thedrifter
03-20-08, 09:33 AM
Praying for Safe Return
Robinson grad follows family tradition and enters Marine Corps.
By Brenda Simms
While at his Burke townhome on leave recently, Pfc. John Walter Clark IV described his feelings on being a Marine: "The Few. The Proud," as the slogan goes.
Clark, 20, is a Robinson Secondary School graduate and is headed for Iraq this month.
As a center and fullback for the Robinson Rams, Clark loved football and weightlifting. He had considerable bulk and hoped to play college ball, but found during tryouts that his height was not in his favor. He said he decided, "If I can’t play football, I don’t want to go to school." Instead, he joined the Marine Corps.
Clark attended communications school at the Marine Corps base in 29 Palms, Calif. There, he was trained to be a field radio operator. He learned how to maintain and operate the many different radios used by the Marines. In February, he completed convoy training in Louisiana, to prepare him for the task ahead.
The Marine Corps prepared Clark with additional serious skills. He went to machine gunner’s school — "You have to baby that weapon" — and combat lifesaver training — "I could stop the bleeding if someone were to get shot."
As part of a convoy on a mission in Iraq, Clark explained he would be part of the scout element in one of the leading trucks. If a threat, such as an improvised explosive device, is suspected along the route, Clark will be part of the team that dismounts to investigate.
WHILE HOME, Clark was the "show-and-tell" for three of his cousins who attend St. Theresa School in Ashburn. His family watched as a mass at the related church, St. Theresa Catholic, honored him.
One of those family members was his maternal grandfather, Edward Purcell of Vienna.
Clark remembered hearing many Marine stories as a child. Purcell, 84, was also a Marine and served stateside during World War II.
Initially, Purcell said, he wanted to join the Navy, as his own grandfather, uncles and brother had. He tried several times, but the Navy wouldn’t take him, because he had a "fast heart." He eventually went to a Marine recruitment station, where he said he was told, "We’ve never turned down anyone for having a fast heart," and was promptly enlisted.
Clark acknowledged that some family members were upset at his choice to join the military. But not John and Anne Clark, his parents. He said they told him his decision would "make a man out of me. That’s what I work for everyday, is to make them proud."
His younger brother, Nicholas, on the other hand, is worried about "me not coming home or coming home missing something."
Clark said he does not think about those possibilities or he would not be able to perform his job as a Marine. He chooses to view his seven-month deployment as going to play a long game of paintball.
FAMILY SUPPORT was evident to Gunnery Sgt. Mario Locklear, Clark’s recruiter in Fairfax. Locklear explained the Marine Corps’ height and weight standards to Clark, whose football weight did not match the expectations of the Marines. They discussed diet and fitness, and as Clark shed pounds, the teen made several attempts to be accepted into the Corps.
Locklear noted Clark’s initiative and eventually began exercising with him to lose the remaining weight. Although it was not part of his official job description, Locklear said, "when you get an individual who shows a lot of desire, on a case-by-case basis, you might take that extra step."
He eventually went from 260 pounds after graduation to 185 pounds as he joined the Marines in February 2007. "I’m extremely proud of being a Marine, because I had to work so hard for it," he said.
CLARK SEES his role in the Iraq conflict as a vital one. "Communication is key on the battlefield now. If you can’t communicate, you’re dead," he said.
For his own communication needs, Clark plans to remain in touch with family and friends through letters and the occasional phone call via satellite phone, a device he says can be borrowed from reporters in media trucks.
Clark said after he leaves the Marines in three years, he’d like to return to Burke and become a police officer, his ultimate goal.
Clark departs for Iraq on March 29. His first stop en route is in Germany, then to Kuwait for two weeks, to get checked into theater. From there, a helicopter transports him to Fallujah in Iraq.
Ellie
Robinson grad follows family tradition and enters Marine Corps.
By Brenda Simms
While at his Burke townhome on leave recently, Pfc. John Walter Clark IV described his feelings on being a Marine: "The Few. The Proud," as the slogan goes.
Clark, 20, is a Robinson Secondary School graduate and is headed for Iraq this month.
As a center and fullback for the Robinson Rams, Clark loved football and weightlifting. He had considerable bulk and hoped to play college ball, but found during tryouts that his height was not in his favor. He said he decided, "If I can’t play football, I don’t want to go to school." Instead, he joined the Marine Corps.
Clark attended communications school at the Marine Corps base in 29 Palms, Calif. There, he was trained to be a field radio operator. He learned how to maintain and operate the many different radios used by the Marines. In February, he completed convoy training in Louisiana, to prepare him for the task ahead.
The Marine Corps prepared Clark with additional serious skills. He went to machine gunner’s school — "You have to baby that weapon" — and combat lifesaver training — "I could stop the bleeding if someone were to get shot."
As part of a convoy on a mission in Iraq, Clark explained he would be part of the scout element in one of the leading trucks. If a threat, such as an improvised explosive device, is suspected along the route, Clark will be part of the team that dismounts to investigate.
WHILE HOME, Clark was the "show-and-tell" for three of his cousins who attend St. Theresa School in Ashburn. His family watched as a mass at the related church, St. Theresa Catholic, honored him.
One of those family members was his maternal grandfather, Edward Purcell of Vienna.
Clark remembered hearing many Marine stories as a child. Purcell, 84, was also a Marine and served stateside during World War II.
Initially, Purcell said, he wanted to join the Navy, as his own grandfather, uncles and brother had. He tried several times, but the Navy wouldn’t take him, because he had a "fast heart." He eventually went to a Marine recruitment station, where he said he was told, "We’ve never turned down anyone for having a fast heart," and was promptly enlisted.
Clark acknowledged that some family members were upset at his choice to join the military. But not John and Anne Clark, his parents. He said they told him his decision would "make a man out of me. That’s what I work for everyday, is to make them proud."
His younger brother, Nicholas, on the other hand, is worried about "me not coming home or coming home missing something."
Clark said he does not think about those possibilities or he would not be able to perform his job as a Marine. He chooses to view his seven-month deployment as going to play a long game of paintball.
FAMILY SUPPORT was evident to Gunnery Sgt. Mario Locklear, Clark’s recruiter in Fairfax. Locklear explained the Marine Corps’ height and weight standards to Clark, whose football weight did not match the expectations of the Marines. They discussed diet and fitness, and as Clark shed pounds, the teen made several attempts to be accepted into the Corps.
Locklear noted Clark’s initiative and eventually began exercising with him to lose the remaining weight. Although it was not part of his official job description, Locklear said, "when you get an individual who shows a lot of desire, on a case-by-case basis, you might take that extra step."
He eventually went from 260 pounds after graduation to 185 pounds as he joined the Marines in February 2007. "I’m extremely proud of being a Marine, because I had to work so hard for it," he said.
CLARK SEES his role in the Iraq conflict as a vital one. "Communication is key on the battlefield now. If you can’t communicate, you’re dead," he said.
For his own communication needs, Clark plans to remain in touch with family and friends through letters and the occasional phone call via satellite phone, a device he says can be borrowed from reporters in media trucks.
Clark said after he leaves the Marines in three years, he’d like to return to Burke and become a police officer, his ultimate goal.
Clark departs for Iraq on March 29. His first stop en route is in Germany, then to Kuwait for two weeks, to get checked into theater. From there, a helicopter transports him to Fallujah in Iraq.
Ellie