Where are they now? Serving their country!
For three 2014 Marlow Outlaw graduates, serving their country is their main priority.
Brian Harper, Eric Jay Hornberger and Chris Davis have already departed and have started their training at boot camp at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California. The tough, 13–week training can either make or break any man who joins the service.
Boot camp for the Marines is not your everyday work out- it is a hard-hitting program where trainees will learn to work together, fight exhaustion, and do combat training.
Brian Harper shipped out in September for the 13-week adventure.
Harper said, as the recruiting slogan suggests, that he wants to be the best he can be.
Although boot camp is hard on the prospective Marines, it is also difficult for family members.
“Being the mother of a Marine is one of mixed emotions. I am proud that I have raised a man that wants to serve his country, but it is also very daunting,” Alishia Harper said.
Eric Jay Hornberger shipped out in August.
Hornberger said he chose the Marines in honor of his mother who passed away in December of 2012.
“Serving his country has always been his dream, and after his mom died, it gave him more of a reason to do it. He wanted to make his mom happy.”
-Leighla Usher, 2014 graduate
Chris Davis shipped out in August also.
Davis said he has always been a strong supporter of the Marines and wanted to serve his country.
Current Marlow senior Tyler Powell said he feels Davis’s experience as a Boy Scout helped prepare him for the experience.
“Chris had structure in his life from Boy Scouts. When he became an Eagle Scout, he learned discipline, and the Marines are all about discipline,” Tyler Powell said.
Though it takes strength and discipline to be a Marine, it also takes support from loved ones and the people they are fighting for.
“Not enough people really appreciate our troops. Just to shake their hand and acknowledge what they have done means more than anything to them.”
-Alisha Harper
Hannah Tribbey
MHS exPRESS staff