Forging Legacy: The Anatomy of Marine Corps Memorials

There is a distinct gravity that com­mands the air around a U.S. Marine Corps memorial.

Time seems to slow its heavy march. Voices drop to a murmur, and strangers fall into a kind of synchronized silence. Some stand still before the structures, their eyes tracing the lines of a cast bronze face or reading the name of a battle. Others stay around at the edges, watching as a veteran rests a hand against cold stone, lost in a private conversation spanning across the decades. A child tugs quietly at a parent’s sleeve, sensing the seriousness there.

Whether it is a statue of Marines rais­ing the flag above the Virginia skyline or a small, solitary marker tucked beside an American Legion post, these structures give us momentary pause and demand we bear witness to the history and in­dividuals behind it.
Yet it takes more than just a glance to uncover the full story behind each memorial; every etched slab of granite and bronze can carry the weight of political battles, backbreaking labor—and a unifying refusal to let any Marine fade into history.

The Reality of National Memorials

When imagining a Marine Corps memorial, a few “gold-standard” stand­outs may jump to mind, such as the Ma­rine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., or Semper Fidelis Memorial Park in Triangle, Va.

United by more than just their Marine Corps affiliation, these monuments func­tion as condensed manifestations of mil­itary history, honoring pivotal campaigns and entire divisions. Their designs active­ly stir the esprit de corps, transforming a simple visit into a pilgrimage for shared heritage and reflection.

However, behind a monument’s final, physical form lies a grueling process. Constructing a national memorial is a monumental task that demands far more than imagination; it requires a balance of civil engineering, artistic scrutiny and the ability to rally enduring support across the entire country.

Before a single shovel hits the dirt or a block of stone is carved, a national memorial must survive federal approvals. Sponsors must navigate the Commemor­ative Works Act, which strictly regulates who can be honored and where, with assistance from the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission staff. This is a process that can take decades. Memorials additionally require an act of Congress and the President signing the bill into law.

Overlooking the National Museum of the Marine Corps, a statue of LtGen Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller commands the landscape at Semper Fidelis Memorial Park in Triangle, Va. (Photo courtesy of Marine Corps Heritage Foundation )

Designs then must be passed through multiple gatekeepers such as the Na­tional Park Service, the National Cap­ital Plan­ning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts and the State Historic Pres­ervation Office. These bodies scrutinize every detail to ensure historical accuracy, environmental preservation and aesthetic harmony with the surrounding national landscape.

Etched brick walkways wind through Semper Fidelis Memorial Park at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

And, if a memorial proposal for Wash­ing­ton, D.C., manages to push through and survive, there is a Sisyphean task at the top of Capitol Hill. Under frameworks like the Commemorative Works Act, federal authorization in the capital region isn’t open-ended; sponsors typically face a strict seven-year window from the date of enactment to secure site approval, raise funds and complete design sign-offs or else the authorization expires and the entire legislative battle must restart.

Constructing a national memorial is a monumental task that demands far more than imagination; it requires a balance of civil engineering, artistic scrutiny and the ability to rally enduring support across the entire country.

The initial concept of a memorial fre­quently undergoes radical transfor­mation before becoming reality, and necessarily so. A monument representa­tive of an en­tire military branch, historic campaign or national tragedy carries an immense emotional weight. Sculptors and design­ers face intense scrutiny from the public, historians and the very families of those being honored. Every fold of a uniform, weapon type and facial expression must be vetted to avoid con­troversy or misrep­re­sentation. Overcom­ing these design hur­­dles also requires translating that vision into physical stone and bronze, involving specialized found­ers, stone­masons, welders and riggers—keepers of traditional trades that are increasingly difficult to find and may result in ad­di­tional limitations to the memorial’s de­sign and budget. Therefore, the final mon­­ument often looks different from its blueprint.

Amid scaffolding, sculptor Felix W. de Weldon reviews the plaster framework of the Marine Corps War Memorial. Before standing as a 78-foot bronze national landmark, his vision had to be perfected in plaster, divided into 108 separate pieces and shipped to New York for casting. (Courtesy of National Archives)
Marine Rene Gagnon poses for sculptor Felix de Weldon, who crafted each figure using live models and historic photographs. (Courtesy of National Park Service)

Executive Editor’s note: In 2019, the Bowers Board determined that Gagnon was on Mount Suribachi at the time of the second flag raising, but he was not one of the flag raisers. See “In Fairness to All Parties” in the January 2020 issue of Leatherneck for the full story.
Gen Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr., the 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps, delivers remarks during the dedication ceremony of the Marine Corps War Memorial on Nov. 10, 1954. (Courtesy of National Archives)

Then comes the financial aspect. A vast majority of national landmarks do not rely on federal funding. Financing them requires strategy, as national trib­utes often scale into multimillion-dollar undertakings, and most projects rely on forming foundations specifically to spearhead fundraising. These entities must run multiyear, nationwide cam­paigns appealing to corporate sponsors, veterans’ organizations and individual citi­zens. Deceptively, the cost of a me­morial does not end with its dedication. Organizers must also raise funds for long-term maintenance endowments to ensure that bronze does not corrode, stone does not fracture and groundskeeping is maintained in perpetuity.

