Photo By Sgt. Arianna Lindheimer | U.S. Marine Corps Master Sgt. Michael Obrien, an infantry operations chief with...... read more read more
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SEATTLE — On July 15, 1999, 12-year-old Michael OBrien climbed the concrete steps of the newly opened Safeco Field in his favorite Nike running shoes to watch his beloved Seattle Mariners.
Twenty-seven years later, OBrien climbed those same steps again. This time, he wore polished black dress shoes and Marine Corps blue dress deltas.
OBrien, an infantry operations chief with Headquarters and Service Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, represented his command during Seattle Seafair Fleet Week 2026, a longstanding celebration that connects the nation’s sea services with the local community.
For OBrien, returning to Seattle meant more than representing the Marine Corps. It meant coming home.
“Being always faithful to serve and help people is the biggest part of the Marine Corps’ values,” OBrien said. “When people you don’t know send you care packages deployment after deployment, it means a lot to be able to reflect on those values and show them thanks.”
As a Kent, Washington, native, OBrien grew up surrounded by Seattle sports and the stories of his grandfather, a World War II veteran. Those stories helped inspire him to earn the title of Marine himself.
Just three weeks after graduating from Kentwood High School, OBrien left Washington for Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, where he stepped onto the famous yellow footprints.
Leaving behind Seattle’s familiar gray skies, he took his first steps toward what would become a 21-year Marine Corps career. In the years that followed, he deployed multiple times, trading the skyline he grew up with for the deserts of Iraq and the demands of life in uniform.
Among those experiences, one of the most influential began in 2009 in Sinjar, Iraq. As OBrien patrolled the desert, dirt crunched beneath his boots while Staff Sgt. Thomas Saunders, his platoon sergeant, insisted on providing extra security for what otherwise would have been a routine patrol.
Saunders was the first to teach OBrien that leadership extended beyond rank.
“He taught me that leadership was not about rank,” OBrien said. “It was about taking care of the Marines to your left and right, never passing up an opportunity to learn, and setting the example others would follow.”
Saunders’ influence followed OBrien long after that deployment. Six years later, OBrien found himself stepping into a leadership role of his own, carrying forward the same lessons he had learned from his mentor.
Saunders would later earn the title of Marine Raider before losing his life in a helicopter crash while serving his country. His memory, however, remained with OBrien. His son, Riot “Thomas” OBrien lives up to his name well sharing many of the same qualities of his late mentor.
“All good things in the Marine Corps come to an end, but they are never really over unless you allow yourself to forget it,” Saunders often told him.
Those words continue to influence how OBrien leads his Marines today.
During Fleet Week, OBrien had the opportunity to return to the community that watched him grow up. He volunteered alongside fellow service members at the Ronald McDonald House, visited Emerald City Pet Rescue and spent time reconnecting with Seattle residents and veterans who supported Marines through letters and care packages.
For OBrien, those interactions offered an opportunity to show the people of Seattle something they may not always see.
“A lot of times they [civilians] just see us running with flaks, kevlars and camouflage faces,” OBrien said. “Being here for the week, they see that we’re all parents, we’re brothers, we’re sisters. A kid might see us and realize that could be them one day.”
His return to Seattle also served as a reminder of how far a life in the Marine Corps can take someone without erasing where they began.
“One thing I hope the people of Seattle can take away is that by joining one of the military branches, they’ll get to see things, go places and live completely different lives, but they’ll always have roots where they grew up,” OBrien said.
Twenty-seven years after climbing those concrete steps as an excited 12-year-old Mariners fan, OBrien walked them once again.
The steps were the same.
Michael OBrien was not.
| Date Taken: | 08.12.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 08.13.2026 16:54 |
| Story ID: | 572273 |
| Location: | SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 14 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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