Recruiter?s Assistant Brings View from Front

[thedrifter]

U. S. Marine Corps
Cpl. Brandon S. White

Recruiter?s Assistant Brings View from Front


By U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Bobbie J. Bryant
12th Marine Corps District

RECRUITING STATION LOS ANGELES, Calif. ? Hitting the ground running and focusing on the mission, living moment to moment, each step taken is perfectly calculated. This is the way of life for U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Brandon S. White, a rifleman on recruiter's assistance with Recruiting Substation Thousand Oaks, Recruiting Station Los Angeles.

White is finding out just what it takes to enlist Marines of tomorrow, a task he doesn't take lightly.

"You have to go out here with the mindset that you are going to have fun," said White. "You can't just think about it as recruiting or you will not connect with these kids or be approachable. I want to make sure they want to be Marines and (are) not just looking for a job."

White said he is looking for future Marines who want to serve their country. Service to God, Corps and country, pride, and dependability are all things he talks about when he is out on the streets, in the schools and around the community.

Although he is only 22 years old and looks like any other young Marine on recruiter's assistance, a total of 48 inches of scar tissue tell another story.

"I get approached every day by curious people who want to know what happened to me. It opens the door for me to talk about the Marine Corps," he said.

Just a few months ago, White was with men he referred to as "brothers of 1/5" (Company A, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines) as bullets flew by them in Iraq.

Living in the desert was a life experience, he said. "At times, everything went by so fast, I felt like I was in a dream state. Other times it felt like weeks when we were sitting there, waiting to move forward--a lot like boot camp."

Nevertheless, training for war was over and the reality of war set in.

"As we drove across the border, there were big artillery tracers across the sky," White said.

At 7:00 a.m., on the first day of the war, Marines from 1/5 were the first to spill blood and to shed it. Second Lt. Therrell Childers, White's platoon commander, was shot became the first casualty of the war.

The Marines pressed forward with their mission.

On the evening of April 9th, White's battalion, along with a group including Central Intelligence Agency operatives and soldiers from the U.S. Army Special Forces, received an order to move into Baghdad and conduct a raid on a palace in the northern section of the city.

While enroute to the place, the encountered a large enemy force. During the skirmish that followed, White was shot in the hand with a 7.62 mm round fired from an AK-47, which tore his wrist open.

"After we cleared the intersection, I told my driver I had been shot and that I was bleeding a lot," said White. "I was in pain but still under control. He tossed me over a compression bandage. I knew I had to slow the bleeding down so I took off my belt. I was able to use my teeth and right hand to apply a tourniquet."

About five minutes later he was with a corpsman, then was medevaced with other wounded men from his unit on their way to a hospital.

"I would have given anything to be back on the ground with my unit," said White. "I was full of rage for what had happened. That whole day on the 10th was the hardest for the unit. I had also lost my platoon sergeant."

Afterward, White spent six painful weeks in various hospitals such as the makeshift one at Kuwait International Airport, and Balboa Naval Hospital in California.

Now, as he recovers from his injuries, White said he is happy to be able to serve as a Marine Corps recruiter's assistant.

"For the time being, I can't keep up as a rifleman, but I want to give back to the Corps in any way that I can," he said. "Recruiting isn't as much physical as it is mental. I enjoy being out here."

After his end of active service in six months, White plans to earn a degree in psychology to help troubled teens. He also dreams of overcoming his battle wounds and rejoining the Corps as an officer.

For now, when a young person asks about his injury or about joining the Marine Corps, White pulls no punches. "I make it known that if I can go through what I went through and make it back alive, they can do it also," he said. "I tell them, yes, boot camp is tough but once you make it, you will be filled with a sense of pride and fearlessness that only Marines understand. That you can overcome any obstacle and achieve anything you put your mind to."

In the end, if they want to hear more, White sets them up an appointment with a recruiter. But if they don't, he shakes their hand and continues on in hopes of finding someone he would be proud to claim as a fellow Marine. That's someone, he said, who has a warrior spirit and the courage to tough things out--a future U.S. Marine.



U.S. Marine Corps. Cpl. Brandon S. White was injuried in Iraq shares his experience with potential recruits at Recruiting Station Los Angeles. Defense Dept. photo

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Sempers,

Roger

[Jerry D]

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