“A committee of the Continental Congress met at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, PA. to draft a resolution calling for two battalions of Marines able to fight for independence at sea and on shore.  November 10, 1775, the Marine Corps was born.”  (Adapted from the Marine Corps’ website, www.marines.com)

Semper Fidelis has been the Marine Corps’ motto since 1883.  “Always faithful,” the ones who have chosen to become marines have the deepest loyalty, respect and love for our great country.  Once a person is transformed into a marine, they will forever live by the ethics and values of the Marine Corps.  One of our own has recently declared his love for our country and is now a marine.  Private First Class Daniel Fowler saw a marine when he was young, and how serious he was about his position.  “He looked like he meant business,” he says.  He greatly respected the man and all he stood for.  It was some time after this that he decided he also wanted to become a marine.

PFC Fowler never found his niche until joining the Marine Corps.  He played a lot of sports and enjoyed them, but they never fulfilled him.  “I was always pushing my body to the limits.”  He played a lot of soccer in school, and with the amount of running he did, it prepared him, in a way, for what he was to go through in boot camp.  The first week was the hardest.  Having to adapt to new surroundings and people and learning to do things differently from how to dress to making his bed was just the beginning.  The strenuous physical and mental training was tough.  The drill sergeants were always moving them with “speed, volume and intensity.”  There was no slowing down; especially no stopping.

They had obstacle courses and straight runs that would wear out any normal man or woman, but the main things these marines had to have to accomplish the training were a strong body and mental fortitude.  One of the drill sergeants PFC Fowler really respected was Staff Sergeant Watkins.  During a three-mile run, he almost gave up because he was so tired, but SSgt. Watkins would just snap his fingers and PFC Fowler would have to catch back up to him.  “He led me with a silent tongue,” he says.

His whole perspective on life changed after joining the marines.  He felt like he could do anything and push the limits more.  A mantra of the Marine Corps that they teach is to improvise, adapt and overcome.  They have to learn so much discipline so they will not lose their focus during combat which is not only for the welfare of the troop and to accomplish the mission, it is so they can come home when it is over.  He says that they learned, “You can push your body to the limit, go over that limit and still get the mission accomplished.”

Marines have to hold themselves to a much higher standard.  The Marine Corps cannot take weak-minded people.  Their rigorous training provides them with the type of discipline it takes to be a marine.  It prepares them to overcome obstacles not only on the battlefield but in life as well.  When PFC Fowler started, even being in shape and running normally, he almost gave up on a three-mile run.  When he graduated boot camp, he could then run the three miles in under twenty minutes.  Overall he said he enjoyed boot camp, not as a fun thing, but the way he had to grow up and change the way he looked at things in life.  He turned 19 while at boot camp in Parris Island, SC.

The Marine Corps’ core values are honor, courage and commitment.  They have to uphold those standards.  An example PFC Fowler remembers is Corporal Jason Dunham, who died in 2004 when he threw his kevlar helmet over a grenade and jumped on it, sacrificing his own body to save the lives of his comrades around him.  PFC Fowler says, “Freedom is not given.  It is earned.”  Many people may have courage, but the world around us has lost a lot of their honor and rarely commit to anything.  The Marine Corps, he says, upholds their honor and commitment, even to biblical standards.  “If you’re married, and you cheat on your wife, you’ve committed adultery.  You can get court-martialed and kicked out for that.”  The men and women of the Marine Corps have committed themselves and their lives to our freedom.  We would not have the freedoms we have if it were not for our military servicemen and women.

“It’s really worth it,” he says about becoming a marine.  Not only can he serve his country, but his college will be fully paid for, and he can have a civilian career after serving if he chooses.  He also can travel the world to places many of us will never see.  “It’s the best feeling in the world to be able to give your family freedom...I would give my life in an instant.”  PFC Fowler recommends that anyone who is willing should serve in the military.  “You will not come out the same as you were.”  There is a lot of teamwork in the platoon.  Nothing can be done individually.  Every marine always has a buddy, who is their accountability and knows where they are at all times.  It becomes a bond that is so strong, they become closer than brothers.

After returning home he went running three and a half miles and took his buddy with him.  His buddy was a deputy sheriff who also sacrifices a lot for the community, putting his life on the line.  He had a hard time about halfway through keeping up, but PFC Fowler kept pushing him and encouraging him, and they made it to the finish line together.  The marines are taught never to leave a man behind, and they put that into practice every day.

His senior drill instructor, Staff Sergeant Lopez, was like a father to the whole platoon while they were in boot camp.  He took care of them.  He was always sure to have Gatorade and Power Bars on hand for the recruits when they needed them.  He replenished their strength and their spirits.  He handed out their mail individually and asked them questions about themselves.  He had conversations with them and really cared about each individual. 

“When I graduated, it was one of the happiest days of my life.”  It was the first time he saw any one of his drill instructors smile at him.  He respects them so much not only because they are marines but because they take so much time away from their families to train young men and women to become marines.  “They inspired me to have a positive mental attitude.”  He sees the sacrifices that people have made for him to have the freedom to make choices every day, like freedom of religion.  Freedom of religion is not just the choice to practice what religion you wish to practice, it also is the freedom to not practice a religion at all if you so choose.  We have so many freedoms as Americans that people in other nations can only dream about.  He wants to support our country more than ever now, not just by serving but by growing our country economically.  He says that buying American-made products helps support our freedom so we don’t have to be in debt to communist countries.

When PFC Fowler returned from graduating as a marine, it was the same day of his sister’s senior prom.  He didn’t think he’d be able to make it home in time to see her beforehand, but he made it just in time.  The school was not going to allow him to come, but couldn’t say no to him in his uniform when he showed up.  They let him walk his sister out as she was announced.  When he saw her at the prom, it was the first time they’d seen each other in three months!  She hugged his neck so hard and he says, “That was really special to me.”  He said that people in the room who didn’t even know them had tears in their eyes because it was such a special moment.  His family takes great pride in his becoming a marine.  He feels very accomplished and he said he knows that he truly made them proud of him by becoming a marine.

Once he finished his training and became a marine, he has his uniform on and an older gentleman came up to him with tears in his eyes.  He thanked him for his service and for carrying on the tradition.  This was a huge prideful moment in the start of his career as a marine.  He said the gentleman carried himself as if he were a marine himself years ago, and it meant so much to him for that man to acknowledge him and tell him that.  PFC Fowler says that the respect he has is very great for the men and women who have been marines before him, as well as who serves with him now.

PFC Fowler says hard work really does pay off.  The training he went through before becoming a marine may have been tough, but it was only a taste of what is to come.  He left home on April sixteenth to be stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California, and undergo his training to become a RECON marine.  That training, he said, is to be ten times as tough.  It is only to make them better though.  He even wants to do the hardest thing he can now, to accomplish something he would have not been able to do before becoming a marine.  “It’s made me a better person.”

Once transformed into a marine, a marine will forever live by the ethics and values of the Marine Corps.  PFC Fowler looks forward to protecting our great country we live in.  Regardless of your political opinions, one thing cannot be argued: Men and women have died for us to be free, to make this nation what it is.  Our responsibility is to support our military, be thankful for what they do each and every day and live each moment to its fullest by serving and caring for others because we have the freedom to do so.  Perhaps we can always be just as faithful to them as they have been to us.