thedrifter
09-28-06, 06:50 AM
U.S. Marine serves his country, but glad to be home
By David Stoneberg
STAFF WRITER
Thursday, September 28, 2006 1:16 AM PDT
After spending four years in the U.S. Marines, St. Helena’s Tyler Oberschulte said he’s learned a few things.
“You’ve gotta read the fine print before you sign the papers,” he said. “I learned to be a little more tolerant of everything and learned a lot of little things. It was a good experience. Would I do it again? Yes. Would I do it again knowing what I now know? Maybe.”
For the next week or so, Oberschulte will be a corporal in the U.S. Marines. After that, he’ll be an inactive reservist. He could be recalled to active duty for another four years, but said he probably won’t be. “The people they want back are infantry, military police and truck drivers. My actual ‘on paper’ job is none of that, so I’m not that worried about being called back.”
He said he is thankful he never saw combat, which was “just the luck of the draw.” He never was stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan but said he would have gone if he had been ordered to do so. He’s been home since Sept. 9 and loves it.
Oberschulte went into the military right out of high school. He and two of his friends, Kevin Murphy and Fernando Rivera, all joined the Marines in the fall of 2002. Why? “We went in together and wanted to explore the world. We wanted to get out of here for a little while.” Oberschulte, who moved to St. Helena with his parents, Rick and Candace when he was 5, said he missed nearly everything about St. Helena while he was in the service, and that his homesickness may have been worse than most. “I come from a nice place. If somebody comes from not so nice a place maybe they’re not so worried about coming home.”
Oberschulte spent the last two years at Camp Pendleton following 16 months at a small base with 45 permanent personnel in Korea, Camp Mujuk, where he worked with four other Marines on camp maintenance, driving trucks and operating heavy equipment.
“There was a group of five of us who worked 24/7 as a way to kill time. On the weekends, if nothing broke, we’d go exploring and have a good time,” he said.
The clean-cut young man said the worst thing about Korea is how different it is from St. Helena. “There are no fall or spring seasons. The weather is really hot or really cold, with nothing in between. It could be hot and raining or cold and raining or snowing. There’s just two extremes,” he said.
The best thing about his service in Korea was the people Oberschulte served with. The U.S. Marines worked with their Korean counterparts, and Oberschulte said, “They’re incredible. They train really hard and they’re impressive. They are there with a purpose: to protect their country. It’s not like the United States. We don’t have a direct threat to the north or south of us. They do. Their neighbor (North Korea) is a direct threat and the Marines are very alert.”
The camp is about eight hours south of Seoul, far away from the DMZ, which still divides the country.
Returning to St. Helena, Oberschulte said, “There seems to be a lot more people, a lot more tourists. I also see some more stores. The town seems to be busy and a lot of people have work. We’re doing pretty good from what I can see.”
As a U.S. Marine, he asks civilians: “Just keep supporting the troops. We’ve gotta let them know they are doing a good job. There have been a couple of protests in front of Camp Pendleton and they’ve been good protests. People are holding signs saying, ‘We support you.’ It feels good and as Marines, we like to hear that. When we come home, we do not want to be looked down upon for doing what we had to do; what we were asked to do.”
Contact David Stoneberg at wines@sthelenastar.com.
Ellie
By David Stoneberg
STAFF WRITER
Thursday, September 28, 2006 1:16 AM PDT
After spending four years in the U.S. Marines, St. Helena’s Tyler Oberschulte said he’s learned a few things.
“You’ve gotta read the fine print before you sign the papers,” he said. “I learned to be a little more tolerant of everything and learned a lot of little things. It was a good experience. Would I do it again? Yes. Would I do it again knowing what I now know? Maybe.”
For the next week or so, Oberschulte will be a corporal in the U.S. Marines. After that, he’ll be an inactive reservist. He could be recalled to active duty for another four years, but said he probably won’t be. “The people they want back are infantry, military police and truck drivers. My actual ‘on paper’ job is none of that, so I’m not that worried about being called back.”
He said he is thankful he never saw combat, which was “just the luck of the draw.” He never was stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan but said he would have gone if he had been ordered to do so. He’s been home since Sept. 9 and loves it.
Oberschulte went into the military right out of high school. He and two of his friends, Kevin Murphy and Fernando Rivera, all joined the Marines in the fall of 2002. Why? “We went in together and wanted to explore the world. We wanted to get out of here for a little while.” Oberschulte, who moved to St. Helena with his parents, Rick and Candace when he was 5, said he missed nearly everything about St. Helena while he was in the service, and that his homesickness may have been worse than most. “I come from a nice place. If somebody comes from not so nice a place maybe they’re not so worried about coming home.”
Oberschulte spent the last two years at Camp Pendleton following 16 months at a small base with 45 permanent personnel in Korea, Camp Mujuk, where he worked with four other Marines on camp maintenance, driving trucks and operating heavy equipment.
“There was a group of five of us who worked 24/7 as a way to kill time. On the weekends, if nothing broke, we’d go exploring and have a good time,” he said.
The clean-cut young man said the worst thing about Korea is how different it is from St. Helena. “There are no fall or spring seasons. The weather is really hot or really cold, with nothing in between. It could be hot and raining or cold and raining or snowing. There’s just two extremes,” he said.
The best thing about his service in Korea was the people Oberschulte served with. The U.S. Marines worked with their Korean counterparts, and Oberschulte said, “They’re incredible. They train really hard and they’re impressive. They are there with a purpose: to protect their country. It’s not like the United States. We don’t have a direct threat to the north or south of us. They do. Their neighbor (North Korea) is a direct threat and the Marines are very alert.”
The camp is about eight hours south of Seoul, far away from the DMZ, which still divides the country.
Returning to St. Helena, Oberschulte said, “There seems to be a lot more people, a lot more tourists. I also see some more stores. The town seems to be busy and a lot of people have work. We’re doing pretty good from what I can see.”
As a U.S. Marine, he asks civilians: “Just keep supporting the troops. We’ve gotta let them know they are doing a good job. There have been a couple of protests in front of Camp Pendleton and they’ve been good protests. People are holding signs saying, ‘We support you.’ It feels good and as Marines, we like to hear that. When we come home, we do not want to be looked down upon for doing what we had to do; what we were asked to do.”
Contact David Stoneberg at wines@sthelenastar.com.
Ellie