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I want to get away from home . I want 

2
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the opportunity to , to excel . I was 

3
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not interested in my high school , my 

4
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grades were failing And the 17 I quit 

5
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school and joined the Marine Corps for 

6
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an opportunity for an adventure . And 

7
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they were recruiting for people to go 

8
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into force recon which was newly formed . 

9
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And that was immediately , I knew 

10
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that's what I wanted to do to be a 

11
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parachutist , a scuba diver , Jungle 

12
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Gear , submachine gun . Everything a 

13
00:00:32,810 --> 00:00:35,450
young 17 8 year old would want to do . 

14
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I was accepted into the program and 

15
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there was a one year training program 

16
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to be qualified as a recon marine . And 

17
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at the end of that one year we 

18
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transferred to Vietnam . So we were 

19
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highly trained . When we arrived in 

20
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Vietnam , we were well schooled in what 

21
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Vietnam was all about . So we were 

22
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probably much better prepared to go to 

23
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Vietnam than most units because we 

24
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trained for a year just to be deployed 

25
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to Vietnam . Uh , so Vietnam really 

26
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wasn't a concern until I arrived . 

27
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And the first shots were fired and then 

28
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I realized this is a real combat is 

29
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this life and death ? It's serious . 

30
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You make a mistake , you die or someone 

31
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else dies and you live with life and 

32
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death . Virtually every day . The first 

33
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tour , I was wounded medevacked out . 

34
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And I was working on my second tour , 

35
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medevacked out . 

36
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Mhm Oh my , no , 

37
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If you can imagine me a 17 year old 

38
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with no motivation , no vision , no 

39
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opportunity . I like cars and girls in 

40
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high school . I didn't care about 

41
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anything else . And again into the 

42
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Marine Corps , the Marine Corps took 

43
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literally a living breathing 17 year 

44
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old and turned me into everything I am 

45
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today and I've accomplished a lot in my 

46
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life and it's because of walking across 

47
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the parade deck . Yeah . 

48
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Mhm . 

49
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Since chills up must find to be quite 

50
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honest to see these young marines , 

51
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They looked just like me in 1965 . 

52
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And I think marines of today are just 

53
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like the marines of the 1960s . It's 

54
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just a different generation . Uh but I 

55
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still believe that the Marine Corps 

56
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turns out fine . A 

57
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fine member of the Marine Corps , a 

58
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functional member of the Marine Corps . 

59
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He's ready to do what he's asked to do 

60
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or see is asked to do with what she's 

61
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supposed to do . So I think the big 

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thing that caught my eye probably is 

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the number of females are integrated 

64
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into the entire system . Which is a 

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good thing . I think it's a great thing 

66
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Back in the 60s . The mindset was not 

67
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that way . This female marines and then 

68
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there's moral marines and that's not 

69
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like that anymore . Marines of marine 

70
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that really ? Yeah , 

71
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You got to seize the opportunity to be 

72
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that one or two or 3%er as a young 

73
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marine don't get into that rut and 

74
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accept that as satisfactory is not , 

75
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you know , see that seize that 

76
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opportunity to shoot for the top and 

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everything you do and you'll be 

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successful . 

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Mm , 

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wow