Credits & Contributors


Featured Contributer

Cpl. Eric D. Arndt, Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan

Cpl. Eric D. Arndt

Cpl. Eric D. Arndt became a Marine with one idea in mind: to become something else.

“The worst part about growing up in the suburbs is that nothing unique has happened to you. What people call the American dream is the pursuit of constructing our children with no distinct differences.

“I hated knowing that I was no different, that my consciousness was formed by the same memories everyone else has – the same visits to super discount warehouse stores, the same jokes on television, the consumerism.”

So Arndt, an Arizona native, joined the Marine Corps, with a few items on his checklist: traveling and hardship.

“Of course the Marine Corps can’t make me completely different. I’m still a carbon copy, but now I’m only a copy in an organization of less than 200,000, as opposed to the 300 million people who live in the United States.

“The goal from there is to just keep whittling my existence down as much as possible, until I’ve achieved something.”

As a combat correspondent, Arndt still pursues the desire to see everything – it all comes back to the ever-expanding checklist.

“Ideally you’re trying to experience as much as possible, and in that way this job has been most beneficial. I’d probably have seen the world as a Marine regardless, that’s true, but because correspondents are sent to cover a variety of stories, I’ve definitely got to see a lot more than I ever would have otherwise.”

  1. Commandant of the Marine Corps: Gen. James T. Conway
  2. Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps: Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent

    Marine Corps News

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  2. Editor: Sgt. Leo Salinas
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