A notorious success story for a national memorial is the Marine Corps War Memorial, inspired by Joe Rosenthal’s iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. This mon­ument stands 78 feet tall, anchored by bronze figures and a 60-foot flagpole that flies the American flag 24 hours a day by presidential proclamation.

The initial concept of a memorial fre­quently undergoes radical transfor­mation before becoming reality, and necessarily so.

Yet behind the memorial is the battle required to bring it to life. Sculptor Felix W. de Weldon—then serving in the U.S. Navy—first saw Rosenthal’s photograph in 1945 and immediately crafted a scale model. What followed was a nine-year crusade. De Weldon brought in three of the men who were believed to be the sur­viving flag raisers (Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon and John Bradley) to model their faces in clay, while using photographs to meticulously recreate those who had fallen.

The figures were initially sculpted over a steel skeletal framework and, once per­fected in plaster, the colossal masterpiece was disassembled into 108 separate pieces and shipped to the Bedi-Rassy Art Found­ry in Brooklyn, N.Y. Over three years, artisans cast, cleaned and chased every section before trucking the components back down to Virginia in a multivehicle convoy for final welding and assembly.

For this project, no public tax dollars were used. The entire $850,000 cost in 1954 was raised entirely through do­nations from U.S. Marines, veterans, reservists and friends of the Corps. Upon its completion, President Dwight D. Eisenhower celebratorily dedicated the memorial on Nov. 10, 1954, on the 179th birthday of the Marine Corps.

Though de Weldon aimed for historical accuracy, the project exposed that even the most revered monuments are vulnerable not just to bureaucracy but also to human error and flawed early records. Years after its unveiling, official investigations by the Marine Corps revealed that John Bradley and Rene Gagnon were not actually among the six men in Rosenthal’s flag-raising image, cementing an accidental misidentification into bronze and stone.

The Grassroots Fight For Local Memorials

Local memorials often tell the most intimate stories of brotherhood for a com­munity. For local governments and de­tach­ments of the Marine Corps League and platoon associations, building a me­morial is frequently an underdog cam­paign. Smaller community veteran mark­ers typically range from local budgets of $10,000 to well over $200,000 for expan­sive town plazas and commem­ora­tive spaces.

If you visit Veterans of Foreign Wars posts, county courthouses and municipal parks across America, you will find brick-paver walkways, small granite stones and bronze plaques bearing the names of local Marines who never came home from Belleau Wood, Chosin, Hue City or the valleys of Helmand Province.

Tributes like these are rarely funded by multimillion-dollar federal endow­ments; instead, they come to life through spaghetti dinners, charity golf tourna­ments, car washes and small donations from citizens who want to honor their local Marines.
When a local monument committee commissions a plaque, the margin for error is zero. The Eagle, Globe and Anchor must conform to exact proportions—the rope twists, the placement of the continents, and the spread of the eagle’s wings cannot be left to an artist’s creative jurisdiction. The symbol falls under a trademark and must be licensed for use. If a foundry gets the details wrong, it will be noticed.

Consider the local effort behind proj­ects like the Stafford County Armed Services Memorial in Stafford County, Va. Built to honor generations of local servicemembers, the project was guided by a dedicated commission—including Supervisor Gary Snellings; Lieutenant General Ron Christmas, USMC (Ret); and Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer. True to its community roots, the memorial’s design came from local classrooms. Aaron Brown of North Stafford High School won a $1,500 scholarship for his winning design, and an architect inte­grated ideas from the top five student submissions into the final plan.

Rather than relying on government windfalls, the committee financed the memorial through community-funded brick pathways and collaborated closely with local businesses, individual donors and civic organizations to raise nearly $835,000 and complete the site on the Stafford government campus.

Living Memorials

Rather than constructing a monument meant solely for passive observation, a living memorial actively serves, educates and sustains the veteran community day in and day out. These memorials range from dedicated park landscapes to historical sites and clubhouses operating across the United States.

The Marines’ Memorial Association’s 1946 charter pioneered a profound evo­lu­tion for memorials in the States, estab­lishing the Marines’ Memorial Club as the nation’s first “living memorial” on Nov. 10, 1946, marking the 171st anniver­sary of the founding of the Corps. This 12-story landmark was conceived under the vision of Gen Alexander A. Vandegrift, the 18th Commandant of the Marine Corps who had led the 1st Marine Di­vision through Guadalcanal, alongside a group of returning Pacific war veterans.

As these veterans stepped off into a civilian world that often struggled to comprehend what they had endured, they realized they needed more than a statue. They needed a sanctuary. They pooled their resources with the united goal of securing a building in downtown San Francisco, Calif.

Marines gather in downtown San Francisco, Calif., outside the 12-story Marines’ Memorial Club, established on Nov. 10, 1946, as the nation’s first “living memorial.”

