Saipan native keeps artillery battery rolling

Photo By Capt. James Mercure | Private First Class Damian Hideo, from Afetna, Saipan, joined the Marine Corps to follow his family’s tradition of service. Hideo, motor transport operator, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, wants become an emergency medical technician when his Marine Corps contract is up.  

AFGHANISTAN

04.28.2012

Story by Sgt. James Mercure 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ZEEBRUGGE, Afghanistan - What if the first steps you took on American soil were upon the yellow footprints at the gateway to Marine Corps bootcamp?

Private First Class Damian Hideo, motor transport operator, Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, was recruited from his hometown of Afetna, Saipan, and his first time flying overseas was to become a Marine.

“I joined right at 17 to go along with the Marine Corps lineage in my family,” Hideo said. “I went to boot camp with two of my classmates from school in Saipan, so I knew they were going through the same things as I was, and it helped me get through it.”

While growing up in Saipan, a part of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Hideo learned how to work on engines from his father. He also knew that he wanted to follow his family’s tradition of service in the Marine Corps, and so signing up as a motor transport operator seemed like the right fit to him. Hideo enlisted from a Marine Corps recruiting station in Saipan.

“I thought I knew a lot about engines and how vehicles operate, but I’ve learned so much about diesel mechanics and how to fix these vehicles out here since I’ve been in the Marine Corps,” Hideo said.

Hideo says the experience has been worth the obstacles he has faced throughout his career.

“At my last duty station we went to Korea, Japan and the Philippines, which are places I’d never thought I’d be able to go to,” Hideo said. “And now that I’m deployed to Afghanistan, I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do in the Marine Corps.”

Although Hideo is a private first class, his experience level in the motor transport section is valued throughout Golf Battery.

“He always wants to be the lead vehicle in a convoy,” said Sgt. Michael Abeyta Jr., from Tucson, Ariz., and Hideo’s squad leader. “His expertise and experience with these (vehicles) in our mobile section is an incredible asset to have. He is my Marine, but I have had to swap him out with different Marines because he jumps from squad to squad whenever they have to go mobile. He is one of the best motor transport Marines we have out here.”

When Hideo’s enlistment ends, he plans to move in with family in Boise, Idaho and become an emergency medical technician, continuing his selfless service.

“I was inspired to become an EMT during combat lifesaver course and live-tissue training as a Marine,” Hideo said. “I love working on cars, but I was raised to lend a helping hand, and if being an EMT lets me do that, then it is something I hope to do for the rest of my life.”

Editor’s note: Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, is part of Regimental Combat Team 6. RCT-6 falls under 1st 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: 04.28.2012
• Date Posted: 04.28.2012 08:34
• Story ID: 87526
• Location: AF