Fighting fires to firefights, Sardis City, Ala., native excels

Courtesy Photo | A medical evacuation is performed by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jacob Seabrook, a Boaz, Ala., native, on an injured Marine outside Forward Operating Base Habib. Seabrook is responsible for the health and medical attention of the Marines within Company I, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines.  

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HABIB, HELMAND PROVINCE,, AFGHANISTAN

07.20.2011

Story by Lance Cpl. Clayton Vonderahe 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HABIB, Helmand Province, Afghanistan - Petty Officer 3rd Class Jacob Seabrook is a towering man climbing well over 6 feet. His friendly demeanor cannot be overlooked, neither can his football stud mentality. Seabrook is a hospital corpsman from the town of Boaz, Ala., currently serving his first combat deployment with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, in Forward Operating Base Habib, Afghanistan.

Seabrook comes from a strong military family that is diverse throughout all the branches of the service. He was a proud football player for Sardis High School and a volunteer fireman before he decided to join the Navy.

“Everyone in my family is military, everyone,” Seabrook said. “Uncles and aunts and stuff like that. My grandfather was a colonel. Everyone is officers, I’m the only enlisted one in the family.” He said that though they give him a hard time, he never salutes his family.

Seabrook’s strong family ties to the military immediately drew him to the lifestyle. The teamwork he learned and embraced through football and firefighting tailored his mentality to perform well in the military.

“I was a volunteer fireman in Sardis City, Ala.,” said Seabrook. “Those guys taught me about dangers and teamwork and all these things built up to me joining the military.”

Since joining in November 2007, at the age of 19, Seabrook has been promoted to Petty Officer 3rd Class and holds the responsibilities of a non-commissioned officer. He recently took and passed a written test and an oral board to become qualified as an enlisted Fleet Marine Force Warfare Specialist, a coveted honor of being accepted as not only a sailor, but as a fleet Marine.

“He is one of the first ones to get his FMF pin in our area,” said Navy Chief Scott Thomas, the forward aid station leading chief petty officer. “He is a good sailor for a junior enlisted sailor. He’s got an outgoing personality and is well liked. Those traits help a lot with this job.”

The company’s area of operation is a dangerous region, though the simplicity of Afghan lifestyle can be disarming. The open desert that surrounds them is littered with improvised explosive devices and the dense greenery that engulfs the water sources are stomping grounds for enemy forces with rifles and small arms weapons.

“I thought it was going to be a little bit more modern here ,” Seabrook said. “It’s very basic here, plants, farmers and mud houses. They wear basics clothes, no designs. They barely have electricity here. You don’t see very many cars here, just donkeys, things like that.”

The company itself has suffered losses throughout their deployment. Those losses would have been greater had it not been for the unit’s Navy corpsmen.

“The most memorable thing I have done was the [medical evacuation] of my squad leader,” Seabrook said. “He got hit by his second IED in three days. It was an anti tank mine and the shock wave was what got him. The shockwave was so huge it broke the camera in my pocket. He was the kind of guy that just pulled through it, and led the patrol all the way back to the base. As soon as he got there he fell out, so I ran up to him to see what’s going on. He just said ‘Doc, Doc, my stomach is killing me.’ It seemed like he had internal bleeding so I called up the med-evac and got him in there. When we got back everything was quiet, everything was different. When you are on such a small base and you lose one of the key guys, everything is different.”

These experiences are adding to his knowledge of his profession. Seabrook intends to make the Navy his career. He aims to enroll in a corpsman to physician program at the conclusion of his enlistment, whereupon he will become a commissioned officer, and join the ranks of the rest of his family.

“There’s always going to be money in the [civilian] medical field,” Seabrook said, “but right now things are going pretty good for me in the military.”

Seabrook’s deployment is rapidly coming to a conclusion and his daydreams of being surrounded by family and enjoying American culture will rapidly become a reality. His experiences gained will further his career and be something to talk about for the rest of his life, but as of now Seabrook’s sights are set on going home to Boaz and seeing his family.

“The first thing I’m going to do is hug my family. They said they would be there when I get back, so I want to spend some time with them…. And eat some sushi, I miss sushi.”

Editor’s note: Regimental Combat Team 8 is currently assigned to 2nd Marine Division (Forward), which heads Task Force Leatherneck. The task force serves as the ground combat element of Regional Command (Southwest) and works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Force and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces, and enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.”

• Date Taken: 07.20.2011
• Date Posted: 07.24.2011 08:55
• Story ID: 74230
• Location: FORWARD OPERATING BASE HABIB, HELMAND PROVINCE,, AF