Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46Young Marines: A Summer of Great Life Experiences By YM/GySgt Tyler Smith Chino Valley (CA) What is the longest you’ve been at a Young Marines function without going home? This summer,I spent 5 weeks away from home with Young Marines from across the nation. My school year came to an abrupt end as I gave up a week and a half of basketball practices and games and tournaments. I enjoy the game of basketball, but what I was about to pursue with the Young Marines was even more fulfilling. It all started with me going to Advanced Leadership School (ALS) for two weeks in Oregon. Fifty other Young Marines and I were all gathered to learn, and to better ourselves and our units. We learned all this the first week then we applied it the second week to JLS and SLS. Aside from the classroom, I had made great friendships with the other ALS grads and memo- ries that will never be forgotten.We’re all done with leadership schools, but it doesn’t stop there. We now have to bring what we’ve learned, and ap- ply that to our units. It’s our job to mentor our subordinates and help them become great drug-free leaders. Less than 24 hours af- ter ALS, I set off to Camp Pendleton, CA to cadre my local JLS and SLS for a week. I taught classes, drill, small details that I learned at ALS. The day I finished my local school, I was on a plane heading to begin two weeks at Great American History Adventure-Civil War. These two weeks were the highlight of my summer. We started in South Carolina, going to where the war started at Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie. The best landmark that we visited in South Carolina was the Parris Island museum (obvi- ously, on Parris Island). We also went to the Columns Planta- tion, and toured a number of museums. After South Carolina, we headed up to North Carolina by bus. Traveling by bus was so fun. In North Carolina we visited the Museum of the Cape Fear Historic Complex, Averasboro Battlefield and Museum, Chicora Cemetery, and Bentonville Battlefield. We then drove up to Virginia. We went to Appomattox Court House where General Lee surrended the Confederate army to the Union. Then, we went to Pamplin Park where we spent a day in the life of a Confederate soldier. We dressed in the uniforms as worn during the war, we carried muskets, ate the things that they ate, learned how to drill as they did, and slept as they slept. Other places we visited were Museum of the Confederacy, the American Civil War Center, the Richmond Battlefield, and Browns Island tour. That was all the first week and we still had another one to go. We drove through Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia. We visited Manassas, and after Manassas , we went to Harpers Ferry. Our next stop, Antietam: the bloodiest one-day battle in American History; 23,000 soldiers were either killed, wound- ed, or missing after 12 hours of the battle. This battle led to Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The next day we spent it at the turning point in the war,Get- tysburg.This battle provided the setting of Presdient Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg address. The rest of the week we were in Washington DC. We viewed so many iconic places like Arling- ton National Cemetery, and Ford’s Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was shot. We toured Capitol Hill and visited the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress. We also toured the memorials to WWII, Lincoln, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, Jr., Franklin Dela- no Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson. We went to the famous Smithsonian Museums, the Newseum, the DEA Museum, the National Museum of the Holocaust, and we attended the very motivating Evening Parade at the Marine Barracks. This event was so cool, inspiring, motivating and has become a universal symbol of the professionalism, discipline, and Esprit de Corps of the United States Marine Corps. After returning home, within a few hours, I was back on a plane heading to Veracruz, Mexico to visit family. This (of course) was a non- Young Marine event. I was able to relax for a week and just enjoy my family. Then before I knew it, I was back home getting ready for the start of my junior year. My very last event ending this amaz- ing summer was participating in the 5K Generations of Honor virtual run. I was not able to attend the actual event of the Navajo Code Talkers in Window Rock, AZ, but by doing this, it allowed me to connect. Young Marines, thank you for an amazing summer. YOUNG MARINES ESPRIT ONLINE 31