Carol Fowler

An Eye for An Eye

I just wanted to be a U. S. Marine. That was in 1971.  I was 20-years-old and had never succeeded at anything in my life. I didn't know how bad I wanted to be a Marine until I was told that I had an incurable defect in one of my eyes. One that was unacceptable for the Marine Corps. It happened after I had a physical at the Armed Forces Entrance and Examination Station in Chicago. I was turned down for an enlistment. That's when I discovered that I had a strength that I never knew. They were not going to tell me NO. I wanted to serve my country and I was not going to be held back. I did everything I possibly could; taking vitamins, eye exercises, and wore a patch to try and strengthen the eye. That would have worked when I was five.  My ophthalmologist, a World War Two Marine veteran even told me I would not get into the Marine Corps on account of that eye. I would not accept that. The Marine Corps recruiter had faith, though. He was the only one, but that was not going to get me in. Then a year and three days after the first physical, I took another one. I was terrified. So much so, that when it came time to perform the eye exam, I did something out of desperation. Something that was against my own beliefs. The eye exam was done with a machine that had two scopes. My bad eye was the left one. When the Navy corpsman had his back turned, I looked in the left scope with my right eye. Nevertheless, when the corpsman completed the exam, I was devastated because I couldn't remember all of the lines. I was devastated to the point that I felt physically ill. But by some miracle, I was accepted into the U. S. Marine Corps!!! I was elated.

Well I went to boot camp and seven years later I was stationed at the Marine Corps Navel Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida. I went to the base eye clinic and while there, I discovered that the optometrist from Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina who had examined me and had also discovered the defect was at that clinic at that very moment. For reasons unknow to me, I was able to complete recruit training. Nobody ever told me why I was permitted to slid through. Now here, after all of this, I discovered that because the Marine Corps was suffering from a serious personnel attrition problem due to the Vietnam War, I was given a waiver. That permitted me to stay in. That knowledge made me feel better. I didn't like the idea of cheating, but at the time, it was the only remaining option.

My recruiter had told me once, "When you get into the Marine Corps, you will stay 20 years because you have what it takes." He was so right. I spent twenty years, retired as a gunnery sergeant and when I got out, I went to college and got a degree in English Creative Writing. I hated the idea of cheating, but in that case, I was glad I did.

Gunnery Sergeant Carol S. Fowler, USMC Retired