Photo By Pfc. Brendan Roethel | Sgt. John A. Martinez submitted a design for a ‘military athlete’ themed t-shirt...... read more read more
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The piercing sound of an alarm clock fills your bedroom, sounding off the start of a new day. As military athletes, we are faced with a decision moments before silencing the alarm; wake up and work out or go back to sleep.
For Gunnery Sgt. Troy Campbell, the procurement chief for Operations at Marine Corps Recruiting Command (MCRC) and a native of Madison Heights, Va., it’s an easy decision to make, and one he lives by every day.
“As military athletes we are faced with a decision to work out when we wake up or sleep in, but ‘Rack or Ruck’ means more than just deciding to go for a run over hitting the snooze button,” said Campbell, a parachute rigger who has been in the Corps’ ranks for 18 years. “It’s a metaphor for the decisions you make that either contribute toward bettering yourself or taking the easy way out and following the status quo. From doing additional training to better your physical fitness scores or improve your occupational skills, to working toward being a better father, mother, husband, or wife, it’s the decision to throw on that ruck that will pay dividends.”
After reading about a ‘military athlete’ themed t-shirt design competition online, Campbell reached out to Sgt. John A. Martinez, the graphics illustrator for MCRC, to solicit help designing a shirt for the competition.
“When Gunnery Sgt. Campbell explained the meaning behind ‘Rack or Ruck’ to me I knew I didn’t want to just make an image comparing the two options,” said Martinez, a Houston, Texas native. “That is why my design is an image of a bed and ruck with the word ‘or’ in bold lettering to challenge its wearers and the people that see it to actively try and better themselves.”
According to Campbell, Martinez took the idea of ‘Rack or Ruck’ and put a lot of thought and work into designing the perfect way to communicate his message.
“I was impressed with Martinez’s willingness to dive ‘all-in’ with the
competition and his dedication to the project even though it wasn’t a mandatory project. He had to design it in his downtime, so it didn’t interfere with his routine tasks,” said Campbell. “He dove right into his work and demonstrated what living up to ‘Rack or Ruck’ means.”
Out of all of the contest’s submissions, Martinez’s design was selected as the winning product. T-shirts showcasing the graphic he designed are now available to folks via the company that hosted the competition.
“I can’t explain how great it feels knowing I was able to win the competition and convey the message in a way that could potentially affect the lives of those that come into contact with my work and the Marine Corps as well,” said Martinez. “I am thrilled and look forward to seeing people wearing my design.”
“As a military athlete, it doesn't matter where we get stationed or what we are doing,” said Campbell. “We have sworn an oath and if we aren't ready to go then we are useless. This picture hopefully will remind others to put that ruck on and get better. Choosing the rack over the ruck will never get you better, never get your team better, and definitely won’t make our country any safer.”
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 09.23.2016 14:01 |
| Story ID: | 210430 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 213 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Rack or Ruck: To snooze or improve, by PFC Brendan Roethel, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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