Marcus Gill stood on a balcony at Bethesda Naval Hospital in January 2010, nonetheless sporting his hospital robe with a halo brace screwed into his cranium. He had simply woken up from a two-month coma to be taught that his finest good friend was lifeless and that his neck was damaged.
“I requested the physician how am I alive,” Gill stated. “He stated drugs could not clarify how I survived, but when I needed to know, I ought to ask God.”
Gill would ultimately earn a level in theological management and dedicate his life to defending others—particularly kids. A drastic change from a tough childhood in Lengthy Seashore, California, the deadliest combating in Afghanistan, and years looking for goal after almost dying on the Marine Corps birthday.
From the Streets of LA to Marine Corps Infantry
Born in 1988 in Lengthy Seashore, Gill was a toddler through the LA riots and raised in a neighborhood the place faculty wasn’t on anybody’s radar. His mother and father have been divorced and by no means attended faculty. By 18, Gill felt his dad was able to kick him out.
“You become older, individuals are going to varsity, figuring life out. I wanted to get it collectively.” Gill stated. “I attribute my time within the Marine Corps for saving me from that.”
A good friend’s father—a retired sergeant main—impressed him. Seeing the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor and Marine Corps memorabilia within the man’s dwelling gave Gill one thing to aspire to. After his good friend left for boot camp a 12 months forward of him, Gill visited him on the Faculty of Infantry.
“Seeing and talking to Marines modified my perspective,” Gill stated.
He enlisted in late 2005, shipped to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in July 2006, and have become a machine gunner with 1st Battalion, fifth Marines—probably the most storied infantry items in Corps historical past.
Turning into One of many First Lab Handlers in Afghanistan
After a deployment aboard the USS Tarawa with the eleventh Marine Expeditionary Unit—together with humanitarian work in Bangladesh and transiting the Strait of Hormuz throughout heightened tensions with Iran—Gill returned to arrange for Afghanistan.
In late 2008, his platoon sergeant requested for volunteers to turn into canine handlers earlier than the deployment.
“I assumed he was joking, I laughed,” Gill stated. “He stated, ‘Good, you are going to Virginia.’”
Gill turned certainly one of 13 Marines in his unit chosen to take Labrador retrievers into Afghanistan as a substitute of the normal German shepherds or Belgian Malinois.
“Hearts and minds was our undertone in Afghanistan” Gill stated. “What higher method than a canine that may lick you and wag its tail? You see individuals with completely different cultures and temperaments change when a canine walks into the room.”
The handlers skilled 5 days every week in rural Virginia with their canines. Gill was matched with Izzy, a two-year-old feminine yellow Labrador retriever.
“I beloved it, it introduced out a complete completely different character in me,” Gill stated. “I may play and be goofy. It is simply the character of Labradors. It gave me one thing else to handle. After we weren’t on patrols in Afghanistan, it was a companion. She turned a part of the household.”
Operation Strike of the Sword
In mid-2009, 1st Battalion, fifth Marines deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, as a part of Operation Khanjar—”Strike of the Sword”—the biggest helicopter assault since Vietnam. The battalion’s mission was to safe the Nawa district and rebuild infrastructure that had been devastated by years of Taliban management.
Gill and the opposite Marines first arrived at Camp Leatherneck, then Ahead Working Base Dwyer, earlier than pushing deeper into Taliban territory.
“We stopped and the gunny stated, ‘We’re right here,’” Gill stated. “We constructed FOB Geronimo—the tip of the spear.”
The mission was to reopen authorities facilities, rebuild colleges, restore markets, and provides management again to the individuals. The battalion finally constructed 11 colleges through the deployment. FOB Geronimo housed lots of of Marines in a distant location the place temperatures reached 120 to 130 levels.
As a K9 handler, Gill’s job was route clearance and entry management level safety—looking out autos and personnel coming into coalition bases. He and Izzy labored each day patrols, securing provide routes and looking out the infinite stream of “jingle vehicles” that introduced in gravel and building supplies.
“The warmth was brutal for the Labs,” Gill stated.
