thedrifter
07-28-09, 07:39 AM
Young Marine comes home, goes away again
By Nick Malinowski
Staff Writer
As a small child Collin Doyle of Oreland wanted more than anything to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
Now 21, the Springfield Township High School graduate is a corporal in the Marines and a little more than halfway through a five-year term of service.
“My aunt had a friend who was a Marine who came and stayed with my grandmother,” Doyle said in an interview July 8 of his introduction to the armed forces as a youth. “From the time I was 6 years old I told everyone I was going to be a Marine. I turned 18 and I did it,’ he said. “I’m the kind of person who if I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it.”
Having signed his papers during his senior year at Springfield Township High School, Doyle said the experience so far has been mostly a good one.
“I meet a lot of good people, but just like any other job there’s things you like and things you don’t like,” he said.
Among the positives are meeting people from around the world and travel — Doyle has been stationed in California, Florida and, currently, North Carolina.
In May, he returned from an eight-month tour in Iraq.
These same benefits, however, also present some of the greatest challenges because he has been isolated from friends and family back home, he said.
Doyle returned to Springfield for the Fourth of July holiday. He was a guest of honor in the Orland Lions’ parade and said hanging out with his family and knowing he did not have to wake up early for formation were the highlights.
“Being away from my family is [hard],” he said. “The military offers tons of support systems, but nothing like having your family to talk to.”
As part of an artillery battery platoon in Iraq, Doyle provided support for infantry missions often firing illumination rounds into the night sky lighting up the ground below so the other soldiers could see, he said. They also provided convoy security.
Doyle’s work kept him from meeting many Iraqis, save for those who worked on the base, he said.
“I had more interaction with Americans there than Iraqis,” he said.
Nevertheless, he was able to find some time to get off the base to visit the palace of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but it was not exactly sight-seeing, he said.
“It’s not like I go around snapping photos everywhere,” he said.
It was the first time Doyle had ever left the United States, and Iraq in winter was not as hot as he anticipated, he said.
Doyle said he believes his time in the Marines will prepare him for the future — a career in criminal psychology.
“It’s been a good life experience. I’ve grown up a lot, matured a lot,” he said.
While the eight years it will take to become a doctor seem daunting, so did the five years he agreed to serve in the Marines, he said.
“I thought it was going to be a long time, but it’s been flying by,” he said.
Ellie
By Nick Malinowski
Staff Writer
As a small child Collin Doyle of Oreland wanted more than anything to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
Now 21, the Springfield Township High School graduate is a corporal in the Marines and a little more than halfway through a five-year term of service.
“My aunt had a friend who was a Marine who came and stayed with my grandmother,” Doyle said in an interview July 8 of his introduction to the armed forces as a youth. “From the time I was 6 years old I told everyone I was going to be a Marine. I turned 18 and I did it,’ he said. “I’m the kind of person who if I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it.”
Having signed his papers during his senior year at Springfield Township High School, Doyle said the experience so far has been mostly a good one.
“I meet a lot of good people, but just like any other job there’s things you like and things you don’t like,” he said.
Among the positives are meeting people from around the world and travel — Doyle has been stationed in California, Florida and, currently, North Carolina.
In May, he returned from an eight-month tour in Iraq.
These same benefits, however, also present some of the greatest challenges because he has been isolated from friends and family back home, he said.
Doyle returned to Springfield for the Fourth of July holiday. He was a guest of honor in the Orland Lions’ parade and said hanging out with his family and knowing he did not have to wake up early for formation were the highlights.
“Being away from my family is [hard],” he said. “The military offers tons of support systems, but nothing like having your family to talk to.”
As part of an artillery battery platoon in Iraq, Doyle provided support for infantry missions often firing illumination rounds into the night sky lighting up the ground below so the other soldiers could see, he said. They also provided convoy security.
Doyle’s work kept him from meeting many Iraqis, save for those who worked on the base, he said.
“I had more interaction with Americans there than Iraqis,” he said.
Nevertheless, he was able to find some time to get off the base to visit the palace of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but it was not exactly sight-seeing, he said.
“It’s not like I go around snapping photos everywhere,” he said.
It was the first time Doyle had ever left the United States, and Iraq in winter was not as hot as he anticipated, he said.
Doyle said he believes his time in the Marines will prepare him for the future — a career in criminal psychology.
“It’s been a good life experience. I’ve grown up a lot, matured a lot,” he said.
While the eight years it will take to become a doctor seem daunting, so did the five years he agreed to serve in the Marines, he said.
“I thought it was going to be a long time, but it’s been flying by,” he said.
Ellie