D'Alesandro, Terence, GySgt

PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE MARINE CORPS.
I needed direction, structure, and discipline in my life. My Father (an Army Korean War vet) died in 1988 and he always told me that "If you don't serve your country, you have no opinion on anything that your country does". That rang in my head and I realized that my immature ass needed to live up to that responsibility.

WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK. WHERE DID YOU GO TO BOOT CAMP AND WHAT UNITS, BASES, SHIPS OR SQUADRONS WERE YOU ASSIGNED TO? WHAT WAS YOUR REASON FOR LEAVING?
-- Parris Island - Boot Camp 2nd Recruit Training Bn Hotel Co.
-- Camp Geiger - SOI East.
-- Camp Pendleton - B 1/1 - rifleman, team leader, squad leader.
-- Quantico - Marine Corps Intelligence Activity/Security Office - NCOIC.
-- EAS - 1995, Reenlisted 2004.
-- RS Columbia, SC - awaiting orders.
-- Camp Lejeune - F 2/9 - squad leader, platoon Sgt.
-- Parris Island - 3d Recruit Training Battalion, India, Quebec, Mike Co. - DI, SDI, Series GySgt
-- Camp Pendleton - L 3/5 Company GySgt, 3/5 Police Advisor Team - 2 SNCOIC.
-- San Diego - 2d Recruit Training Battalion, Hotel Co. - Series Chief DI. Golf and Hotel Co. - acting 1stSgt.

I went to college for two full years before the Corps on a combined partial music and baseball scholarship. I had 62 credit hours sitting at SC State University not being used. I got out after one enlistment and went back to SCSU and finished my Sociology degree and stayed out for 7 1/2 years while raising my son and working the road as an SC State Trooper/SCHP. My son went in Corps at 18 and I went back in and stayed to retirement. I felt like I was just visiting the 1st Civ Div so I fixed myself. I do not regret a day of it all and I love being retired now because the Corps is a young man's game, especially in the infantry.

IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN ANY MILITARY OPERATIONS, INCLUDING COMBAT, HUMANITARIAN AND PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS, PLEASE DESCRIBE THOSE WHICH MADE A LASTING IMPACT ON YOU AND, IF LIFE-CHANGING, IN WHAT WAY?
Operations Desert Shield/Storm - Saudi Arabia/Kuwait - Rifleman.
Operation Restore Hope - Mogadishu, Somalia - Team Leader.
Operation Iraqi Freedom - Baghdad, Iraq - Squad Leader.
Operation Iraqi Freedom - Baghdad, Iraq - Platoon Sergeant.
Operation Enduring Freedom - Sangin/Kajaki, Afghanistan - Company GySgt.

Desert Storm was a euphoric victory with very few losses of Marines. It was a good intro for me as a young Marine to what purpose and sacrifice mean to Marines and what our reality is. Somalia was a filthy, dangerous shithole, period. They despised us. I gave a little kid Skittles while on patrol and his mother ran out and beat him to the ground for taking them. He could not have been 10 yrs. old. It is burned into my brain. We did our jobs in a filthy, mean vibed place. Both Iraq tours were inner-city core Baghdad with F 2/9. It was like patrolling Brooklyn, NY. We saw what a beautiful city that could be if it had peace. Some good locals there who loved us, some I would not piss on if they were on fire. We did our jobs every day. Afghanistan was a deadly, nasty mess. We controlled Sangin and gave a hell of a lot of pain out to the Taliban bastards. 3/5 had 26 KIA and 190 WIA. May they all RIP and our WIA recover. Nobody in any company in 3/5 will ever forget that place and the job we did there. We are Marines, period. We brought hell to them every single day and I know they remember us too.

OF ALL YOUR DUTY STATIONS OR ASSIGNMENTS, WHICH ONE DO YOU HAVE FONDEST MEMORIES OF AND WHY? WHICH WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE?
Every one of them holds fond memories for me but Camp Pendleton, in particular, holds many memories of me being a young snuffie from Columbia, South Carolina in SoCal and finding my way into manhood, independence, responsibility, and maturity. Lifelong friends made there and I will always love the atmosphere there. Two tours on the drill field, one at PI, the other at SD, will also always be special since we shaped the future of the Corps on a daily basis while working ourselves to the bone doing it.

