PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. - He could hear faint voices in the distance. Even with his head down, Doug could hear them, like sirens, they were indistinguishable yet slightly alluring. He could even hear them over the rumble of the bus’s engine as it crept down the dark, empty street of a strange place over 900 miles from his home in Warren, Mich.
The bus stopped. His tranquil trance rudely interrupted by the harsh, guttural yelling of a Marine Corps drill instructor. Shortly after, yelling came from every direction.
Doug sprinted off the bus through the dark and found his place in formation, standing where so many have stood before - on the yellow footprints of Parris Island, S.C.
He had just started the transformation into Rct. Douglas M. Shea.
Before the Marine Corps, Doug was a 200-pound terror for his local hockey team; he was a dedicated manager at a restaurant, where he’d worked since high school, and he was a husband to his high school sweetheart. His choice to leave it all behind and endure three months of the nation’s toughest boot camp was made out of his commitment to his family’s future.
Shea is 28 now, but he considered the military more than 10 years ago after he graduated Stevenson High School in 2005. By that time, however, he had already become smitten with Jennifer L. Mero, a girl he met during his senior year.
Joining the military at that point could have cost him the relationship. (After all, they had their first kiss already, so it must be serious.) Instead, he decided to continue working and began attending community college.
Shea and Mero moved in together in 2011, and like many young couples, Mero quickly realized something about her partner; Shea was not one to prepare dinner. The night of Dec. 21, 2011, was different.
He set the dinner table with a plain white cloth, a cluster of carnations surrounding a single candle in the center. After the surprise dinner, Shea surprised Mero again by pulling her next to their Christmas tree and asking her to marry him.
The couple was married on Jan. 4, 2013, the eighth anniversary of their first kiss.
Both Doug and Jennifer Shea worked for most of their relationship. In June 2014, after saving up for years, they bought their first house.
Shea started working in a local restaurant as a busser when he was 16 years old. He had come a long way in 12 years to become the manager of the same restaurant. In October 2015, it went out of business and he went from calling the shots to answering help wanted ads.
He discussed the possibilities with his wife, and they decided it was a good idea to revisit the military. Excited for the challenge, he chose the Marines.
“I wanted to be part of something better than myself,” he said. “It’s tough now, but I know it will put us in a better position later.”
Shea recently graduated recruit training as a private first class with Platoon 2012, Golf Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, and will soon be going to Marine Combat Training and then specialty school for electronic maintenance training.
“I’m so proud of my husband for making the decision to join the Marines,” she said. “I’m blessed to be his wife, and I will stand by his side and support him for the rest of our lives. He’s my hero.”