Today, the facility houses a comprehen­sive military history library and museum preserving rare archives, uniforms and artifacts; the Tribute Memorial Wall, honoring American servicemembers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the global war on terror; and lodging, dining and professional spaces dedicated to active-duty personnel, veterans and their families visiting the area.
To ensure this mission continues across generations, the Marines’ Memorial As­sociation operates alongside the Marines’ Memorial Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to funding educational programs, historical preservation and active support for military families.

It stands as proof that one of the best ways to honor the memory of a Marine is to take care of a living one.

Private Memorials

While national memorials command the attention of the country and local plazas rally entire towns, there exists an even more intimate tier of remembrance: the private memorial. These deeply personal tributes bypass bureaucracy entirely, finding their quiet homes in backyards, living rooms and private family sanctuaries.

If national memorials speak to the broad, collective history of the Corps, private memorials speak to an individual bond that time cannot touch. Often these spaces are constructed to symbolically bring a Marine home. 

Members of Rolling Thunder Virginia Chapter 3 participate in a ceremony at the Stafford County Armed Services Memorial in Stafford, Va., on May 27, 2022. (Tarnish Pride)

These tributes scale down to what can fit on a fireplace mantel, a garden bench or a corner of a home study. They frequently feature deeply personal artifacts: a folded American flag, a pair of polished combat boots holding a helmet with dog tags draped over the brim or a single engraved river stone placed beneath a shady tree. Devoid of structural permits or public oversight, they rely instead on brass shell casings fired at a final range qualification, dog-eared pocket notebooks or uniform ribbons pinned securely into shadow boxes.

If national memorials speak to the broad, collective history of the Corps, private memorials speak to an individual bond that time cannot touch

These spaces are not meant for public speeches or wreath-laying ceremonies. Instead, they are sanctuaries for a quiet cup of coffee in the morning, a silent toast at sunset or a private conversation. These private memorials remind us that remembrance is not just found in crowds around grand public monuments; it lives intimately in the everyday spaces and lives we inhabit. These are held as the most priceless memorials of all.

The Final Salute

A memorial, no matter its national, local or private scale, is, at its core, a pledge. It is an individual pausing to look at the sacrifice of a Marine and declaring: You are seen. You are remembered. Your watch is relieved, but your name will never fade.

Author’s note: Do you or your local veteran groups have a private memorial or a quiet space dedicated to a Marine? Leatherneck invites you to share your stories, photos and descriptions of these personal tributes by emailing us at [email protected].

Featured Photo (Top): Completed after a nearly decade-long endeavor, the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., stands as a physical testament to the immense dedication and years of labor required to transform an idea into a permanent national landmark.

About the Author

Kayla Workman is the editorial assistant for Leatherneck and a graduate student at the University of Alabama special­izing in archival studies. She previously earned her bachelor’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Mary Washington.

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Building Bonds Within Marine Families

MCSF Provides More Than Just Scholarships

April is Month of the Military Child, a chance to recognize the sacrifices all military children make during and after their parents’ service. An organization that understands these sacrifices and strives to honor them is the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation (MCSF).

No matter when a Marine served, the MCSF believes their families deserve support. The Scholarship Foundation’s mission is simple: Honor Marines by educating their children. Children of Marines who served honorably and demonstrate financial need are eligible for four years of scholarship support as they attend college or technical school.

For many students, applying for an MCSF scholarship is a chance to connect more deeply with their parents’ service. For those scholarship recipients whose parents served before they were born or retired before they could remember, completing the military parent section of the application is often a way to open the discussion about their parents’ service. 

Christian Cirilo was searching for ways to help pay for his college education when he came across the MCSF. When he started looking into his father’s service to complete his application, he was surprised by what he discovered. “I pulled out his footlocker, which contained his photo albums, awards and commendations he received, along with his uniforms. It was his dress blues adorned with his ribbons and badges that made me wonder,” he said. 

Christian’s father, veteran Sergeant John Cirilo, served in the Gulf War. When Christian asked, John shared stories of his service and a logbook he had kept. He told Christian, “I am a United States Marine, and we represent something bigger than ourselves.”

The many conversations they began to have got Christian wondering whether he had what it took to become a Marine. Originally, he had intended to study busi-ness in college to become a financial plan-ner. Now, he studies criminal law at the University of Tampa and made the dean’s list his most recent semester. He has also chosen to participate in the Re-serve Officers’ Training Corps, with the goal of attending Officer Candidates School and being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. After completing his own service, he intends to apply to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

Christian Cirilo

Autumn Fanella

“I believe that my career change and pursuit of service to my community and country in the Marine Corps and later in federal law enforcement are aligned with my aspirations and future goals. I remain committed to the ‘be in the service of others’ mindset and look forward to chal-lenging myself along the way,” Christian told the Scholarship Foundation in his most recent note. 

Christian’s story is one heard often at MCSF. The application

Gavin Gros

sparks questions about a part of their parents’ lives these students may not have fully understood.

For the Marine parents, these moments are a chance to share the privilege and sacrifice of serving in the Corps with their children. But these conversations don’t stop after the application is complete. 

Autumn Fanella is a four-time scholarship recipient who is about to complete her studies in international relations and Russian at the University of Pittsburgh. Her father, veteran Corporal Richard T. Fanella, served in Operation Desert Storm before being honorably discharged and starting his family. Though Cpl Fanella raised Autumn and her five siblings with the Marine Corps values of honor, courage and commitment, Autumn never had the opportunity to directly experience his deployments or service. The Scholarship Foundation was a chance for her to ask her father about what it was like to be a Marine.  

“This scholarship has also given me the opportunity to connect more with my dad; he has sacrificed so much for his family, and I am grateful that I have had the chance to make him proud while studying at school,” she said. 

With her father, Autumn attended the Scholarship Foundation’s Steel City Awards Dinner and con-nected with other Marine veterans and their children. In her application, she highlighted how the event gave her a deeper appreciation for her father’s service and, more broadly, that all of veterans. “Our veterans have sacrificed so much for their country. … I was able to talk with donors and veterans, as well as listen to guest speakers. I will remember this event for the rest of my life.”

Bolstered by the values instilled in her by her father, Autumn dreams of a career in government intelligence work. “My father’s service has inspired me to find my own way to serve my country with my education,” Autumn said. In addition to being a Marine Scholar, Autumn will receive a Fulbright-Hays scholarship to study abroad in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Currently, Autumn is in a special Russian-as-a-second-language program in Tbilisi, Georgia. As her father worked to bring democracy to the Middle East in the 1990s, today Autumn “hopes to promote principles of Western democracy and be that tie with the Western world that might help

For many students, applying for an MCSF scholarship is a chance to connect more deeply with their parents’ service. 

Georgian youth in their struggle for democracy in the future.” As Autumn makes decisions about her future career, her father’s service continues to shape her life and career goals.

Marine parents shape their children not only by how they serve but also by how they choose to live and pursue careers upon returning to civilian life. Often, the determination and dedication with which they work makes their children interested in the same industry. Many Marine Scholars choose to study a subject related to either their parents’ area of military service, like mechanics, or post-service career, like engineering. 

As a first-generation college student, Gavin Gros balances life as a full-time scholar, athlete and volunteer while he studies mechanical engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. A multi-year scholarship recipient, he has been able to focus on his studies, rather than having to work a part-time job to cover his tuition. 

After he was awarded his scholarship, Gavin said, “Sharing this news with my family, especially my father, a Marine Corps veteran, was a moment of profound connection. His reaction was one of immense pride, knowing that the values he upheld during his service continue to inspire and support the next generation.” Veteran Sergeant Roland Gros was honorably discharged when Gavin was young, before he could fully understand the impact of his father’s service. Applying for a scholarship was Gavin’s opportunity to hear stories of his father’s deployments and learn about lessons the Marine Corps taught him.

On campus, Gavin volunteers with several on campus organizations, including one focusing on supporting disabled individuals in their local community. He helps lead events, fundraises and works on raising awareness across the area. Additionally, Gavin plays on the Fightin’ Engineers football team, participating in 16 of their games in his first two years. He credits his veteran father instilling the values of discipline, resilience and dedication in him—“principles that have guided me through academic challenges and personal growth.”

These values helped him to gain admission into one of the top engineering programs for undergraduates in the country, after graduating fourth-highest in his high school class. His career isn’t only shaped by his father’s legacy of military service; when Gavin was a kid, he would work with his dad and grandfather repairing semi-trucks and their family car. This sparked an interest in mechanics and machines that drives him today.

Last summer, Gavin completed an engineering internship at DRC, a company known for innovative approaches to product engineering. The internship allowed him to work with experienced engineers, gain valuable insights into professional engineering processes and begin building his career. After graduating, he plans to work in the automotive industry, developing electric or automated cars, or in the aerospace industry, developing innovative technology to advance scientific discovery. He said his father’s “dedication, sacrifice and commitment to serving others have inspired [him] to strive for excellence in everything [he does.]” He continued, “I am proud to carry on his legacy of service and honor, and I am grateful for the invaluable lessons he taught me.”

Fifty members of the MCSF Class of 2025 gathered at a scholarship announcement ceremony last August to celebrate their academic futures.

Christian, Autumn and Gavin are just three of the nearly 3,000 students the Scholarship Foundation will support this academic year. Each one of these families has a story shaped by military service. Some students’ parents are still on active duty, deploying around the world to protect the freedoms of their fellow citizens. However, the majority of our scholars are students whose parents served before they can remember. No matter when their parents served, these children are raised on the Marine Corps values of honor, courage and commitment. 

The Scholarship Foundation awards every eligible applicant with scholarship support, making them an organization that lies at the intersection of real need and lasting impact for Marine families. Scholarship amounts range from $2,500 to $10,000, with an average of $4,200 per student each year. The scholarship is renewable for all four years of their education. For many students, a scholarship can cover the majority or entirety of their tuition. Students can also use their scholarship funds for room and board, books and study abroad opportunities. Funds are sent directly to the school, ensuring they are used in the student’s area of greatest need.  

These scholarships make a lasting impact on scholars and their families. One hundred percent of recipients report that their scholarship had an impact on their ability to attend college or technical school, with 88 percent reporting a significant impact. Sixty-two percent of senior Marine Scholars graduated with little to no debt (less than $10,000), compared to 32 percent nationally, according to a 2025 study by College Board. Further, the Education Data Initiative found that the national average debt is $38,375 upon college graduation. All of these metrics demonstrate how the MCSF helps relieve a real financial burden for Marine families. 

The majority of our scholars are students whose parents served before they can remember. No matter when their parents served, these children are raised on the Marine Corps values of honor, courage and commitment. 

The MCSF is more than a scholarship check. In addition to scholarship support, the foundation provides free and confidential resources to recipients and their families. These include counseling, legal and financial assistance and tutoring. Through a variety of engagement platforms, the Scholarship Foundation keeps in touch with students, provides internship and job opportunities and fosters strong relationships. 

MCSF scholarship recipients report a variety of positive impacts for themselves and their families—stress reduction, feeling more connected to the Marine Corps and their parents’ service, less debt and higher GPAs. This holistic programing approach puts Marine Scholars and their families first and is recognized around the scholarship community. In 2022, MCSF received the Scholarship Provider of the Year Award from the National Scholarship Provider’s Association.

While there are many ways to honor our nation’s heroes, the Scholarship Foundation has been a source of reliable support for the Marine community for more than 60 years. Students raised on Marine values, like Christian, Autumn and Gavin, are raised to be driven to make a difference. After their parents sacrificed so much for our nation, finances should never be an obstacle for these children to become future leaders in their chosen fields.

The MCSF is the nation’s oldest and largest provider of need-based scholarships to military children. You can learn more about the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, including how to support these deserving families, at mcsf.org.

Featured Photo (Top): Ted Probert, the president and CEO of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation (MCSF), far left, meets with scholarship recipients at Marine Barracks Washington. For more than 60 years, the MCSF has provided scholarships to children of Marines, 62% of whom graduate with little to no debt.

Note: All photos featured in this article are courtesy of the MCSF.

About the Author

Claire Quinn works as the assistant director of communications for the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation and earned an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University. She resides in Virginia with her husband, son and cat.

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Warrior-Scholar Project Helps Servicemembers Transition Into Higher Education

Each year, 115,000 servicemembers transition from the military into higher education. Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) exists to help the enlisted veterans among them make informed choices about what comes next.

Founded in 2012 by three Yale University students, WSP aims to prepare enlistees for success in college and beyond. The nonprofit’s flagship program is a series of free, one-week academic boot camps hosted at leading universities across the United States. At their core, the boot camps are rigorous college prep courses designed to equip enlisted servicemembers and veterans with the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors for classroom success.

“Yes, you can be here,” said CEO Ryan Pavel. “Here’s what you go through to not only put together a successful application but also kick a– in the classroom.”

It’s a transition that Pavel navigated on his own. He applied to college and was rejected, so he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served five years with two non-combat deployments to Iraq. After separating from the military, he reapplied to college and was rejected again. Finally, after attending community college, he was able to transfer to the University of Michigan. 

After graduating, Pavel taught high school and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia. During that time, he also learned about WSP. He helped bring a licensed version of the project to the University of Michigan and trained program directors.

“My winding path of being a sort of a very average Marine, a very average teacher, an average lawyer, right?” said Pavel. “All three of those pieces of my life, none of which were going to be the long-term thing for me, they actually come into play in this work that I’m very privileged to do.”

Pavel has been at the helm of WSP since 2019. Together with the rest of the nonprofit’s team, he aims to help servicemembers navigate separation with a better road map than he had. And it seems to be working.

Ryan Pavel, right, talks with program partici­pant Anand Kathari during one of the WSP’s academic boot camps. (Photo by Craig Pessman for  Warrior-Scholar Project)

“We’re very proud. About 90% of our folks go on to complete their degrees, which blows the overall college com-pletion rate out of the water,” said Pavel. The completion rate for enlisted veterans who are using their post-9/11 GI Bill benefits is 47%, according to at least one published study.

Hunter Eggleston, 27, is a WSP boot camp grad and success story. After serving as a Navy corpsman for five years, Eggleston separated from the military in January 2023. He began applying for college and, after learning about WSP on Instagram, completed a boot camp at the University of Notre Dame. Now he’s three years into a five-year double major in electrical engineering and Chinese at the University of Vermont.

“Doing WSP is what made me confident enough to do the double major in the first place,” Eggleston said. “They taught me, hey, this is how you can be successful in an academic environment after being out of an academic environment for the past five years of [your] life.”

