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thedrifter
06-14-09, 08:16 AM
Marine follows dream, now ready to serve
Sunday, June 14, 2009
By Myla Barnhardt
Special to the News & Record

EDEN — For more than 200 years, the Marine Corps has been looking for “a few good men.” First Sgt. David Bray, the senior Army ROTC instructor at Morehead High School, will tell you that they found one in Sam Galloway.

On June 5, Galloway graduated from the 13-week boot camp at Parris, Island, S.C., the Marine’s eastern recruit depot.

Two days later, he was back home in Eden, joining Morehead’s Class of 2009 for its baccalaureate program. He graduated from high school on June 13.

While other young men in the class wore white shirts and dark ties under their graduation gowns, Galloway wore his uniform underneath his.

“A lot of people there said seeing me in uniform wasn’t a big surprise. This is what I always wanted to do,” he says.

Bray says he saw that on Galloway’s first day in the ROTC program.

“We knew from day one which way he was going,” says Bray. There was something about the freshman. He stood a little straighter and he had that military look.

“He was a yes-sir, no-sir type, and he chose his words carefully when he addressed you,” recalls Bray.

Galloway’s interest in the military grew out of a fascination with history.

“I’ve always been interested in military history and wars,” he says. He loved war movies like “Saving Private Ryan,” but his all-time favorite was an oldie, “Sands of Iwo Jima,” starring John Wayne, who plays a tough Marine sergeant.

“It stuck with me,” he says.

In middle school, he joined a Civil War re-enactment group. A few years later, he started doing World War II re-enactments, taking on the role of a German soldier.

By his junior year in high school, he knew that he wanted to become a Marine. Having already earned most of the required high school credits, he graduated early, after the first semester of his senior year.

That way, he could move on to what he really wanted – a career in the Marines.

In March, he started boot camp at Parris Island.

He adjusted to the schedule — up at 4 a.m., lights out at 8 p.m. — and the jam-packed days that were planned for you, right down to the time you shaved and got your shower.

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought. At first, some of it didn’t seem much tougher than football practice,” says Galloway, who played guard and linebacker on Morehead’s team.

But then came “the crucible”— a 54-hour, physically and mentally challenging exercise that is the culmination of the training. Recruits deal with food and sleep deprivation while undertaking a range of problem-solving exercises.

“That was challenging,” says Galloway. On the final day of the crucible, with only a few hours of sleep, he endured a 9-mile hike carrying a 60- to 80-pound pack. It ended at the base of the Iwo Jima Memorial.

“I was dirty, sweaty and barely able to walk,” says Galloway. “We all had blisters on our feet.”

Then came the moment he’d been waiting for. In a ceremony, his drill sergeant placed the eagle, globe and anchor — the symbol of the Marine Corps — in his palm.

In a move as snappy as a salute, he closed his hands around it. It is the moment that signifies that a recruit has been taken into the fold. It’s when he becomes a Marine.

“You feel like you’ve earned it by then,” Galloway says.

He will spend the rest of June in Eden with his parents, Debbie and Cecil Galloway. He’ll also work with a local Marine recruiter. If he can sign two recruits, he will get a meritorious promotion from private first class to lance corporal. It might not be easy to do. A lot of his friends have college plans. Galloway does, too. He hopes to earn a degree, maybe in history, while he serves his country.

He leaves Eden on July 5, headed for Infantry School at Camp LeJeune. Then who knows where, he says.

He knows he could be called to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan, and he’s prepared for that.

“I’ve never been farther north than Pennsylvania and no farther south than Florida,” he says. “I’m excited to get out there and see the world and do something not everyone has the opportunity to do.”

“It’s what I wanted. I’m happy.”

Contact Myla Barnhardt at 627-1781, Ext. 116, or myla.barnhardt@news-record.com

Ellie