Personal Narrative: My First Deployment Patch

Signing the contract, serving my country and knowing the end date in which I can come back home permanently, at the time, felt like it took an eternity. Most contracts are for eight years, four active and four inactive. But once it’s over, it’s as if it took a blink of an eye. There are many moments and things I will cherish during my time in the USMC but one of them specifically is my first deployment patch. That we attached to our body armour or “plate carrier.” This little threaded rectangle represents to me, my experiences in the service as a whole. The good, the bad and the memories that suddenly come flooding back as I look at it.
The deployment patch has a velcro backing to easily slap onto the top of the front of a plate carrier. It’s a little rectangle that is about two and a half inches by four inches long. It has dark brown threading around the edge with loose threads that look like it’ll unravel eventually. The middle portion of the patch has a lighter brown color with more complicated and stronger stitching. It’s dirty with black spotting covering about half of the light brown color in the center portion. In the top right corner of the front is my blood type written “A pos.” In the middle is the “EGA,” the eagle globe and anchor, the insignia

of the marine corps. In the lower left is my last name in capital letters. Lower right has my unit designator which is a sort of blanket description “2D-BN, 3D MARINES.” Unabbreviated it’s second battalion third marines. The last part of the patch is my rank which is painted black and is metal, the only thing not sewed onto it. It weighs about eight to ten ounces. Parts of the paint are chipping off. It feels prickly on the velcro side and rough on the front side. As a whole it looks it’s “been around the block” a few times. Which it has. It’s been with me for about five years now. I chose my deployment patch because it was my first one. As a marine you would receive a new updated version before every deployment. So each one you get looks a little different. Most marines wear the first one they have ever gotten. Even if they have been on multiple deployments. As a “pride” thing. The dirtier your patch is the more respect you will usually get. Along with your rank of course.
I received the patch in late 2013 during our “work up” or training iteration that lasts about nine months to a year before each deployment overseas.

At the time I was in the desert of southern california at a little base outside Twentynine Palms, one of the larger bases the USMC has in the U.S. When I look at this little threaded patch, I am reminded of all I have gone through to just get back home. The friends I made (whom I still talk to today) and the laughter I shared with them on the daily. It reminds me of when I left for boot camp. My mother crying the day my parents dropped me off at the mall before I left home for the first time. This whole transition I made from over six years ago to who I am

today.
The word “infantry” describes a foot soldier with a weapon (but never call a marine a soldier). I grew up wanting to be an infantry marine ever since I could remember. Seeing the USMC commercials was always so intriguing to me at a young age. The uniforms, the huge guns and vehicles. After high school I couldn’t imagine going to college right away. I never enjoyed school. Even at that time, I thought I was immature. I needed to accelerate the content of my character and I chose the USMC. I served as an infantry mortarman. Which meant that I dropped bombs down a tube and they could be launched accurately up to six miles away depending on the specific mortar round. As well as developing the skills necessary as a basic rifleman.
Less than one percent of the American population are serving or have served their country. Less than that are serving in the USMC and twenty percent of the Marine Corps are serving in the infantry. That small group of the greatest gun club in the world is what I was apart of. I’ll never regret it. I certainly regretted it when I was under contract but the older I get the more proud I am of what I did and became. I found this quote by Cpl. Jeff Sornig a marine journalist for the Navy times he said, “I love the Corps for those intangible possessions that cannot be issued: pride, honor, integrity, and being able to carry on the traditions for generations of warriors past.” Honor, Courage and Commitment was what was instilled in us during boot camp and beyond. The belief and understanding that the “mission” was more important than yourself. If I never received this little object, I would not be who I am today. As you can see there are many reasons as to why this patch is significant to me.