As a WSP alumnus, Eggleston keeps in touch with other academic boot camp grads. He also volunteered as a fellow in the summer of 2024, paying his good experience forward by mentoring other WSP participants in college readiness at a boot camp like the one he attended. More than likely, Eggleston said, he’ll volunteer again.

“If anybody is hearing about WSP for the first time, don’t hesitate to jump full force into it. It’s a super welcoming community,” said Eggleston. “I couldn’t recommend the program enough.”

Eggleston isn’t alone in his full-throated recommendation of the project. Every year, hundreds of participants attend WSP boot camps for free at roughly 20 colleges and universities across the United States. According to the nonprofit’s exit surveys, 99% of participants would recommend the program to other veterans and servicemembers.

Since its inception, WSP has prepared 2,500 veterans for higher education. Pavel estimated 50% of participants are separated veterans, 40% are active-duty servicemembers and 10% are in the National Guard or Reserve.

Lead fellow and veteran Alberto Vasquez-Varela mentors a STEM-focused cohort at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2024. (Photo by Alex Lopez for Warrior-Scholar Project)

“If I had my druthers, everybody would go through WSP six to 18 months before they transition out,” said Pavel. This way, newly separated veterans would be more likely to know who they are and where they’re going.

“We beat up on the Transition Assistance Program all the time, and … rightly so, it needs to get better,” said Pavel.

Veteran Shane Kissinger collaborates with participants at a WSP aca­dem­ic boot camp, where community-building is a core component of the program. (Photo by Sameer Khan for Warrior-Scholar Project)

“But even if you assume it’s a perfect government-run [program] … there’s still no way a broad program can meet the needs of an individual if that individual isn’t willing to do deep identity work, right? If you’re not spending time seriously thinking and answering, ‘Who am I right now? Who was I at the time of enlistment? What do I want to become? Can higher education help me achieve those goals?’ ”

WSP programming aims to help veterans answer those questions. The academic boot camps work like this. Applicants must be enlisted servicemembers or veterans, typically without an undergraduate degree. Pavel qualified that some applicants, say, with a 15-year-old degree that hasn’t been dusted off and applied might be accepted into a boot camp on a case-by-case basis. Interested individuals can find and fill out an interest form on WSP’s website, warrior-scholar.org. After submission, a member of the WSP outreach team will connect with them for a live conversation.

“If there’s alignment, then they get the full application,” Pavel said. “They’re not screening for academic qualities or merit. They’re finding out: Does this person really want to pursue higher education? Could they benefit from Warrior-Scholar? If yes, they find you a slot for one of the programs.”

Participants can attend an academic boot camp in one of three tracks: business, STEM or college readiness, which used to be called humanities. The cohorts are intimate, with only 10 to 15 participants and a student-to-instructor ratio of 2-to-1.

“That’s what really makes this function … that people know they’re cared for and we can help them every single step of the way,” said Pavel.

Instructors sort into three types. University faculty teach participants as if they’re university students enrolled in a college course. Fellows, like Eggleston, are academic boot camp graduates who mentor participants on what it takes to be successful college students. Contractors teach specific subject matter, such as writing, research and problem-solving or business case studies.

Participants arrive on Saturday and leave one week later.

“Saturday night, you’re reading. Sunday morning, you’re up early, and we start the process of actually going through it,” Pavel said. The boot camps are immersive and intensive, totaling 75 hours of work for no grade and no credit.

“As you start reading [Alexis de] Tocqueville’s ‘equality of conditions’ argument and you get really frustrated about that, it sort of opens the mind when somebody says, ‘OK, well, here’s actually how we unpack that to go into the college discussion.’ And then it’s empowering when somebody comes out the other end and says, ‘Oh my goodness, I can contribute.’ And then you get to start to build a sense of belonging.”

“If I had my druthers, everybody would go through WSP six to 18 months before they transition out.”
—Ryan Pavel, CEO, 
Warrior-Scholar Project

He added, “By the middle of the course, you understand that it’s not actually just about the academics, right? It is actually the power of it—that community side—that nobody has to go at this thing alone.”

After an end-of-course reception, instructors encourage participants to sustain their enthusiasm for education as they head home and plan for civilian life.

Besides the weeklong boot camps, WSP offers one-day college success workshops at community colleges as crash courses to meet veterans where they are.

“So many enlisted veterans have the courage, the wherewithal, to start at the community college level but still don’t see themselves succeeding on the four-year side,” said Pavel.

WSP offers support to their alumni through the Career Pathways Initiative, which helps bridge the gap between education and a career with a five-month professional development cohort. The nonprofit also offers the Graduate Path-ways Initiative Scholars program to assist alumni contemplating graduate or professional school.

But that’s not all, Pavel teased. “There are some other alumni services that we’re cooking up that we’ll be launching in the next 18 months or so.” WSP leadership is also aiming to expand the academic boot camp footprint. “We really want a lot more active duty using Warrior-Scholar Project to make informed choices about what comes next.”

