“Once a Marine”
Nick Popaditch, with Mike Steere
Savas Beatie, 2008, $ 25.00
ISBN # 978-1-932714-47-0
www.savasbeatie.com
Only a few books leap off the shelves and demand to be read – and “Once a Marine” is one of those few.
This is the story of Gunnery Sergeant Nick Popaditch, U.S. Marine Corps. It’s important to add “USMC” after his name, because in Popaditch’s story, being a Marine is integral to his survival following a grievous head wound and the subsequent rehab problems afterwards.
In true “Gunny” fashion, this is an aggressive book. “Gy Pop”, as he’s known, came into his own as a young Marine, saw combat in Desert Storm, and became a drill instructor afterwards. He’s as OOH-RAH and Semper Fi motivated as they come, and his energy and enthusiasm for all things Marine comes through loud and clear in this well-written book.
Gy’s life continues on a positive roll when he’s photographed in Baghdad in 2003, cigar-in-hand, in front of the statute of Saddam. Now known to the world as the ‘cigar Marine’, Gy Pop returns home to his loving wife April, and sons. But true to being a Marine, he volunteers for another tour in Iraq, where he’s shot in the head with an RPG in Fallujah, loses one eye, much of his sight in the other eye, and is medically retired from his beloved Marine Corps. A typical macho Marine story, one might think, but it’s Gy Pop who makes “Once a Marine” such a compelling story in the midst of such frustration of his life’s seeming unraveling.
“Once a Marine” is a spellbinding and story. From the stories of his Desert Storm days, to storming Baghdad in 2003, to the horrific story of being shot in the head by an PRG to the personal friction between him and his wife as he contemplates the premature end of his career in his beloved Marine Corps, this is the type of book that the reader will devour in an evening.
What grabs the reader aren’t the battle sequences; those who have fought tend to downplay their role in combat, and Gy Pop is no exception. Instead, his focus is on Marine Corps ethos and work ethic, his Marines, and how they all came together to assist him in his time of need. Needing assistance is unusual for Gy Pop, and he writes honestly and movingly of his struggle to accept help from his wife and sons, his Marines, and even the medical team at the “Blind Hospital.”
For a rough & tough Marine Gunnery Sergeant, Popaditch has written a brutally honest, yet incredibly moving story of his life as a Marine, and how the Marine Corps has prepared him for life afterwards. Recommended? Absolutely!
