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I arrived in Iraq on roughly Oct. 9th, 2008. I stayed up all night that night,curious as to how I would like my job and "co-workers". Day 2 arrived and I started my check-in process. Last on the list......SgtMaj Terwilliger.
I was not really ready or in the right frame of mind to deal with a "motivated" SgtMaj. So when SgtMaj T stood up and said, "How the hell are ya....where you from?". I answered and he came up to me, shook my hand, pulled me in and lowered his shoulder into mine. At this point, I knew there was atleast one person in Baghdad that I liked.
Shortly after this "first encounter", a position to be a martial arts instructor to the newly formed Iraqi Marine Corps became available. SgtMaj T chose me and a couple of other Marines to travel with him to our new destination and job. We were to depart on 1 December but due to a sand storm, our flight was delayed for the following day. Shortly after that delay, I received a Red Cross message from my wife. My grandfather had passed away. Hard day. Since there was nobody that I worked with even willing to check up on me after being notified of my Red Cross message, I headed over to SgtMaj T's office. That conversation we had will not be written down or discussed but know this, it was a conversation that I will never forget. Thanks SgtMaj.....it was what I needed to hear at a time when I needed to hear it.
It took nearly 5 days to get to our destination. SgtMaj T joked about not having enough "stars" on his collar because it took so long. When we were settled, we instantly wanted to get to work. However, the Iraqi's were on holiday leave. So we decided to train the British in martial arts. That was interesting. Finally the Iraqi's arrived and we set about training them. We graduated our first class of 9. There were originally something like 50. After that initial class, my fellow Marines and I set about instituting various types of military schools and ultimately the first ever Iraqi Marine "boot camp". All things inspired by conversations we had had with SgtMaj T. We took his vision, and tried as hard as we could to get it right.
Now I won't go into any of the problems that we faced while training the Iraqi's. And know this, there were many! But when there was a problem though.....we had back up in the form of SgtMaj T. And believe you me, that's back up you want on your side!
SgtMaj Terwilliger: Thank you. Thank you for all that you did for me. Thank you for your service to our Corps (30+ yrs). Thank you for your service to our country. Thank you for being that "role model" for all junior Marines to look up to. But most of all, thank you for being my friend. Gods speed....I love ya.