One brand-new initiative should help with that. WSP launched an on-demand version of the college success portion of the boot camps in the online learning platform Coursera. The course was four years in the making. 

“I’m buzzing with energy and excitement over it,” Pavel said. “The idea for that is just to be able to have more people that can go through and at least get some dose of what we talk about in the full class and … make more informed choices. And then if that’s valuable, come to the full boot camp.”

Veteran Anastasia Wilson teaches during a Warrior-Scholar Project boot camp at Princeton University in 2023. (Photo by Sameer khan for Warrior-Scholar Project)

Featured Photo (Top): Marine Corps veteran Ryan Pavel has served as CEO of Warrior-Scholars Project (WSP) since 2019. For his work with WSP, Pavel was awarded the Marine Corps University Foundation’s inaugural General Alfred M. Gray Jr. National Award for Service and Education in 2025. (Photo by Violetta dominek for Warrior-Scholar Project)

About the Author

Jenna Biter is a proud military spouse and writer with a master’s degree in national security. Her writing has appeared in Reserve + National Guard, Military Families, Coffee or Die Magazine, The National Interest and more.

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Team Rubicon Answers the Call After the Texas Floods

Team Rubicon has made a name for itself by leading from the front and being on the ground in some of the world’s largest and most significant catastrophes. 

Most recently, the humanitarian organization was in Texas, supporting the relief efforts from the floods that devastated the state’s south-central region. They arrived in Kerr and Tom Green counties less than a week after the tragic floods on July 4; by July 10, Team Rubicon volunteers, known as Greyshirts, were deployed to remove debris blocking homes and provide muck-out services for the survivors. 

“Our Greyshirts stepped in pretty early, and we were initially helping with the volunteer coordination,” said Jeff Byard, Marine Corps veteran and senior vice president of operations. “You can see the best of humanity and the worst of humanity in a disaster. … [There was] a lot of outpouring from all over Texas and beyond. There was such a volume of spontaneous volunteers that it made our workload a little lighter, which was good.”

Team Rubicon’s Greyshirt volunteers were already on the ground on July 10, providing support less than a week after the Texas floods killed more than 130 people.

Team Rubicon had 30-man operations running in Kerr County, where Camp Mystic and the bulk of fatalities occurred. Many of the homes were destroyed, and a lot of the area was actively conduct-ing search and rescue, said Byard. Vol-unteers conducted a traditional muck out by removing drywall, flooring and everything down to the studs in order to eliminate mold growth.

“Everyone that you talked to either had a direct fatality or they were one person removed,” Byard said. “The emotion was really thick. It was a heavy one for many of our first-time Greyshirts to walk into.”

In the aftermath of the Texas floods, Team Rubicon’s Greyshirts conducted a variety of tasks including damage assessments, clearing routes, removing debris, performing expedient home repairs and mucking out flooded homes.

Much of the firm’s top leadership was on-site to lead and support the operations. Jim Brooks, the new CEO—a former Navy SEAL and CIA officer—exper-ienced the devastation firsthand during his fourth morning on the job in Hunt, Texas.

“We’re driving down here in a three-vehicle convoy with our strike team, and you just begin to see the flood zone, and the debris far and wide across a very large river valley,” Brooks said. “And you see toilet seats 25 feet up in a tree hanging from branches. Immediately, you just feel how chaotic, how scary, it was. What that disaster must have been like as it was unfolding. A bunch of families were disrupted here, and you go in and you see their lives; their homes that were sitting here along what was normally a flowing, simple, peaceful river, and you see that they were immediately destroyed.”

Brooks was on-site with Team Rubicon co-founder Jake Wood, a Marine Corps veteran who is now serving as the organization’s executive chairman of the board. Wood believes that Brooks has the moxie to lead the organization in a future filled with larger, impactful weather events.

Jake Wood, center, and Jim Brooks, right, meets with Greyshirts about ongoing Team Rubicon oper­ations. A surge of volunteers impacted by the Texas floods joined forces with Team Rubicon to support their communities.

“I’m excited for Jim,” Wood said. “You know, we’re 15 years into this organization, and the one thing that we can’t afford to be is complacent. This organization has been founded with a bias for action. I think we’ve always operated with that urgency … leaning into those moments. I think that’s more important now than ever. Disasters are increasing in frequency and cost. We’re sitting here in the midst of one of the worst flooding disasters in the history of the country, and this is going to continue to happen. So, this organization has to continue to scale, has to continue to innovate. We have to continue to expand the capabilities that we can bring into communities, the types of missions that we can meet in the future. Jim Brooks brings this incredible ground as an executive who has operated at scale within large, complex enterprises. He has demonstrated the ability to innovate, and I think he’s just going to shepherd us into this next version of Team Rubicon, which is going to be bigger and more badass.”

Team Rubicon Greyshirts clean dirt and debris from the inside of a home after devastating flooding in Texas.

