discipline and the focus to do my job. Part of it comes from training; right from boot camp you are put under an enormous amount of stress, and that’s just the way you’re trained. You’re trained to adapt to every situation and maintain your discipline, your focus, ’cause if you don’t you’re going to die.”
Bodette will celebrate his 20th year as a Marine on Nov. 11, and thoughts of retirement are dancing around his love of the Corps. And too, Hollywood still beckons. “I’m not going to lie, I’ve thought about that,” he says. “Other television projects have been discussed. It’s something I could pursue. And I’ve been approached by certain government agencies to go to work. I’ve thought about contracting out, going back overseas. There’s a lot of money in that, and I’d be doing the same job I do now. But I just don’t know if I’m ready to give up the title of Marine just yet. That will stay with me my whole life, but I still want to put that uniform on. This may sound corny, but I love being part of something that is greater than myself. If those television producers think I look like a Marine and talk like a Marine and act like a Marine, that’s because I am a Marine, and so much of me will always be a Marine.”
By Ed Lightsey
Vintage Lifestyle Magazine
October 2008 Edition
http://fontman.smugmug.com/photos/399325877_rpjaL-M.jpg
People take notice when Billy Bodette enters a room. Even when wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and flip-flops, he has a military bearing. The buzz-cut hair, the erect and muscular stature, the 4-inch scar running across his chin, the tattoos, and a voice that sounds like gravel being crushed, all combine to conjure up the popular image of a Marine drill sergeant, which he has been.
Tell him he looks and sounds like a man you don’t want to have an unpleasant encounter with in a dark alley, he stares you in the eye and firmly says, “No, no, you probably don’t want to do that.”
His look, the voice, and everything about him make Bodette seem to be sent from a Hollywood casting office to play the quintessential Marine, which is exactly what he has been doing this year.
First Sergeant William Earl Bodette Jr., who is currently stationed at Albany’s Marine Corps Logistics Base, was tapped by the History Channel to provide on-camera commentary for a series of 10 programs called “Battle 360,” which has run and re-run throughout 2008. And he just finished another series for the network called “Sins,” a program on how he deals with the stress of combat and its aftermath. That show will air later this year. In addition, Bodette has appeared on “The David Letterman Show” where he read a portion of that show’s popular Top 10 List. All that face time on television has given Bodette a touch of celebrity that he seems to find a little uncomfortable.
“It’s weird and very humbling because people recognize me all the time,” Bodette says. “They think I am some kind of celebrity, and all I am is a Marine who happened to be liked by some producers who put me on TV. It isn’t like I’m George Clooney.” Yet, people pick up his tabs in restaurants and bars and stop him in airports and on the street asking for his autograph. “I tell them no, but they can buy me a beer,” he says. “It’s just too weird, the idea of signing autographs. I am just a Marine.”
Well, like it or not, Billy Bodette – that’s the way he introduces himself – has gained celebrity status, particularly among military buffs, and he admits he is in discussions with Hollywood on future projects, quite a departure for a career built on a lifetime passion to be “just a Marine.”
Thirty-nine-year-old Bodette grew up in Clearwater, Fla., and has been a Marine for almost 20 years. It was his combat experience in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia that first attracted Hollywood producers to him. In Afghanistan, Bodette was awarded the Bronze Star, with a “V” for valor, for his actions on three separate occasions when his patrols were ambushed by the enemy.
According to the official citation, Bodette “disregarded his own safety and moved from position to position to direct U.S. and Afghan fire into the enemy ambush sites. His decisiveness and combat leadership enabled all three patrols to quickly overpower the enemy forces. Gunnery Sergeant Bodette was also directly responsible for establishing landing zone security for evacuating wounded U.S. and Afghan Forces. His actions were responsible for saving the lives of several Marines and soldiers, and for the destruction of numerous enemy elements.”
Bodette was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he received when his patrol was ambushed in Iraq. He was out of action for a month following two surgeries on bullet wounds to the hip and a ricochet to his hand. Bodette has received several other meritorious military awards, but it was his service in the search for the infamous terrorist Osama bin Laden that captured the attention of Hollywood producers. “They said they liked the way I looked on camera,” he says, with a chuckle. “And they asked if I’d be interested in doing some work for them. I said, ‘Sure.’”
Bodette’s combat record in Afghanistan was featured in the 2005 History Channel docudrama “Shootout: The Hunt for Bin Laden,” with an actor portraying him. “When the History Channel did the story about me, my son said, ‘Dad, that guy who played you was kind of a wimp,’” recalls Bodette, a divorced father of three. “I told him I couldn’t pick who played me. Now when I do the shows the kids have parties at the house and the other kids come over and watch me on TV. I do enjoy doing the shows. When I’m out there [in Los Angeles] they treat me like a celebrity; they treat me
really well. I just can’t believe it’s me they want. But my kids keep me really humble.”
For Bodette, the History Channel is a kind of electronic recruitment poster. “I hope I am a good advertisement for the Marine Corps,” Bodette says. “I hope young men and women look at me and say, ‘You know, that’s a professional guy. I want to get what he’s got.’” Like the best Marines, Bodette can use colorful language, something he’s keenly aware of when he films his shows.
“Sometimes when I’m on the History Channel talking I’ve cussed a few times,” he says. “And I’ve gone back and said, ‘Make sure you bleep that out if you have to use that portion.’ A lot of fathers watch that show with their children and I don’t want the first cuss word they hear to come from me, because I am a Marine and I want them to look at me as a pillar of discipline.”
Bodette reads military history, particularly accounts of combat in which a smaller force overcomes great odds to win a battle. “When I read of battles in the past that did or didn’t work out very well, I want to know why,” Bodette says. “I want to use those lessons as tools to help me be a better Marine, a better leader.” Asked to name the military leaders of the past that he admires, Bodette goes silent for a moment. “I can’t tell you all the people I admire because there are so many of them,” he says. “And a lot of them are a hell of a lot younger than me. I’ve seen 18- and 19-year-old Marines do some amazing things. They haven’t even had a chance to live their lives and they are willing to sacrifice to do their jobs for their country. Those are the guys I admire. And I do believe in my heart Americans appreciate what these Marines do.”
Bodette has completed filming his new show, “Sins,” but is uncertain when it will air. “It’s a show about human emotions,” he says. “They wanted to know how I could get shot, see my buddies wounded, even killed, and still maintain my discipline and the focus to do my job. Part of it comes from training; right from boot camp you are put under an enormous amount of stress, and that’s just the way you’re trained. You’re trained to adapt to every situation and maintain your discipline, your focus, ’cause if you don’t you’re going to die.”
Bodette will celebrate his 20th year as a Marine on Nov. 11, and thoughts of retirement are dancing around his love of the Corps. And too, Hollywood still beckons. “I’m not going to lie, I’ve thought about that,” he says. “Other television projects have been discussed. It’s something I could pursue. And I’ve been approached by certain government agencies to go to work. I’ve thought about contracting out, going back overseas. There’s a lot of money in that, and I’d be doing the same job I do now. But I just don’t know if I’m ready to give up the title of Marine just yet. That will stay with me my whole life, but I still want to put that uniform on. This may sound corny, but I love being part of something that is greater than myself. If those television producers think I look like a Marine and talk like a Marine and act like a Marine, that’s because I am a Marine, and so much of me will always be a Marine.”