But Marinelarena says that he’s ready to report for duty if the nation calls.
“It’s always been something that I wanted to do. I know it sounds silly, but I had a sense of duty and honor to serve my country,” he says.
If activated by the Marines in the initial round of call-ups, Marinelarena will be one of 7,500 Marines affected under the Defense Department’s plan. The Army will also supply 10,000 troops, the Air Force 13,000, the Navy 3,000 and the Coast Guard 2,000.
According to a Pentagon statement, the reservists “are being called upon to provide port operations, medical support, engineer support, general civil support and homeland defense.”
Harvard students in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) are unlikely to be affected in the coming activations. The military has only rarely called up officers-in-training, either ROTC or students at the nation’s militaryy academies.
Although last week’s events have caused the ROTC program to ask its students to not wear their uniforms as a security precaution, everything else is “business-as-usual,” according to ROTC student Brian Smith ’02.
To Protect and Serve
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