Run For a Brother
You voted and the Corps Top Shot for June comes from Cpl. Reece Lodder. Only a few days after returning from a deployment to Afghanistan, Lodder joined fellow Marines and sailors from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines for a motivational run honoring the life and sacrifice of Cpl. Garrett Carnes. The infantry squad leader lost both of his legs in an improvised explosive device attack in Helmand province in February. When his brothers returned from their deployment, he greeted them by walking out onto the flightline using prosthetics. While running alongside their formation, Lodder witnessed a deep camaraderie between the men, one forged through challenge and triumph. "Cpl. Carnes' way of life changed when he lost his legs, but the radical physical change hasn't dampened his warrior spirit," Lodder said "The enemy tried to break his body but they couldn't touch his courage and resolve. With the support of his wife and family, his country and his brothers-in-arms, Cpl. Garrett Carnes is triumphant."
Cpl. Garrett Carnes (in wheelchair), a squad leader with 3rd Platoon, India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, and 22-year-old native of Mooresville, N.C., jokes with Sgt. Kenney Clark (right), a fellow India Co. squad leader, during a motivational run held here, May 29, 2012, to honor Carnes' life and sacrifice. The infantryman lost his legs in an improvised explosive device attack Feb. 19 while supporting combat operations in the Khan Neshin district of Afghanistan's Helmand province. Shortly before the attack, Carnes had earned a combat meritorious promotion to the rank of corporal. Teams of his fellow Marines and sailors ran 46 miles in his honor, traveling the same distance between the Afghan village in which he was injured, Malakhan, and the fighting position from which he operated, Observation Post Thomas Hill. The men of 'America's Battalion' recently returned from their deployment, marking the battalion's sixth combat tour in eight years and its final scheduled one to Afghanistan.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Reece Lodder). Original public domain image from Flickr