Honoring Veterans on November 11, 2014

Members heard from a twenty-three year old Wahpeton native Sergeant Chris Samuels of the United States Marine Corps on Veteran's Day, November 11, 2014.

Sgt. Samuels spoke of his Marine experience from boot camp to completing active duty.  He wanted infantry but after infantry school was sent to security training and then posted to the Marine Barracks in Washington. D.C.  The Marines there are responsible for a variety of security issues including securing the Marine Corps Commandant.  Following that period he was sent to be security at Camp David a period which included one of the G8 conferences at that site. While interesting neither of these postings were what he had wanted when he joined; however, he got his desire for infantry combat when sent to Afghanistan.  This he described as some of the most exciting periods of his active duty and some of the scariest.  He particularly recalled when his unit encountered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and while waiting for specialists to come and disable it the Taliban fired mortars at them.  He answered several questions about his service and the Marine Corps.  Currently he is on Reserve Status and will be attending North Dakota State College of Science.