Lots of people say they work under fire, or are under the gun, but Lance Corporal Nickolas Franklin—soon to be Corporal Franklin—means it literally. Franklin is a data networking specialist with Regimental Combat Team-7, currently in Afghanistan. Managing editor Tami Roleff spoke with Franklin last week about the challenges of working in a war zone…
Lance Corporal Nickolas Franklin, puts up communication systems—radio, telephone, computer, and satellite—at the Forward Operating Bases, or FOBs, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, so that Marines can talk to each other. “There are people relying on the job I do to get done, or else there’s going to be a lot of problems. If something happens to them, we won’t be able to find out.” His most memorable moment so far of his year-long deployment was at a FOB which came under attack. “A piece of satellite equipment went down and I had to put it back up, while we were all being shot at.” While the Marine Corps is known for the fact that every Marine is a rifleman, Franklin said his job is to repair communications gear. “Other Marines were engaging the targets while I was doing my job. My mission doesn’t stop just because we get shot at; my mission is not to combat the enemy; my mission is to get communications up.” He can laugh about the experience now. “I have to say it’s the fastest I’ve ever put up a piece of communications gear up in my life.” He loves the adrenaline rush, though. “It’s no longer training, it’s the real thing. While he doesn’t want to worry his family, Franklin said he doesn’t keep secrets from his girlfriend, Mariela. “I tell her everything. She’s my guardian angel out here.”
WE TALK TO A MARINE WHO LITERALLY WORKS UNDER FIRE
