Photo By Pfc. James Frazer | CAMP LEATHERNECK, Helmand Province, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan – Burkburnett,...... read more read more
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CAMP LEATHERNECK, Helmand Province, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan – When the Burkburnett, Texas, native, Christopher Stutz received the iconic Eagle, Globe, and Anchor from his sister at the age of six, he knew he would one day earn the title of United States Marine. It was a dream he held on to through his entire childhood. Several of his childhood trinkets and toys were lost over the years, but never the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, a gift he treasures to this day.
Stutz, a motor vehicle operator, with Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Marine Division (Forward), earned his high school diploma at the age of 16 after completing an extensive homeschooling schedule. It was now time for him to pursue the thing he’d dreamed about for an entire decade. Stutz eagerly hopped into his dad’s truck and drove to the nearest Marine Corps recruiting station located in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Arriving at the recruiting station he came face-to-face with a Marine recruiter who, upon seeing Stutz far exceeded the Corp’s height and weight standards, pointed a finger to the door while glaring into his eyes, told him in no uncertain terms to “get out.”
“Being a Marine is all I’ve ever wanted since as far back as I can remember,” Stutz said. “At 16, I weighed 378 pounds and I kept a Marine Corps flag on my bedroom wall. I was pretty pissed off when the recruiter just told me to get out. My personality is if someone tells me I can’t do something, I’m just going to find a way to do it anyways.”
Stutz returned to the truck feeling dejected and drove home. His brother, Army Spc. Timothy Stutz, currently stationed at Fort Carson, Company, shared his younger sibling’s desire to see him succeed. He suggested Stutz go and talk to the Army recruiter.
Stutz got back into the truck and went to the Army recruiting station, this time looking to see if anything could be done. After the Army recruiter told Stutz he was still too heavy for the Army to be accepted right away, the recruiter explained that he would work with him to help lose the excess weight.
From the next day onward, Stutz began a regiment that changed his diet and introduced him to a rigorous physical training program.
“It felt like I had practically stopped eating,” Stutz said. “The Army recruiter put me on a workout schedule and at the end of every day we would go out and he would run me. I’d lost 200 pounds in about seven months.”
Stutz never forgot it was a Marine Corps recruiter who told him he couldn’t join and knew he was losing the weight so he could become a Marine, despite what anyone said. This was a fact he made no effort to hide from the soldier who was spending so much time to help him lose the weight, but the Army recruiter continued anyways.
The Army recruiter realized as the weeks and months drew out Stutz wasn’t lying and still had every intention of trying to become a Marine.
“When he [realized] I still wasn’t going to join the Army he stopped trying to help me, but I continued with it,” said Stutz, who spent the next year and a half working off the weight until he felt that he was finally ready to see the Marine recruiter.
Stutz’s second trip to the Marine recruiting station was much more successful for him and was invited in to sit down to talk about the purpose of his visit. On April 1, 2008, Stutz departed for Marine Corps recruit training.
Now, 22-year old Lance Cpl. Stutz is with Support Platoon, Headquarters Battalion (Forward) and is serving a year-long deployment in Afghanistan with the battalion.
“Finally getting the chance to become a Marine after so much hard work gave me a sense of accomplishment,” said Stutz. “After struggling to lose all that weight, it felt incredible to step into the world of the Marine Corps.”
Stutz explained how his family, who recently moved from Texas to Aurora, Colo., had always supported him in his desire to join, but hopes were not always very high. However, after a deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan the support and pride from his family are overwhelming.
“He’s a hard working Marine, I’ve never heard him complain. He’s always out there to work hard and do the best job he can,” said Staff Sgt. Gabriel Potter, the assistant logistics officer for the battalion and one of Stutz’s former platoon sergeants. “He’s mostly quiet and does whatever needs to get done immediately.”
After returning from the deployment to Iraq, Stutz immediately approached Potter asking when he could waive his dwell time, which is the time allotted to Marines before they can be deployed again, in order to get back across the world to support his fellow Marines. Shortly after his return, he was on another flight, deploying for a second time.
“Even though I’m a part of the support platoon, what I really want to do is get out on the convoys moving between the [forward operating bases],” said Stutz. I wanted to get out here to Afghanistan which is why the second we set boots back in [the U.S.], I went to my platoon sergeant asking him when the next push out to deploy would be. I fought really hard to get out. I ask every single day to get out with a convoy.”
Stutz says it’s the desire to get on the convoys that keeps him motivated to do his very best every day, no matter the task. He said he will earn the chance to get on a convoy by proving himself a valuable asset wherever he’s at now.
“I think he’s capable of doing whatever he wants to. He has the attitude and the drive to get it done,” Potter said. “He’s always volunteering for anything that comes up. If we need someone to be on duty or get something done [in the middle of the night] he’s always one of the first ones to say ‘yeah I’ll do it’.”
Stutz’s enlistment is approaching its final year and he has begun to go through the re-enlistment processes.
“I want to stay in because of the camaraderie. I moved around a lot as a kid so the first real friends I made were in the Marine Corps and the friends you make in the Corps turn into family,” said Stutz. “When I was in Iraq, I was doing my original job and I was 100 percent positive that I was there to help the person in front of me [in the convoy] and the person behind me had my back. It doesn’t matter how little we know about each other because we’re immediately bonded by just being Marines.”
Editor’s Note: Headquarters Battalion (Forward) is currently assigned to 2nd Marine Division (Forward). The division serves as the ground combat element of Regional Command (Southwest) works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Force and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces, and enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.
| Date Taken: | 06.22.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 06.22.2011 08:40 |
| Story ID: | 72528 |
| Location: | CAMP LEATHERNECK, HELMAND PROVINCE, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF, AF |
| Web Views: | 289 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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