Marine Puts Successful Business On Hold To Serve His Country
(March 3, 2011) |
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Sergeant Jeremy D. Mitz (right), a combat engineer instructor with Headquarters Company, 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, talks to Cpl. Matthew A. Cox, a fellow instructor aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
on Nov. 18, 2010. Mitz gave up a thriving construction business to serve his country. |
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MARINE CORPS
BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (MCN - 2/25/2011) — Anyone
who has worked on a home construction project
understands the amount of time and effort involved
in getting the job done. Whether adding an addition
to a house or replacing an old, leaky faucet, it
takes a certain level of skill and hard-work to get
results.
Sergeant Jeremy D. Mitz, an
instructor at Engineer Training Area 3 with
Headquarters Company, 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion,
2nd Marine Division, knows this first hand.
“I was a construction manager when I was 18,” said
Mitz. “By the time I was 20, I owned my own business
– and business was good,” he laughed.
Mitz
was very ambitious in his youth, but his sense of
duty to his country outweighed his |
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desire to expand his business. |
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“I felt like I had an obligation to put the biz' on hold so
I could give something back,” said Mitz. “I always looked up
to the Marine Corps.”
Mitz, a Pittsburgh native,
joined the service at the age of 24, making him older than
many Marine Corps recruits.
“My drill instructors
where a little more rough with me than the other recruits,”
said Mitz. “I'm glad they were because I'm better off
because of it.”
Mitz, now 26, was meritoriously
promoted to sergeant in February of 2009. He claims it was
his life experiences and natural leadership abilities
coupled with the Corps' training that earned him the
promotion.
Mitz has deployed to Afghanistan and
Iraq, but lately he's been serving as an instructor for
junior Marines.
“When Sergeant Mitz has a job to do
he gets it done,” said Cpl. Matthew A. Cox, an instructor at
Engineer Training Area 3. “He works the hardest out of all
of us.”
“There were a lot of classes I didn't
understand when I first started out, but he helped me with
them. He would work with me after hours, even on his own
lunch breaks, to help me understand something if I didn't
get it. He is the best instructor here – besides me of
course,” Cox added jokingly.
Mitz says he plans to
reopen his business after he has completed his current
enlistment contract.
“I feel I've done my part for
the Corps,” said Mitz. “It's still a ways away but I know
I'm going to miss it when I'm gone. All the memories,
camaraderie and especially the friends, I'll miss them all.”
The Marine Corps harbors many Marines like Mitz who
strive to make their dreams come true.
“I worked
hard to get where I am now, but it was the Corps that gave
me the opportunity to succeed,” said Mitz. “I will always be
grateful for that.” |
Article and photo by USMC LCpl. Casey F. Meehan
2nd Marine Division Public Affairs, 2nd Combat Engineer Bn
Copyright 2011 | |
Reprinted from
Marine Corps News
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