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Current Service Status
USMC Veteran
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Current/Last Rank
Master Sergeant
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Current/Last Primary MOS
0369-Infantry Unit Leader
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Current/Last MOSGroup
Infantry
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Previously Held MOS
0351-Assaultman
0911-Drill Instructor
8014-Billet Designator-Enlisted
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Primary Unit
2009-2012, 8014, MMEA-64, MMEA-6 Enlisted Retention Section
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Service Years
1996 - 2015
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Official/Unofficial USMC Certificates
Certificate of Commendation
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Operation Enduring Freedom
Water Survival Intermediate (WSI)
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2003, USMC Drill Instructors Association
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2003, Marine Corps Association and Foundation (MCA&F)
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2006, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), Post 5689, Burney Intermountain Post (Member At Large) (Burney, California)
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2009, Marine Corps League, Mineola; Detachment 1278 (Immediate Past Golden Rodent) (Mineola, Texas)
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2010, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)
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What are you doing now:
I am currently medically retired from the Marine Corps. I volunteer with the local Marine Corps League Detachment that I founded last year (2017) as a Countywide detachment. I am currently the Commandant (President/CEO) of this detachment (Ellis County Detachment 1452).
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1996, Boot Camp (San Diego, CA), I/3015
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2003, Boot Camp (San Diego, CA), H/2021
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2003, Boot Camp (San Diego, CA), H/2149
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2004, Boot Camp (San Diego, CA), H/2077
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2004, Boot Camp (San Diego, CA), H/2014
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2004, Boot Camp (San Diego, CA), H/2042
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2004, Boot Camp (San Diego, CA), H/2173
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2005, Boot Camp (San Diego, CA), H/2105
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2005, Boot Camp (San Diego, CA), H/2141
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1996-1996, 0351, I Co, 3rd Recruit Training Bn (Cadre/Instructors)
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1996-1997, 0351, School of Infantry (SOI WEST)
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1997-2000, 0351, 2nd Bn, 3rd Marines (2/3)
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1998-1998, 0351, USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3)
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1998-1998, USS Juneau (LPD-10)
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2000-2003, 0351, A Co, Infantry Training Bn, School of Infantry (SOI WEST)
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2003-2006, 0911, H Co, 2nd Recruit Training Bn (Cadre/Instructors) RTR, MCRD San Diego, CA
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2006-2009, 0369, 2nd Bn, 7th Marines (2/7)
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2006-2009, 0369, MCAGCC 29 Palms, CA
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2009-2012, 8014, MMEA-64, MMEA-6 Enlisted Retention Section
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2003, USMC Drill Instructors Association
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2003, Marine Corps Association and Foundation (MCA&F)
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2006, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), Post 5689, Burney Intermountain Post (Member At Large) (Burney, California)
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2009, Marine Corps League, Mineola; Detachment 1278 (Immediate Past Golden Rodent) (Mineola, Texas)
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2010, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)
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Reflections on MSgt Bell's
US Marine Corps Service
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PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE MARINE CORPS.
In high school, I had no real sense of direction beyond graduation, but I did know that I didn't want to go to college right away. Knowing that I had to figure something out, I started thinking about the military as a way to experience life more thoroughly than staying in my hometown of Ennis, Texas. I went to a college fair at the high school and ended up talking to several of the services Recruiters. When I went home that night I told myself that whichever one contacted me first must want me to join the most, and the Marines fit that bill. I ended up going into the Marines with a friend on the buddy program and we spent our first 4 years together, stationed in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
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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?
I went into the service as an Infantryman. I knew that if I was going to go into the Marine Corps that I needed to do something that not everyone does, or is able to do. Every job is important in the Marine Corps, but the Infantry is the backbone of it, being the only reason that it exists. I had no intention of staying in past four years, but it seems that every time that my time was up and a decision had to be made I was able to stay in and I made the decision to continue on. My family was a huge influence in every one of those decisions as my wife and I had to make the crucial decision that would affect the rest of our lives. As I picked up the rank of Master Sergeant and worked in the Weapons Company as the Operations Chief and the Battalion S-3 (Operations section) as the Battalion Operations Chief my issues from combat started to come to light. I can't say that they started to surface because they had always been there, but I had always seemed to suppress them. In this command, I was diagnosed with combat PTSD and Major Depressive Disorder. My problems became worse and it was apparent that I needed to leave the service. I was medically retired on a medical board and with Terminal Leave I served a total of nineteen years and two months. My family and I moved back to Texas where we live in our hometown.
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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?
In Second Battalion Seventh Marines (2/7) in Twentynine Palms, California I was assigned to the Weapons Company's Mobile Assault Platoon 2 (MAP-2). We deployed to Iraq in 2007 and Afghanistan in 2008. I was a Platoon Sergeant for both deployments. In Afghanistan, our platoons changed from a MAP construct to a Combined Arms Anti-Tank (CAAT) where MAP-2 was turned into CAAT-2. I was transferred to the CAAT-1 platoon due to manpower issues.
Iraq was the most significant of the two for me, as well as for CAAT-2. In Iraq, we were based out of Camp Fallujah. There were 3 platoons in the Company that would rotate with each other every week. We would spend a week at a time out in the 'Field' on Operations before we would rotate back through Camp Fallujah for a few hours to restock and resupply while en route to relieve the other platoon for the next week's Operations. The following week we would rotate back to Camp Fallujah where we would stay for a week on the Battalion's Quick Reaction Force (QRF).
On April 16, 2007 MAP-2's Bravo Section (which the Platoon Commander 1stLt Shaun Blue led) was attacked by a roadside bomb (Improvised Explosive Device, IED). The bomb was placed under the asphalt of the road, on top of a culvert. The Marines didn't see the command detonation wire which was ran in a zig zag pattern starting away from their direction of travel. The explosion blew directly under the front passenger side tire which was where Lt Blue sat. The vehicle was thrown into the air and forward a good distance.
The whole situation was stressful for everyone. 1stLt Shaun Blue and his driver LCpl Jesse Delattore were killed in the attack and LCpl Gary Huber (Gunner), LCpl Denny Salisbury (backseat dismount) and LCpl Manny Provencio (backseat dismount) were critically injured.
On June 12, 2017 LCpl Johnny Strong was shot in the head by a sniper and instantly killed while on a dismounted patrol. Several others were injured (some critical and some not). This platoon went through a tremendous amount of trauma with one event after the other. Trying to keep everything and everyone together was extremely hard. When the new Platoon Commander came in it made matters even worse as he turned the platoon on its head. It was done unintentionally as he was Lt Blue's best friend and the Company Executive Officer (XO) who stepped down from him position to follow through on a promise to Lt Blue.
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