It starts with the rock painted as an American flag marking the entrance of their driveway. Farther back, the real Stars and Stripes fly next to the scarlet and gold of the Marine Corps’ flag. The entry way is covered in USMC bumper stickers and plaques. With a red door and blue shutters, the theme is carried throughout.
“I am extremely proud. I am very patriotic anyway, so it just intensified that,” mother Gayle Ann said of her two Marine children. “I believe in what they are doing.”
  
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“I joined the military so I could get college money and wouldn’t start off my life broke,” Theodore said, adding he chose the Marines because “they are the best of the best.”
The 20-year-old is now a radio operator on leave after the first five months of his 12-month deployment.
RuthAnn saw her brother graduate boot camp and felt that feeling common to all younger children.
“Sibling rivalry,” she said when asked her reason for enlisting. “I had nothing else planned ... and said ‘Yeah, I think I’ll join. That will be fun.’”
After graduating from Wasilla High in 2008 — leading the student processional next to her uniformed brother — RuthAnn went to boot camp in South Carolina.
“The female drill instructors are harder on you,” RuthAnn said. “They want to prove the females are just as good if not better than everyone else.”
Other than that, she said, boot camp for women is identical to the program men go through. There is the gas chamber, the weapons training and the physical fitness drills.
“It’s an adventure. ... I got pepper sprayed. I shot a grenade launcher. Most of the other girls I graduated with from Wasilla are —,” RuthAnn paused, thinking how to gently phrase her statement, “— still in Wasilla.”
She is now 19 and works as a supply clerk in San Diego. RuthAnn described barracks living in terms familiar to any first-year undergraduate. The shared rooms have mini fridges and microwaves, and the rumors fly fast and vicious. It’s a world away from Afghanistan.
The first month after arriving, Theodore lived in a tent on base with his unit. It was hot, he said, saying temperatures reached upwards of 140 degrees. But they found ways to cope.
His unit built a swimming pool out of stacked water bottle cases and some tarps. The second version incorporated an old mortar pit and sat 20 to 25 people, he said.
Things are starting to cool down now, and Theodore said he has moved out of base. For a while, the stars were his only roof.
“That kind of sucked,” he said.
Things are looking up now, he said, because he was outfitted with a tent before the snows came.
Members of his radio battalion accompany the infantry on foot patrols. They serve as the link between command and the boots on the ground, in as much of harm’s way as any regular grunt.
“It’s been really, really hard as a mom to know that he’s over there,” Gayle Ann said. “There’s never a time when it’s not just hovering.”
Gayle Ann said she stayed up with the news when Theodore was first deployed. After awhile, it got too hard to hear about it every day. As previously mentioned, she believes in her son’s mission, but she’s grateful he can call once a week to check in.
RuthAnn views her brother’s deployment with a Marine’s perspective.
“The Marines are trained so much it’s basic instinct for us to do what we do,” she said. “I know if he every got in a hard spot, he would know what to do because they prep us for everything.”
When asked what is the best part of having two children in the Marines, Gayle Ann started to tear up. The pride so visibly displayed for all her neighbors to see is very real.
“Their dad and I support every single thing about it,” she said. “The Marine Corps has taught them a lot of respect. They have both grown up a ton very quickly.”
Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com.
Comments
6 comment(s)Katie wrote on Nov 10, 2009 4:55 PM:
Love you both!! "
Cindy M.l wrote on Nov 3, 2009 3:26 PM:
November 10 - US Marines celebrate the birth of their Corp; a day to honor Corp and Country.
Semper Fi "
Joe wrote on Nov 3, 2009 3:19 PM:
Also A Marine Corp Mom wrote on Nov 3, 2009 2:33 PM:
Kathi wrote on Nov 3, 2009 10:45 AM:
Kathy S wrote on Nov 3, 2009 8:29 AM: