Thursday, November 10, 2011
VETERANS DAY 2011
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Faith
Minnesota State University, Mankato
• courtesy of shirley piepho Lt. Col. Joey Stephenson hands Marcus Piepho his United States Army ROTC award (left). Piepho participates in his ROTC completion ceremony.
and
fortitude
MSU ROTC grad completes Ranger School on first attempt MEGAN KADLEC
news editor
Most six-year-olds want to go to Disney World for vacation – not Marcus Piepho. When Marcus was a kid, he told his parents he wanted to visit famous battle sites at Gettysburg. Now, at age 23, Marcus is a recent graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato’s ROTC program and Mankato’s newest Army Ranger. Shirley Piepho, Marcus’ mother and Assistant Director of Event and Meeting Services in the Centennial Student Union, said she was stunned to learn that her son had graduated from Ranger School on his first try. Very few individuals are required to attend Ranger School. These soldiers include Infantry Lieutenants and few select Ranger Battalions. “I’m a knuckle-dragging tanker. I’m an armor guy, but I went to Ranger School because it’s the best leadership school the army has,” said Lt. Col. Joel Stephenson, an instructor in MSU’s ROTC program and Marcus’ mentor during his undergraduate career. “It’s 60 or 70 days of just suck. It’s just horrendous. It’s based on small unit patrolling, infantry tactics.” Ranger school is set in three
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environments; a southern Georgia Forest, the Mountains of northern Georgia and Florida swamps. “Not many make it start to finish. I did not, I made it through the two phases, got to Florida and then I was just tapped out,” Stephenson said. “A lot of things can go wrong because you don’t sleep, you don’t eat, you’re exposed to the weather the whole time.” While the training is intense and difficult, it is also the best training the United States Army has to offer. “It’s great, awesome, fantastic training. It’s a significant achievement. It’s just a speed bump for Marcus, really. He’s going to go down to Fort Riley, Kansas and he’s going to deploy to Afghanistan probably and he’s going to be leading a platoon,” Stephenson said. “This is all training so he can go out and do what he really wants to do.” During the first week of Ranger School, the instructors yell at the soldiers constantly. More than half of the students drop out within the first days of the program and the numbers decrease from there. “It’s mind over matter,” Piepho said. “It’s a psych game. He told me once that he needs to believe in himself enough that he can do anything. So, it’s all in his mind.” Some soldiers lose motivation
and quit, but others sustain injuries and are forced to quit. “Most guys have to do a recycle. They’ll redo a phase,” Stephenson said. “That’s more common than not. I was probably the average.” Even extremely motivated and skilled soldiers don’t always make it through the intense leadership training on their first attempt. “That’s what Marcus told me on the phone,” Shirley Piepho said. “He said it was very interesting that the people he thought might have gotten through, they didn’t.” Piepho and Stephenson agree that Marcus went into Ranger School with the right mindset and that psyche helped him through. “He put himself in that position to be successful and he got a little lucky and made it through,” Stephenson said. “But you don’t get there without working hard.” While Marcus has worked hard during his time at MSU, becoming an Army Ranger was one of his childhood dreams. “He has had military in his blood, in his genes, forever. He’s duty, honor, country from a very young age. He’s always had faith and fortitude and he so believes in this county,” Piepho said. “I think that’s what has gotten him through.” Despite a lack of military
background in the Piepho family, Marcus has always been interested in going into the Army. “[Marcus’ father] and I have always taught our children that it’s important to serve your community and his country,” Piepho said. “I think that’s the part that may have started it all.” In addition to Marcus’ determination, his attitude towards the military is different from most civilians. “It’s a privilege for him, he feels, to serve this country. I’m honored by the military and what they do, but he looks at it the other way, which I think has really given him the impotence to get through this,” Piepho said. Piepho credits not only her son’s strong will, but also the MSU ROTC Program for preparing him for Ranger School. “I, as a mother, feel that, wherever he goes, he’s had the best training. I really believe that,” Piepho said. “That will help them. Fate, you never know what is going to happen, but like I said: faith and fortitude. In 2007, the ROTC Program was commissioning three or four cadets, but this year, it has 23. Stephenson credits the success of MSU’s ROTC Program to the cadets. He said that its exceptional personalities are the driving force
behind the program. “But there has to be something good about the program,” Piepho said. “So, don’t be humble, [Joel.]” While the ROTC program at MSU prepares cadets for their careers in the Army, it also allows the cadets to be students and get an education. “It’s really a smart thing to do, to go into ROTC, because Marcus has his education behind him,” Piepho said. “Marcus first wanted just to enlist, until we really researched and talked about it.” While Marcus may have graduated from college and Army Ranger school, he still has a lot to experience in his career. “He’ll probably go back and forth to Afghanistan at least once, maybe twice and it’s a tough go. It’s hard,” Stephenson said. “It takes a true patriot, I think, and an individual who is 22, 23 years old to be completely committed to that, to say, ‘yeah, I want to sign up for that.’” Piepho agrees with Stephenson, believing that her son is a true patriot and going into the Army was the right decision for his life. “It’s really out of my hands. You pray that everything will go okay,” Piepho said. “It’s his life, it’s what he’s been chosen to do, I believe. And he’s proven it, that this is his life path.”
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