FROM YOUR ENTIRE MILITARY SERVICE, DESCRIBE ANY MEMORIES YOU STILL REFLECT BACK ON TO THIS DAY.
Being an escort for our KIA from Iraq in 2005, PFC Lewis Calipini. I escorted his body home to Hawaii from Dover AFB then to his burial in the National Cemetery on Oahu. It is forever etched into my mind. 2/9 will not forget "Caterpillar".

Finding out Sgt Roy was KIA in Afghanistan in 2009. I knew him as a PFC in 2/9 and knew he was going to be a hell of a Marine. He ended up in MARSOC and lost his life for his country when he was a Sgt/squad leader.

Sgt Tawney KIA in Afghanistan in 2010. A hell of a Sgt/Squad Leader and his wife was pregnant when we deployed. That will never leave my mind as well.

1stLt Byler telling me while I was carrying the stretcher to the medevac bird, "Gunny, make the pain go away!". He made it but he lost both legs. I'll never forget that.

Cpl Faust and LCpl Gallegos both WIA in Afghanistan and losing limbs but being okay. LCpl Barron and LCpl Billmeyer, both WIA in Afghanistan and lost limbs but won't be forgotten by their Lima 3/5 brothers. Billmeyer told the Corpsman before he put him on the bird, "Tell Capt Murray that I said to fuck these bitches up for me!" Then he said, "My nubs hurt Doc!". That's the type of Marines who are in the Corps.

Doc Herrera stuffing gauze into Billmeyer's stumps saving his life when the tourniquets wouldn't take because it was too high up the leg.

LCpl Grosky WIA telling me while on the stretcher, "FUCK YEAH GUNNY, OOHRAH!" with his Achilles tendon blown apart and his right calf muscle gone.

LCpl Leasure, a hell of a SAW gunner, being shot through the leg. That tough bastard is okay.

LCpl's Broehm and Pearson murdered by a rogue ANA soldier in cold blood while standing post. They were shot from behind. They had no chance. Putting them into body bags when Doc couldn't save them. I watched LCpl Pearson take his last breath on the stretcher waiting on the bird to get to the LZ.

2ndLt Kelly, the best Platoon Commander I've ever seen, blown away by an IED that was in a stream. He had no chance.

LCpl Litinski, a triple amputee from an IED. LCpl Goebel shot through the neck and asking for a cigarette and a woman while on the stretcher awaiting medevac.

LCpl Mortinsen giving me a "pound" while on the stretcher with shrapnel wounds all over his left side from an RPG.

Cpl Pearson shot through the leg and being the tough bastard that he is. He's fine and wishes that he was still with his boys doing their job.

LCpl Corzine, one of my favorites, losing both legs to an IED. He made it to Bethesda and hung on for three weeks. He died Christmas Eve 2010 with his mom and brother, LCpl Corzine (0311 with 2/5), by his side. He'll coordinate Gunny's working parties in heaven for me.

LCpl "Cafe" Laate wounded by shrapnel. He lost his left eye. He's okay and he won't have to hump that PRC-119 around anymore.

Cpl Montgomery lost both legs in an IED blast. Another one of our awesome Team Leaders and NCO's. Monty will be missed.

Cpl Little, another tough bastard, shot through the arm and back on patrol as we speak. He's what a Marine NCO is.

Cpl Wyatt KIA by a gunshot wound in the head. I'll miss talking baseball with you brother.

LCpl Parker, another tough, blue-collar senior LCpl who LOVED my working parties. The kid works until he drops. Now he's a triple amputee but his toughness will get him through.

Sgt Sherwood with shrapnel all over his arm. Wrong place at the wrong time and the grenade found him, but he'll make it too because he's another tough motherfucker.

Sgt Kelly with shrapnel all over and in his ankle and not wanting to get on the bird. That doesn't surprise me at all. Yet another tough Lima 3/5 bastard.

LCpl Long losing both legs and being angrier that he's leaving than the pain he was in. Just a boot straight out of SOI to Lima 3/5 then straight to combat. A warrior.

SSgt Garcia getting shot through the face in one cheek, out the other with no teeth or tongue damage. A lucky Marine, big time. Cpl Ramirez dragging him behind the wall and patching him up in seconds because Doc was with another Fire Team too far away at the time. SSgt Garcia stood up with a bandaged head and continued to fire on the enemy all the way back to our consolidation point and insisted on walking to the medevac LZ. The last thing he said to all of us was, "I'll be back in a week, what do you all want from the Camp Leatherneck PX? It's on me, Marines". Another 3/5 warrior.