Throughout one patrol defending CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Gill and his fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Justin Swanson stood safety on a nook in a village when a small youngster appeared, then disappeared. All of the sudden, one thing got here flying over a fence towards them.
“It was smoking, we did not know what it was,” Gill stated. “Izzy ran as much as it pondering it was a chew toy. She sat it in a puddle and turned to take a look at me. It fizzled out—it was a selfmade grenade.”
The Marines stormed the home however by no means discovered the kid. The village elder checked out them and claimed they have been “the ghosts” of the valley, left there from the Russian invasion.
Gill and one other handler additionally made a important discovery throughout this time—figuring out that Taliban bomb-makers have been utilizing espresso grounds and tobacco leaves mixed with ammonium nitrate as accelerants in improvised explosive gadgets. The knowledge unfold shortly amongst British and American canine handlers, serving to them establish threats extra successfully.
However the deployment took a darker flip as casualties mounted. Sgt. William Cahir was shot and killed whereas attempting to assist rebuild the realm, abandoning a spouse and two daughters with one other youngster on the best way.
Lance Cpl. David Baker later died in an IED assault whereas on foot patrol. Then got here Lance Cpl. Donald Hogan, who earned the Navy Cross posthumously after recognizing a string hooked up to an IED—he warned his Marines, then positioned himself between them and the machine, sacrificing himself to save lots of their lives.
“You noticed individuals combating for his or her lives,” Gill stated. “It was onerous to abdomen.”
Gill vividly remembers coming off put up and assuming fast response power duties after they heard an explosion. Two Taliban fighters had blown themselves up attempting to plant an IED close to a bridge. After Afghan Nationwide Army troops engaged in a firefight with different insurgents on the scene, Gill’s group went on patrol to analyze.
“I took a brief halt, I keep in mind trying down and noticed bullet casings and blood,” Gill stated. “That was the realest it acquired for me—standing the place somebody was seemingly shot and killed proper earlier than I acquired there. It scared me. I by no means considered shutting down or operating away, simply preserve going ahead.”
The Marine Corps Birthday That Modified All the things
On November 10, 2009—the Marine Corps’ 234th birthday—Gill’s unit investigated an intersection the place a number of IED assaults had occurred. They have been mounted on Humvees, gathering data, on the lookout for any suspicious exercise—Izzy was left on base in her kennel.
As they collapsed their safety perimeter to return to base, their Humvee hit an IED.
“I used to be ejected from my machine gun turret when the Humvee flipped,” Gill stated. Lance Cpl. Justin Swanson, Gill’s driver and shut good friend, was killed instantly. Gunnery Sgt. Michael Rivera—a Marine who had searched by means of rubble at Floor Zero after 9/11—suffered extreme leg accidents. One other Marine, Jason Sinks, was additionally wounded.
A corpsman initially thought Gill was lifeless; he wasn’t respiration and had no pulse.
“Everybody thought I used to be lifeless,” Gill stated. “They discovered later my neck was damaged in half.”
Gill has no reminiscence of being transported from FOB Geronimo to Camp Bastion, then to Landstuhl Regional Medical Heart in Germany, then lastly to Bethesda. He awakened simply after New 12 months’s Day 2010—two months after the blast.
The Commandant of the Marine Corps and the Sergeant Main of the Marine Corps have been in his hospital room. His mom advised him there had been an accident, that Justin was killed, and that he was harm. That they had simply introduced him with the Purple Coronary heart.
“I acquired up. They took issues out of my arm. I acquired up and angrily went down the hallway,” Gill stated.
He was sporting a halo brace—a tool screwed into his cranium to immobilize his neck.
“I remembered these previous Steven Seagal films the place he breaks the dangerous guys’ necks they usually die,” Gill stated. “I requested the physician how am I alive.”
The physician merely responded that drugs could not clarify his survival, and he ought to as a substitute ask God.
The Lengthy Street House
Gill spent months recovering, first at Bethesda, then on convalescent depart at dwelling, mendacity on a sofa within the halo brace on ache medicine. He wore the brace for 4 to 5 months.
“It was powerful,” Gill stated. “I could not drive. Could not actually go to my appointments by myself.”
