{"id":23978,"date":"2012-07-14T07:26:38","date_gmt":"2012-07-14T07:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newspaper.ctsi-logistics.com\/?p=23978"},"modified":"2012-07-14T07:26:38","modified_gmt":"2012-07-14T07:26:38","slug":"marine-from-micronesia-wraps-up-second-afghan-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/marine-from-micronesia-wraps-up-second-afghan-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine from Micronesia wraps up second Afghan tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Corporal\u00a0 By CPL. KENNETH JASIK<\/strong>
\nSpecial to the Saipan Tribune<\/em><\/p>\n

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ZEEBRUGEE, Kajaki District, Afghanistan-Marines seem to come from all walks of life, some more distant than others. For one Marine, growing up in Micronesia was his childhood.<\/p>\n

Corporal Jordi Inoke, a radio operator with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 6, says he’s proud to be in Afghanistan, on his second deployment and supporting International Security Assistance Forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like deploying to Afghanistan,\u201d said Inoke. \u201cI feel like we’re doing good work, and we are truly earning our paychecks out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inoke grew up on Pohnpei, an island in the Federated States of Micronesia. \u201cI grew up with my grandparents, and we had a big family,\u201d said Inoke. \u201cWhen I was a kid, I did what kids do: play and go to school.\u201d Inoke’s life on the small island gives him a different experience than most Marines, having to share almost everything he had with his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings a colorful environment with his different background,\u201d Cpl. William N. Niven, a radio technician with 1st Bn., 8th Marines. \u201cHe gets to tell us about the island. I like hearing about where he’s from, because he has a unique back story. Everyone on the island knows one another, and it’s a different type of community.\u201d<\/p>\n

“On the island it’s just small towns, and wherever you are going, you can walk,” said Inoke. “If you\u2019re walking to a place, someone will probably stop by and ask you if you need a ride and take you wherever you need to go. The people there are really kind.”<\/p>\n

Growing up, Inoke only knew about the Army, Air Force, and Navy. \u201cI didn’t know about the Marine Corps until I met my recruiter,\u201d said Inoke. \u201cMy brother joined the Marine Corps about six months before me. Only after I spoke to the recruiter, I understood what it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inoke’s brother’s enlistment is what inspired him to join. Inoke originally only wanted to stay in for one enlistment, but says he now plans on continuing his Marine Corps career.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother and I planned on joining the Marine Corps for four years then going back to school,\u201d said Inoke. \u201cI just put in my reenlistment package. I’m going to try for another four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he got to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in March 2009, Inoke didn\u2019t fully understand what he had got himself into.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was excited,\u201d said Inoke, \u201cI thought ‘man, this is going to be fun.’ I got off the plane, and I asked what’s going on to the drill instructor at the airport. Well, after that I was like, ‘what did I get myself into?’\u201d It was harder for Inoke adjusting to military life because he knew very little English.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got to boot camp, my English was not too good,\u201d said Inoke. \u201cWhile I’ve been in the fleet, it has gotten a lot better.\u201d As he worked on his English, Inoke trained to become a radio operator.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s good to work with him,\u201d said Niven, 22, from Montgomery, Texas. \u201cHe does his job real well. He doesn’t speak perfect English, but he didn’t know much at all when he went to boot camp three years ago. Now you can hold a perfect conversation with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inoke has deployed twice to Afghanistan, his first was with Regimental Combat Team 2, in 2010. He is preparing to return to Camp Lejeune soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 By CPL. KENNETH JASIK Special to the Saipan Tribune FORWARD OPERATING BASE ZEEBRUGEE, Kajaki…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[495,418,21,67],"class_list":["post-23978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-afghanistan","tag-air-force","tag-life","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}