Local Marine enjoys Memorial Day at home
Local Marine enjoys Memorial Day at home
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
Russell Dixon admits he grew up in a hurry when he joined the Marine Corps.
Dixon, a lance corporal at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., is currently home on leave, relaxing with friends and family. He appreciated spending Memorial Day “back home” and will return to the California base the second weekend in June.
“I’m here to relax and watch my cousin (Justin Many Ribs) run at the state track meet,” he said Thursday on his first day home. He planned to look up other friends and spend time with his mother Monica.
When he first got into the Corps., he wondered what he had gotten himself into. Everyday the Marine recruits are told what to do, when to do it and so on. But now he knows why that is done, to build the comraderie and to help the troops understand why their training is so important. He said you can’t be totally independent because in an organization like the Marines, you have to count on others to succeed.
“The military has changed the way I think about things,” he said. “I had to grow up fast.”
Monica said she didn’t like it when her son met a recruiter at the fair, but has been very proud of him since the family was able to see him graduate from basic training.
