Chet St. Clair, U.S. Marine
By ROSELYNN YAZZIE
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — Chet St. Clair, a U.S. Marine veteran, will be honored for his service at the Annual Veteran’s Breakfast on Sunday, November 11.
St. Clair said he wanted to join the service after seeing an ad on T.V. and he wanted to be a Marine because they were known as the toughest and their boot camp was the longest. He was also determined to experience life off the reservation.
“I saw it as a better life. As a good start and something to build on,” he said.
He enlisted in 1992 and got out in 1996.
During that time his MOS, or job assignment, was a first level organizational mechanic. His first duty station he was assigned to was in Iwakuni, Japan. From there he went to places like the Persian Gulf during conflict, but didn’t see much of it since they were in the rear with the gear. He also went to Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, South Korea and came back and was assigned to Camp Pendleton.
While at Camp Pendleton he was assigned right under the commanding officer as his administrative assistant. After that he was assigned to the Battalion as a career. He delivered a lot of checks and paperwork. He was in charge of lots of money and went on many assignments.
The most difficult part about it was being away from family. He said he got used to the physical part about it easily.
“It’s the little things that you miss. Especially if you don’t speak the language and you don’t know anybody. Then you kind of get lost in your own little world and you get lonely,” he said.
St. Clair with his drill instructor (left) and on the right with his mother Sandy.
St. Clair says what he misses about his time in the service is the teamwork and the bonds with the men he served with, also the traveling and culture.
“I just loved traveling. I loved to go to different places and see how people lived, see what they ate and what they did and learning some of the languages,” he said.
His favorite place he visited was Japan because of the beauty of the countryside and he enjoyed being in the hustle and bustle of the city. He was fascinated with the different cultures there and the food.
His experience in the Marines taught him that hard work would get you everywhere.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re at home and parenting your children. Parenting is the hardest thing you’ll ever do, but working with other people is just as hard,” he said.
St. Clair said when he got home it was like stepping into another world after the day to day military things he was used to doing. He had to work his way back into society again and learn to be a civilian.
St. Clair is humbled to be honored at the Annual Breakfast and enjoys attending the event every year being among others who served. Now and again he participates in color guards when asked and parades.
He said Veteran’s Day is a day to reflect and honor and to remember we have a lot of freedom here, a lot that is taken for granted.
When he was overseas in Thailand he went for a drive on the countryside and saw a lot of homes built with boards and spare pieces of wood. They didn’t have refrigeration and lived a very humble life.
“But they were good people, they were happy people. That taught me something that you don’t have to have everything in order to be happy,” said St. Clair.