LCpl Gilliam losing both his legs in an IED blast. Another tough bastard. Another one of those snuffies who could have been a Sgt. The kid barely talked, fought like a warrior and was always working. Cleaning gear, cleaning his MATV, saying, "How's it going, Gunny?" and looking me in the eye waiting on my response because he had his Company Gunny's back on all those resupply missions that I rode with him on. What a tough fucking kid.

LCpl Brown caught shrapnel in the face from an IED explosion. He'll be okay. He's a great kid who will pull through this with a smile on his face. I'll get to continue to talk about international soccer with him.

SSgt Voeller getting shot through the shoulder and staying the happy go lucky guy that he is afterward. He's a former recruiter who could sell you anything and that laid back mentality will pull him through anything, including his recovery. He came back to his Platoon 2 weeks later.

Sgt Amores getting blown up by an IED. Triple amputee but never knew what hit him. He didn't suffer and that's all that matters. A hell of a Marine, God rest his soul. RIP brother.

LCpl Flora, a former Silent Drill Platoon/8th and I Marine, getting hit twice in a month by an IED. The first time, a concussion, the second time getting some shrapnel and not wanting to be medevac'd. Yet ANOTHER tough Lima 3/5 bastard who refuses to go down regardless of the danger or his health. His Fire Team is all that matters to him.

All the Lima 3/5 Docs and 3/5 PAT-2 Docs who have saved lives with their work and fearlessness. And to the USAF and British medevac pilots who land those birds wherever we need them and get there fast as hell. And the Combat Engineers who take point for us, sweeping with their metal detectors, finding IED's before they blow us up.

LCpl Maenza and LCpl Congilosi, both WIA Combat Engineers serving for us and with us side by side, and the Afghan Army and Afghan Police who fight right beside us. RIP Afghan soldier who was killed right beside a Lima 3/5 Marine on 23 Oct 2010 in Sangin, Afghanistan. The three Afghan Police officers who were wounded in Kajaki, Afghanistan from IED blasts while serving with us and beside us. One lost both legs and the other two took shrapnel. May they live a productive life. RIP Afghan Police officer who was killed in an IED strike in Kajaki, Afghanistan on 28 Dec 2010 while serving with us and beside us. RIP Abdul Hamid (Gangster), the Afghan Police officer who found over 50 IED's while fighting side by side with us and pulling them out of the ground with his hands and disarming them. I'll always remember your smile, your broken English and your all out mental toughness and determination to eliminate the Taliban from your country. They are good men and warriors.

Cpl Pyeatt from 2nd Radio Bn KIA on his first patrol in country. Killed by an IED in Kajaki. He didn't suffer. He was with us on our patrol to intercept enemy radio chatter and he was fearless out there with that heavy comm intercept gear, doing his signal intelligence job with the grunts with no questions asked and no hesitation. Me and Cpl's Bruce and Ramirez put him in the body bag in the wadi and we know he died being a Marine and he died in support of the 3/5 Grunts trying to make a difference in this hell hole.

Our Afghan interpreter, "Mikey", screaming in agony from the IED blast that killed Cpl Pyeatt and the shrapnel that hit him in the ass and legs. We got him out of there with Cpl Pyeatt's body on the medevac bird and he's fine now.

Cpl Ferguson, Bravo Battery 1/10 dog handler, who goes out with us all the time, WIA from an IED that broke his ankle and tore up the other lower leg. His dog, Buckshot, is okay and Cpl Fergie was laughing and smoking a cigarette on the LZ waiting for his bird. Yet another tough bastard. We'll miss him and Buckshot.

Cpl Evans WIA with two broken teeth from the IED that got Cpl Ferguson. Got his bell rung a bit too but he'll be fine. Some rocks and shrapnel got him in the chops. We'll miss "Reverend Evans" around here while he's gone.

Sgt Finney, a Lima 3/5 warrior, took shrapnel to the face and is back on patrol. A tough Grunt bitch and a kid I'd go to hell within a minute because we'd come back and laugh about it.

LCpl Goins, a quiet warrior, just like LCpl Corzine was. Shrapnel wounds and back to work already humping his M249 SAW. The kid says 5 words a day and will shoot the Taliban in the face and go play spades. A damn Lima 3/5 Grunt.

Cpl Bruce losing both legs to an IED in Kajaki and telling us "make sure you get my IPOD to me. I can't sit in the fucking hospital with no music". A tough, proficient Squad Leader who was a lifer Grunt if I ever knew one. Absolutely lived the Infantry every day.

