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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.”
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