CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Some Marines spend their first enlistment or two hopping around bases and stations in the United States. Some Marines will never even set foot outside of the 48 continental states.

One Marine with 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, has done just the opposite in his short, action-packed seven-year career.

Sgt. Timothy Adamovage, a combat engineer with 8th ESB, has been stationed in Hawaii, toured in multiple countries in Southeast Asia, deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and is currently biding his time in Camp Lejeune.

“I was part of a combat assault company out of Hawaii, so I was a combat engineer [with 1st Marine Division] when I deployed to Iraq,” the Exeter, N.H., native explained.

His unit and the location they deployed to during the tumultuous time in Iraq in 2007 made for a dangerous, albeit exciting, deployment, according to Adamovage. When talking about it, he seems more nostalgic than anxious, despite the lingering presence of post traumatic stress disorder symptoms from the tour there.

He described the high intensity levels, the long days and the numerous accomplishments of his platoon. He briefly talked about a vehicle-born improvised explosive device that killed five Marines from another platoon and left a number of his Marines, including himself, “banged around and shaken up.”

Despite the dangers and numerous close-calls, Adamovage spoke about his deployment to Iraq with pride.

“It was just an awesome platoon of a bunch of friends,” he explained. “We all worked really well together and accomplished a lot.”

In fact, Adamovage spoke of all three of his deployments with pride. He admitted he matured a lot through them and took the opportunities presented to him to learn from other’s mistakes. He said he spent the deployment in Afghanistan in early 2010 organizing operations and learning a lot about the administrative side of deployment.

Whether it was kicking in doors in Iraq, training with other country’s militaries in Southeast Asia in 2008, or assisting in the planning and implementation of operations in Afghanistan in 2010, Adamovage learned something new every step of the way.

“When I first came in, I struggled just like any other new Marine,” he concluded. “It was about finding my identity and figuring out what kind of person I want to be. I don’t regret one bit.”

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