Cpl Roed getting a compound fracture from an IED in Kajaki and sitting there on morphine puffing on a cigarette asking if everyone else is okay. Fearless Point Man who's luck ran out one day. Yet another tough bastard who won't stay down.

God bless our fallen and wounded Lima 3/5 and 3/5 PAT-2 brothers.

WHAT PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF FROM YOUR MILITARY CAREER?
I'm most proud of the fact that I never once sold out a Marine or Marines to gain a personal advantage. Not one single time in my career did I do anything solely to make myself look good. I never spent one day of my career in insecurity or with a "careerist" mindset. Every single Marine Officer or Senior Enlisted I ever served with always got whatever I thought without mincing words or feelings. I only stayed in the Corps for the NCO's and the Snuffies I served with because they were what kept me going. I detested careerism and corporate mindset and "group think" in the Corps and I prided myself on never ever buying into that bullshit. I never hazed or degraded the new guys in any unit and when I was on the drill field I always talked to the new Hats so that they could have a smooth transition into that demanding duty. Not one single day did I treat the Corps as a stage to perform on. I treated it as a big family and not a day goes by that I don't think about those crazy bastards that I served with at every duty station because without them I would have been nothing. At the end of the day, I was just a grunt Gunny who was a Hat and did some combat tours....that's nothing that thousands of others have done way before me. That kept me from ever viewing my career as a "look at me" show because that is what the Corps can become if you don't watch yourself closely and those around you. I'll simply be a Marine till the day that they put my ass in the ground and I start fertilizing daisies.

OF ALL THE MEDALS, AWARDS, FORMAL PRESENTATIONS AND QUALIFICATION BADGES YOU RECEIVED, OR OTHER MEMORABILIA, WHICH ONE IS THE MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY?
My Drill Instructor ribbon because I trained all my recruits to one day be a better Marine than me. For them to never make it about their career or about themselves. I put my heart and soul and passion into them so that they could one day teach the next generation of Marines how to love being able to just say, "I am a Marine" and let that be enough.

My Combat Action Ribbon because it's earned right beside my brothers, nobody running away from the gunfire and IED's. Marines all-around running TO the fire and IED's, without having to be told to. They do it because they are warriors and we earned it beside each other. It's what we get paid for, what Marines have died for and what Marines STAND for. It's our purpose as Marines: to fight the enemy, and we all earned our CAR the hard way, together.

And lastly but most importantly, the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor that I wear with pride every day, feeling lucky and humble to be able to wear the same emblem that Marines from the past wore before us. I will always look up to Marines from the past because they were here before us. They won battles way before we were even thought of and that makes me wear the EGA with pride every day because it's earned, not given.

WHICH INDIVIDUAL(S) FROM YOUR TIME IN THE MILITARY STAND OUT AS HAVING THE MOST POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?
Five individuals, first my Heavy DI from recruit training, then Sgt Zimiman Brown (TWS member/GySgt Ret.). He remains the most passionate Marine I've ever seen. I emulated him on the drill field and found myself screaming the same stuff he did to recruits because it meant everything to me then and it still does now.

Second is SgtMaj Mike Daley (TWS member), my Co. 1stSgt in 2/9 at Lejeune before I PCS'd to the Drill Field. He inspired me to go be a Hat even though I was 37 years old and he continues to guide me and mentor me even though we are of the same age group. He's a hell of a Marine and a hell of a SgtMaj. If it's not about Marines and their well-being and development, he's not interested, period.

The third is MSgt James Walters, my SNCOIC at Quantico. The consummate SNCO OF Marines.....he PT'd our asses off, mentored his ass off, set an example of what a larger than life SNCO really is for all of us. He played full court basketball with us every single Thursday, talked sports with us and talked to us like a man. He did all of this for two straight years without ever compromising his status or being our "buddy". To the day I left that unit I looked up to him as an MSgt even though I knew him personally. He was our MSgt and we would have taken a bullet for that man. Got an ass chewing of a lifetime from him and an hour later we were on a PT run, just me and him, with him building me back up and telling me that "Sgt D, you're better than that, understand?"......and then it was back to talking about how his Cincinnati Reds were finally going to win a World Series and how my Yankees were the Evil Empire and all that was wrong with baseball, etc.. He was a beast of a Marine.

