Stu Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 Dedicated American and Family. God Bless him and his mother. Of note our fallen "devil dog" has another brother in the Navy. _____________________________ July 11, 2004, 2:05AM Triumph to tragedy Young man who battled weight to join military loses life in Iraq By BEN FOX Associated Press WILDOMAR, CALIF. - When Justin Hunt initially tried to join the Marines, the recruiters didn’t have a scale that could weigh him. Instead, they estimated the hulking athlete just two years out of high school was more than 150 pounds too heavy to join the service. Hunt didn’t let that stop him. He worked out, changed his diet and shed the pounds so he could enlist. Now his family holds on to memories of that year as they mourn the 22-year-old lance corporal, who was killed in an explosion Tuesday in western Iraq. "I want everybody to know what a great guy he was," his mother, Debbie, said as friends and relatives comforted her at the family home in Wildomar, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles. "He loved being on a team, fighting for a goal," his mother said. A dozen trophies in the living room attest to Justin Hunt’s high school accomplishments in baseball, wrestling and football. But he was far from Marine-fit when he first approached a recruiter in 2002. Recruiters estimated the 6-foot-tall Hunt weighed as much as 390 pounds. They couldn’t be sure because their scale only went up to 350. "The recruiters were pretty taken aback by how big I was," he said in a 2003 interview with The Chevron, a newspaper that serves the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. "But they were still willing to work with me to help me do what I had to do to become a Marine." That involved a lot of early morning runs through his semi-rural community in Riverside County, sometimes accompanied by a recruiter, Staff Sgt. Zach Delellis, family members said. "Any time he would get down and feeling like he might not want to do it, that recruiter was down here getting him out of bed," said Hunt’s father, Tom. Eventually, Justin Hunt got down to 207 pounds, just below the maximum allowed for his height. During boot camp in San Diego, he lost another 30 pounds and began telling his family that he wanted to be a drill instructor. Hunt’s parents learned of his death from their eldest son, also deployed in the Mideast. Debbie Hunt said she supports the military action in Iraq, but when her 19-year-old son, Travis, mentioned he was considering joining the Army Reserve, she asked him to drop the idea. "I understand why we’re there, but I think I’ve given them enough," she said, her voice breaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cskin Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 A true patriot..... god bless him and his family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Williams Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 Originally posted by Cskin A true patriot..... god bless him and his family. ditto & amen to that.....Thats one thing I'll never have the guts to do. My step-father told me TOO many stories as a kid. :yikes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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