After the brace got here off, Gill obtained orders to the Wounded Warrior Battalion, the place he participated in equestrian remedy and different rehabilitation packages for almost a 12 months. His medical evaluate board ultimately cleared him for full obligation, and he returned to 1st Battalion, fifth Marines as they ready to deploy to Sangin Valley in early 2011.
However Gill wasn’t the identical Marine who had deployed to Nawa.
“I began experiencing panic assaults,” Gill stated. “It was onerous to breathe. I simply misplaced my good friend. I could not get a deal with on issues.”
The battalion took him off the deployment roster. Whereas 1/5 fought by means of one of many bloodiest deployments of the conflict in Sangin, Gill remained stateside, combating the invisible wounds of conflict. The Marine Corps did not have a robust understanding of PTSD on the time, and Gill discovered himself in bother, receiving non-judicial punishment for incidents associated to his struggles adapting to life after fight.
Gill left the Marine Corps in July 2012 after six years and two weeks of lively obligation.
“I felt like my unit forgot about me,” Gill stated.
Izzy, his Labrador, had been despatched again to Virginia after the deployment. Gill was unable to seek out her after an in depth search.
Discovering Function After the Marine Corps
The transition to civilian life was troublesome. Gill moved again into the identical Lengthy Seashore residence the place his father had lived when he left for the Marine Corps.
“I needed to be one thing completely different and get extra out of life,” Gill stated.
He enrolled at a neighborhood faculty, earned his affiliate diploma, after which transferred to the College of Southern California. He earned his bachelor’s diploma at USC whereas beginning a nonprofit to assist kids, bringing parts of Wounded Warrior Battalion packages to the civilian world.
When COVID-19 shut down California, Gill started working at a homeless veteran shelter. He ultimately labored in government safety for a number of celebrities. He later turned a safety supervisor at Boeing’s Seal Seashore facility earlier than transitioning to high school safety work.
Then the VA known as and supplied him an opportunity to pursue a graduate diploma.
“I instantly enrolled,” Gill stated.
He earned his Grasp of Arts in Theological Management from Vanguard College in Orange County, graduating with a 4.0 GPA whereas serving as president of the veterans membership.
“I wasn’t spiritual earlier than the army,” Gill stated. “My first canine tags stated no choice. Those I carried in Afghanistan, and in the present day, say Christian.”
Now 36 and married with two daughters ages 6 and three, Gill works as certainly one of 56 bodyguards for the Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange County. His main task is offering armed safety at a Okay-8 Catholic college in North Orange County.
“Like my gunny stated, ‘Make your self as helpful as doable,’” Gill stated.
He is now making ready to pursue a Ph.D. in Training to proceed his mission to assist others—particularly kids.
Carrying the Weight of Loss
The burden Gill carries is heavy. In keeping with Gill, 1st Battalion, fifth Marines suffered 61 complete losses—31 from suicide, greater than died in fight. Gill knew nearly each single one.
“I train. I write rather a lot,” Gill stated. “I discovered that writing has been an amazing outlet for me. Having a relationship with God actually helped. I noticed that this world is a lot better than something which you could maintain within the palm of your hand, so what you possibly can obtain is larger.”
The latest loss got here in August. “I feel possibly I am the fortunate one,” Gill stated. “I do not keep in mind something. They keep in mind the whole lot. I acquired a Purple Coronary heart and nearly died, however I am nonetheless alive.”
Gill additionally just lately misplaced his sister.
The losses have taught him to prioritize what issues, to deal with his household, his religion, and his mission to assist others. He owns a house, has a promising profession, and has constructed a household—fairly a journey from his childhood in Lengthy Seashore.
“The Marine Corps gave me the power to think about and have the capability to be better than myself,” Gill stated. “I’ll at all times find it irresistible. It is the one household I ever had, apart from my spouse and daughters in the present day.”
When requested what he desires present and future Marines to know, Gill replied: “I really like my Marines,” he stated. “Take note of your historical past. It’s wealthy with classes, morals, and tales of heroics. Concentrate. It can proceed for one more 250 years.”