Fourth is SSgt Brent Sheets (TWS Member), though he'd probably cuss me out for putting this on here. This guy came to the drill field at PI a year after he got out of Bethesda for wounds suffered in Iraq from an IED. He has a cadaver's spleen inside his body because his spleen got split in half from shrapnel. He came to me when I was an SDI and he was my 3rd Hat. A walking, talking example of Marine Corps passion, complete with a PH and a Combat "V" on his chest, not to mention being 6 feet, 200 lbs. looking like a human bowling ball of sweat and one of the loudest human beings I've ever been around. When he blasted a recruit it shook the squad bay. He was more passionate about the way they wore the uniforms, the way they packed their packs, the way that they carried themselves than any Hat I ever worked with. Working with this guy made me bring my double "A" game every day and I was the SDI. Every day was an absolute blast training the Hogs with this guy. He PCS'd to Pendleton once I got here some and him could play as much golf together as humanly possible and that's just what we do. The best Marine I've ever served with, hands down, and the best Hat I've ever seen in 14 cycles on the drill field. Go ask his former recruits about him and they'll say the same thing.

Lastly is GySgt Patrick Noel, the epitome of a Marine and Hat. I was his Heavy for platoon 3009 and this guy walked the squad bay and carried himself like he was a god, though probably the most humble guy I've ever served with. He came to the US as a kid from Grenada after the conflict there and he wanted to be a U. S. Marine because according to him, "Marines saved my country, bruddah". He called me "bruddah" every day, even in front of recruits and it was like your father was saying it to you. He'd tell the recruits of him being a little boy and seeing the Marines in the streets freeing his nation and it was all I and SSgt Pelaez could do in the duty hut to hold the tears back. A professional's pro to the max. Saw him in Afghanistan at Camp Leatherneck and we hugged like brothers. If I can be half the pro that he is, I've done well.

I also want to add the SNCO's in my unit back in the early '90's when I was a young snuffie PFC and LCpl who were all Vietnam vets: MGySgt's Hough, Gilson and Pritchard, MSgt Diaz, GySgt's Bocra and Menchaca....these men were warriors and they led us, mentored us, taught us, and demanded of us in a manner that made them father figures to us. They were larger than life Marines to all of us and I often wonder if they have any idea of the profound effect that they all had on us as young men and as young Marines. Semper Fidelis to them all.

CAN YOU RECOUNT A PARTICULAR INCIDENT FROM YOUR SERVICE, WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN FUNNY AT THE TIME, BUT STILL MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Burning shit in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm and using the wrong fuel. Definitely not diesel and having a 50-foot tower of flames raging and Marines wondering what the fuck was going on. Hilarious. But I should have checked the fuel cans better but "the PFC didn't know, Sir".

WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY SERVING, WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY?
SC State Trooper during the years I was out of the Corps. Currently, I am an MCJROTC Instructor, Branham High School, San Jose, CA.

WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS ARE YOU A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? WHAT SPECIFIC BENEFITS DO YOU DERIVE FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIPS?
DI Association - fellowship with brothers who have sweated on the streets of PI and SD and in the squad bays.

VFW - it's an honor to be a member of an organization comprised of combat vets.

Marine Corps Association - it's ours and I'll support it and what they've done at the USMC Museum is awesome.

IN WHAT WAYS HAS SERVING IN THE MILITARY INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CAREER? WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST ABOUT YOUR TIME IN THE SERVICE?
The focus, discipline, and accountability I learned in the Corps has guided me and the all-out unselfishness and work ethic you only find in the Corps, even though we don't see it all the time because we're so hard on ourselves, has guided and shaped my life to the core.

BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY JOINED THE MARINE CORPS?
Unselfishness is the most important leadership trait by far. Marines who fear you will follow you but they'll hate you and you'll regret that when you mature. Marines who love you will die for you, period. And it's not about "loving" on the boys or being soft, it's about looking them in the eye and telling them that we're going to work our asses off, it's not always going to be pretty, it's going to fucking suck a LOT of the time but I've got your back, you have mine and we're brothers. Someone is in charge but he's your big brother. Now let's go! And they'll follow you to hell.

IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU REMEMBER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND THE FRIENDS YOU SERVED WITH.
Great bonding place and meeting past and present Marines and developing new friendships. You can't do this anywhere else. And not to mention finding past brothers and sisters. It's a great tool.

DMR

Published in TWS "Voices" May 2, 2011

KC 5/12/19