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SGT. James E Stivers JR – USMC – OIF Veteran

In his own words, the letter above reads:

“ Call it what you will but I always wanted to be a Marine.  More than that, I wanted to be a grunt.  You know, the baddest of the bad.  I acheived this at the ripe age of 18.  When I then served my country in OIF.  Returning home, I was enrolled in Scout Sniper school where 10 weeks later I was dropped and learned I was going blind.  After some hardship, I was able to stay a Marine – the only problem was that I couldn’t be a grunt anymore.  Before I made my transformation into the world of the P.O.G’s, I needed something to remember my journey.  I knew a lot of Marines get their dog tags on their ribs, but I put a twist on mine to show my real or permanent M.O.S.  So say what you want - but it’s in my blood, I’ll be a grunt for life.”