Team Rubicon started in 2010 in re-sponse to the 7.0 earthquake that dev-astated Haiti. Wood saw a critical need for help and responded with a proactive team of eight to Port-au-Prince three days later. His small team provided care and support for thousands of survivors and changed the world for humanitarian aid. They trailblazed beyond the normal world of disaster response. The name for Team Rubicon comes from the boldness of Julius Caesar as he crossed the Rubicon River in Italy, passing the point of no return. 

Team Rubicon has pressed forward to lead from the front for hundreds of operations, including global crises. They have responded to support relief for numerous hurricanes, snowstorms, small tornadoes and flooding. Their board of advisors has included many high-profile leaders such as General David Petraeus, General Stanley McChrystal, General James T. Conway, Andy Bessette, Jeff Dailey and Jeff Smith. The team is now over 180,000-plus strong. 

 

From Desert Storm to Team Rubicon

Team Rubicon Senior Vice President of Operations Jeff Byard joined the Marine Corps in the delayed entry program at 17 years old and was in boot camp the Monday after graduating from high school, a memorable experience given what was going on at the time.

“We were awakened in mid-August by a drill instructor and told Iraq had invaded Kuwait,” Byard said. “ ‘All the 0300s step forward,’ said the DI. Half of the platoon stepped forward. The DI told them, ‘You’re all going to die in a chemical gas attack. Get back in the rack.’ ”

Byard said he was shocked, adding that he had convinced his mom to sign for him to enlist, assuring her that he would be fine.
But the situation had now changed for Byard, and he de­ployed for Desert Storm. After he returned, he was put on a Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Mediterranean and was meritoriously promoted on ship. For his last year and a half, he was stationed in Parris Island, S.C., and was the basic weapons instructor for all of the infantry weapons.

At the end of his initial four-year enlistment, he wanted to “stay in, move from infantry to light armored infantry, [but] they had no more boat spaces,” so he decided to get out and attend college.

His initial involvement with Team Rubicon was as a FEMA appointee; he joined the non­profit permanently in February of 2020 after having dinner with fellow Marine Team Rubicon executive David Burke.

“I saw an opportunity with a lot lined up,” Byard said. “The mission is awesome: help people.”
The organization’s strong culture resonated with him, as did the Team Rubicon Marine Corps roots. He said it gave him “the ability to still do what [he loves] doing … the field-level disaster response. It is the chaos and teamwork.”

Byard said he had a moment of reflection during Hurricane Laura in 2020, while working in the heat of southern Louisiana. His team was placing a blue tarp on the roof, and he stood there, thinking.

“I got emotional as it dawned on me, over my career, I probably ordered a million blue tarps through my work with the state of Alabama,” Byard said. “It dawned on me that I had never put a blue tarp on a roof. It was my first time doing that during a disaster. It brought a sense of personal satisfaction and told me this is where I needed to be.”
His purposeful experiences continued with Team Rubicon. One of his learning points was going from the government to a “for impact” organization.

“When you move into providing impact, you don’t manage volunteers,” he said. “You lead and inspire vol­unteers. Any leader needs to have the adaptability gene. In our business, whether government or for impact, people look at emergency management, disaster response or humani­tarian work. It’s all people’s work. You’re helping people that have been dev­astated. It is a chaotic environ­ment. If you’re a people person, that’s a con­stant improvise, overcome and adapt. Squarely rooted in the Marine Corps.”
Byard loved his time in the Corps, meeting lifelong friends from 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, whom he still talks to today. The Corps continues to influence his leadership style and success, and he bases his foundational approach on his Corps leadership experiences.

“Operationally, from the Marine Corps, I view our oper­ations as getting Greyshirts to the need. Then get out of there. Don’t be the 3,000-mile screwdriver.”

It’s basic Marine Corps small unit leadership, he said, empowering his people to lead and do the right thing.
“Our job is resources, give them the tools, get the Greyshirts to the need and they will figure out how to overcome and adapt. Our job is a resource provider.”

Team Rubicon has developed a quick reaction force. If a storm hits and if they have the right trained Greyshirts with equipment, they don’t necessarily go through their normal planning process, said Byard. “Speed to need, and … we need to be there when the need is there.” Byard hopes to have a Greyshirt leader in every county and parish in the country.

LtCol Joel Searls, USMCR

 

To support Team Rubicon in their disaster relief efforts, visit https://team
rubiconusa.org/

Featured Image (Top): Team Rubicon Greyshirts at a flood zone while responding to the Texas Hill Country floods. (Photo courtesy of Team Rubicon)

Author’s bio: LtCol Joel Searls, USMCR, is a journalist, writer and creative who serves in COMMSTRAT for the Marine Corps Reserve. He has completed the Writer’s Guild Foundation Veterans Writing Project, is a produced playwright, a commissioned screenwriter and an entertainment consultant. His most recent feature film-producing project is “Running with the Devil,” and his most recent TV series producing project is “Top Combat Pilot.” He is a graduate of The Ohio State University.