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| YOUR TOWN: Caroline | Culpeper | King George | Fredericksburg | Orange | Spotsylvania | Stafford | Westmoreland | |
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Sis follows brother into the Marines
Stafford High School graduate follows her big brother into the Marine Corps--and can't wait to hit the swampy boot camp of Parris Island
Date published: 6/22/2009
BY CATHY DYSON As a child, Mallory McClelland considered herself a princess in her frilly dresses and matching hair bows. She even prayed that one day she'd have long flowing hair like the Little Mermaid. Mallory also had two older brothers who picked on her so much that she had no choice but to get tough. When they looked for tadpoles, she stomped her pretty pink shoes in mudholes right along with them. "I dressed up like a girl, but I could fight with them," she said about Thomas, 24, and Justin, 22. "They made me the way I am." Mallory, 18, will take the toughness she learned from her brothers--and from playing field hockey at Stafford High School--into the military. She's following Justin into the Marine Corps. He's a lance corporal who has done two tours in Iraq. She has some big shoes to fill, literally. She's 5-3, a foot shorter than Justin, but those who know her say she's just as spunky. "I think the Marines are a good fit for Mallory," said Harry Mack, her guidance counselor at Stafford and a retired Marine. "She has an aggressive personality, which you probably noticed, and she's always been very active and passionate on the field hockey team. "The Marine Corps gives her a positive place to expend some of that energy." It also gives her the chance to get out of Dodge, even though her ticket takes her to boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., a swampland riddled with sand fleas and red ants. "It's going to be amazing," Mallory said, her brown eyes glowing. "I'm just trying to get out of Stafford as fast as I can. I've never lived anywhere else." Her parents, Melissa and Mark McClelland of White Oak, say they're proud of her, just as they were of Justin. "The pride was overwhelming," Melissa said. At first, Justin tried to talk Mallory out of joining the service. He has been in for 31/2 years as an infantryman. Although his sister and other females aren't able to go into combat as he did, Justin says there's a lot of stress--and work--being a Marine. But then he realized there weren't many job opportunities for Mallory and other members of the Class of 2009. He didn't want her hanging around, getting into trouble.
Date published: 6/22/2009
OOH-Rah!
(posted by
P2B12
, June 22, 2009 4:12 pm)
Loved my time in the Corps....The Fewer - The Prouder - The Women Marines!
Semper Fi
(posted by
DRay9529
, June 22, 2009 7:13 am)
I wouldn't change my time in the Marine Corps.
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