Marine veterans Christian Brown and Nick DelCampo have been close friends since they joined the Marines in 2009. They stepped on the yellow footprints at Parris Island, South Carolina, were in the same platoon when they went through infantry training, and later, were assigned to Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
While I was in the Marines, I served as a combat correspondent, deploying twice to Afghanistan with 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. While I had a fair amount of training on how to do my job, it never included instruction on how to set up my kit so I could work comfortably and effectively.