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Pushing out his chest, Mason quoted the final lines: \u201cThe few. The proud. The Marines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States Marine Corps was established on Nov. 11, 1775, a few months after the founding of the United States Army and the United States Navy. \u201cFrom the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli,\u201d these \u201cDevil Dogs,\u201d as the French nicknamed them during World War I, are ready to fight our country\u2019s battles in the air, on land, and sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ever since Mason was a young boy, he had wanted to be an Army man when he grew up. The recruiting commercials from the 1990s, depicting chivalrous knights riding in to save the kingdom, life-size chess players, and good overcoming evil \u2014 such as the man defeating the lava monster with the sword \u2014 piqued Mason\u2019s interest. But it wasn\u2019t until the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, when he was in Mrs. Patsy Slusher\u2019s fifth grade class in Eagleville, that he knew for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMrs. Slusher told us, \u2018You will never forget this moment for the rest of your lives,\u2019 and, boy, was she right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These attacks launched the Global War on Terror (GWOT), which wouldn\u2019t officially end until Aug. 30, 2021. Mason\u2019s family had once encouraged him to enlist, but as his 18th birthday drew near during the ongoing war, his dad was the only person still supporting his decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter realizing I wasn\u2019t changing my mind, Mom finally agreed to let me enlist in the Delayed Entry Program the summer between my junior and senior year,\u201d Mason said. \u201cI graduated from Community High School on May 18, 2009, and shipped off to Parris Island two weeks later. I officially entered service on June 1. I enlisted under the MOS code of 6100 as a general aviation mechanic. After basic training, I went to Marine combat training in North Carolina, general aviation \u2018A\u2019 school in Pensacola, Florida, and then H-1 Huey and Cobra helicopter \u2018C\u2019 school at Camp Pendleton, California. Upon finishing school, I received orders to go back to North Carolina and was assigned to Warriors at HMLA167 on New River Air Station in Jacksonville, on the other side of town from Camp Lejeune. This would remain my duty station until I separated from service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n HMLA is the official U.S. Marine Corps designation for squadrons that operate light attack and utility helicopters. As a Warrior, Mason was first deployed in 2011, attached to VMM-263 as reinforcements for the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) on the USS Bataan. VMM-263 is a Marine Corps medium tiltrotor squadron whose mission is to rapidly transport Marines and supplies using the MV-22B Osprey, providing fast, flexible assault support wherever needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mason said, \u201cThe 22nd MEU left early that year because of the tensions with Gadhafi in Libya. Fast forward 326 days, and we returned to Jacksonville. My next deployment was to Afghanistan in 2013 with HMLA-167. During this deployment, I not only served in my primary job as an airframer, but I was also appointed the Sergeant of the Guard for the night crew. In this period of time, the Marine Corps was downsizing, which made it harder to reenlist. I decided to accept the VEERP (Voluntary Enlisted Early Release Program), which allowed me to separate on Feb. 1, 2014.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking back, Mason said, \u201cLife in the Marine Corps taught me that there was so much more to the world than just the small-town grind of Bedford County. Until you\u2019ve been to other places and seen things outside a screen, I don\u2019t think you could ever truly understand. As far as leadership, I learned how to properly care for those under me. We are taught that leaders move to the back and eat last. Moving to the back implies that you were actually leading from the front, and eating last signifies your commitment to the welfare of those under you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Mason returned to Bedford County, he married his high school sweetheart, Caitlin, found a civilian job, and bought a home. But something was missing \u2014 the connection he felt with his \u201cbrothers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It wasn\u2019t long before he had boots on the ground again. Mason said, \u201cCurrently, I am the Shelbyville VFW post quartermaster as well as the post service officer, which makes me responsible for helping veterans navigate the VA system. I am also looking into starting a Bedford County charter of the Young Marines program.\u201d GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DUSTIN MASON looked up from his Game Boy. Bolts of lightning flashed across the square television screen, followed by rumbles of thunder. The timer was counting down on his Pok\u00e9mon game, but he didn\u2019t mind. This United States Marine Corps commercial was his favorite. Mason held his breath. On the television screen, a dark-haired man […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":25341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[6,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-shelbyville"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/shelbyville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/07\/2-4-1024x683.jpg\")
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