The decision to join the armed services can be sparked by any number of events or circumstances. In the case of one local man, it was a visit to a Landers fireworks show…
What makes someone choose one branch of the armed services over another? For Matthew Brodeur of Brea, it was the camaraderie Marines have for each other. “I’ve always been torn between joining the Army or Marines. I think it was the brotherhood more than anything.” Brodeur was visiting his uncle Chris Gubler, who owns Gubler Orchids in Landers, for the Third of July celebration in 2011, when he got to talking with the Marines with the static displays from 3rd Battalion, 11the Marines, and the Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit, from Twentynine Palms. What he heard from them convinced him to enlist in the Marine Corps during his senior year of high school. “I thought I could make myself better in the Marine Corps than in the Army.” Private First Class Brodeur graduated from boot camp in San Diego last November, and then was sent to Twentynine Palms to learn his trade of field radio operator. He will be reporting to his first unit, 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, in Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, Sunday. In May he’ll be back in Twentynine Palms, participating in the Integrated Training Exercise in preparation for his unit’s deployment to Afghanistan. “I always wanted to deploy. And when I heard our unit was going, I got really excited. To have that chance and opportunity.” Brodeur has been visiting the desert about once a month for most of his life and he enjoys the quiet and peacefulness of the desert. The only thing he doesn’t like about the desert? “It’s got its peaceful moments, that I like, and sandstorms, which I hate.”
LANDER FIREWORKS INSPIRE LOCAL MAN TO JOIN MARINES
