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Nick Popaditch

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Gunnery Sergeant Nick Popaditch enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1986. While commanding a tank, he was wounded in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. Nick was medically retired from the Marines in 2005 at the rank of Gunnery Sergeant.  Nick Popaditch is the author of Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander's Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery and   The Ultimate Marine Recruit Training Guidebook: A Drill Instructor's Strategies and Tactics for Success

 

According to the book description of Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander's Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery, “Readers in and out of the military will stand up and cheer for this valiant Marine's Marine, a man who embodies everything noble and proud in the Corps' long tradition. Never has modern mechanized combat seemed so immediate and real, or the fight in Iraq seemed so human and worth believing in.

 

At first, Nick fights to get back to where he was in Iraq-in the cupola of an M1A1 main battle tank, leading Marines in combat at the point of the spear. As the seriousness and permanence of his disabilities become more evident, Nick fights to remain in the Corps in any capacity, to help the brothers in arms he so aches to rejoin. Facing the inevitable following a medical retirement, he battles for rightful recognition and compensation for his permanent disabilities. Throughout his harrowing ordeal, Nick fights to maintain his honor and loyalty, waging all these battles the same way-the Marine way-because anything less would be a betrayal of all he holds dear.

 

The real triumph in Once a Marine is its previously untold, behind-the-scenes tale of the day-to-day life of a career Marine noncommissioned staff officer. In most books and movies, a "Gunny" is little more than a cardboard character. Nick's portrayal is a man complete: a husband and father, as well as a warrior and a molder of young warriors. He reveals himself completely, something no memoirist in his position has ever done before. This includes our very personal introduction to his wife April, whose heroics in the story equal Nick's, together with dozens of others who, as Sgt. Popaditch writes, gave so much, so selflessly and freely, to him. Like the man himself, Once a Marine is full of gratitude and refreshingly free of false bravado and braggadocio.

 

All Americans, of all political persuasions, have a duty to meet this courageous and admirable fighting man, an exemplar of all our military men and women who give so much out of love for their nation. Meeting Gunny Sergeant Popaditch through the pages of his inspirational memoir offers up new reasons to be proud and shoulder our own responsibilities as Americans.

 

Once a Marine will instantly take its place among outstanding combat classics. And once you read this remarkable and uplifting book, The Marine's Hymn will never sound the same.”


Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander's Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery
Nick Popaditch  More Info

THE ULTIMATE MARINE RECRUIT TRAINING GUIDEBOOK: A Drill Instructor's Strategies and Tactics for Success
Nick Popaditch  More Info

According to the book description of The Ultimate Marine Recruit Training Guidebook: A Drill Instructor's Strategies and Tactics for Success, “The transition from civilian to that of a Marine is a process unlike any other in any branch of the military. As any potential recruit can imagine, Marine recruit training is difficult and challenging. Its purpose is to mold a Marine from the inside out.

Nick "Gunny Pop" Popaditch is best known as the "Cigar Marine" and author of Once a Marine, a candid memoir about his service as a tank commander in Iraq, his horrific wounding in the first battle of Fallujah (where he was hit in the head by a rocket-propelled grenade), and his long and difficult recovery. Gunny Pop has experienced the Marine recruit training process from every perspective: as a new recruit and as a drill instructor (all three hats). This new book brings together his nearly 16 years of Marine Corps expertise.

The Ultimate Marine Recruit Training Guidebook is a comprehensive, practical, and easy-to-follow guide written specifically for every new or prospective recruit about to enter Marine recruit training. Gunny Pop offers step-by-step instructions and solutions, including helpful charts and graphics, for how to prepare both physically and mentally for recruit training. Written by a Marine who experienced it firsthand many times over, Gunny Pop explores what recruits will be asked to do (and in many cases, explain why), and the motivating forces behind drill instructor lessons and behavior.

Also included is a custom fitness program specifically designed to prepare you for the physical demands of Marine recruit training.  The Ultimate Marine Recruit Training Guidebook was written by a Marine and former drill instructor for young men and women who want to become one of the few and the proud. No one should undertake Marine recruit training without having read this book.”

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