U.S. Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Corey Cavanaugh, a Michigan native and a platoon commander with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, supervises Marines practicing blocking formations during an embassy reinforcement mission as part of a training exercise for the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Jan. 19, 2025. The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducted a Marine Air-Ground Task Force interoperability exercise to rehearse and refine tactics, techniques, and procedures as the command element of a MAGTF in preparation for a wide array of potential future missions, to include personnel recovery, embassy reinforcement, foreign humanitarian assistance, and non-combatant evacuation operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Osmar VasquezHernandez)
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – Martial arts and combative sports are a skillset many people use for various ways. Some want to learn how to defend themselves in case they are ever attacked. Others have been involved in these sports for years and compete professionally. For U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Charles Copeland, the fire and effects coordination center chief at the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), martial arts and combative sports taught him how to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
Copeland grew up in a small town in Minnesota . Even when he was younger, he always found himself being told he couldn’t participate in challenging sports because of his smaller stature compared to the rest of the kids around him.
“I just...
