Photo By Sgt. Jeff Drew | Rantoul, Ill., native Cpl. Josh McCormick, a communications Marine with 1st Battalion,...... read more read more
Subscribe
FIRE BASE FIDDLERS GREEN, Helmand province, Afghanistan – A sprinter by trade, Josh McCormick grew up with the wind on his heels. The Rantoul, Ill., native grew up in the small, farming community playing soccer and football to stay in shape, but his passion was sprinting the track.
The 100- and 200-meter dash were his events, and he helped take Rantoul Township High School to the state championships several times throughout his high school career. It was a talent that would benefit him during his Marine Corps career and provide a solid foundation of fitness for his current deployment to Afghanistan.
“The competition was the best part,” said the 22-year-old McCormick. “The adrenaline rush right before a race starts – your heart starts beating really fast – that was a major reason why I raced.”
His junior year he pulled his hamstring and then re-pulled it again his senior year, causing him to sit out the rest of his senior season. The news would go from bad to worse as he finished out his senior year.
“My original plans were to go to college with my two best friends,” reminisced McCormick. “At the end of senior year they got into a car accident – one of them died; the other was paralyzed for life. After that I knew I wanted to be a Marine. I talked to my friend, who is still paralyzed to this day. I asked him if I should enlist because we had talked about it all the time and he said, ‘Go do it before you can’t do it.’”
McCormick worked the summer of 2008 after graduating in a family business for heating and air-conditioning and gave a lot of thought to his future and what his friend had said. He would be the first member of his family to enlist, and he knew the Marine Corps would be the most challenging of any service, catering to his competitive nature. He enlisted when the summer ended.
Initially, his experience as a sprinter presented him with a challenge during the three-mile portion of the Physical Fitness Test, a yearly test of physical strength and endurance. However, it helped him with the sprinting portion of the Combat Fitness Test, also a yearly test, geared toward testing a Marines’ ability to perform in a combat situation.
“I was like, ‘Wow, three miles. I don’t know; this is going to be tough. I’m a sprinter; I don’t do long distance,’” said McCormick. “I ended up coping with it pretty well, and I’m not that bad at it.”
McCormick hasn’t had much time to run lately as a communications Marine currently finishing the last leg of a deployment to Afghanistan with 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment. A typical day finds him standing guard on base, doing inventory on communications equipment, or driving in one of the approximate 150 resupply convoys he’s performed in the last six months.
“He’s been doing a great job. Anything we need to get done, we got done,” said Middlebury, Ind., native Cpl. Tyler Smith, an assistant radio chief with 1/12. “He was a mentor to me when I was a lance corporal. I tried to follow what he did and take as much (knowledge) away from him as I could to better and ready myself to be a noncommissioned officer.”
As his time in Afghanistan draws to a close, he looks forward most to seeing his three-year-old daughter and to the future, in which re-enlistment remains a question in his mind.
“You grow up a lot being in the Marine Corps,” mentioned McCormick. “On this deployment I’ve learned a lot about my job, but being in the Marine Corps, you learn a lot about life and experience things other people don’t get to do. I think it’s been a good experience.”
Editor’s note: First Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 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: | 11.10.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 11.10.2011 04:14 |
| Story ID: | 79829 |
| Location: | FIRE BASE FIDDLERS GREEN, HELMAND PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 492 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Illinois native overcomes tragedy, sprints to finish in Helmand, by Sgt Jeff Drew, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT