AUBURN | Nineteen-year-old Dustin Culver was a star wearing maroon. Now, he looks to be a star in a different uniform.
The Auburn man was one of the star players for the Auburn High School football team as a linebacker. His father, Dennis Culver, said he received a large number of recruitment letters from colleges, local and nationwide, offering Dustin an opportunity to take his talents to a collegiate level.
But Dustin made the choice to pick up a rifle instead of a football, to wear camouflage instead of a jersey and to lace up combat boots instead of cleats. He chose to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
Dustin said he has always loved football ever since he first started playing when he was 8 years old. But it was around sixth-grade when he developed a love for the armed forces and the idea of serving his country. He became particularly interested in the Marines because "they were considered the best.
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"The more I looked at it, the more I realized that I really wanted to do it," he said. "I wanted to give kids my age a chance to go off into college, to grow up in football or grow up playing sports because that's what I loved to do and that's what made my childhood."
The Auburn resident has always been a hard worker, his father said. In high school, Dustin worked around 50 to 70 hours a week at several jobs all while maintaining his high school studies. He picked up volunteerism at a young age, committed to helping those less fortunate than he was.
Dustin has taken that work ethic to the Marine Corps. He began training in Parris Island, S.C., on Sept. 23 before graduating last week on Dec. 20.
"I'm proud of him," Dennis said. "If you are going to go military, Marines is it."
Dustin is one of four children, with two older sibling, but he's the only one thus far with a military career. When he lived at home, he either lived with his father and his stepmother, Judy Culver, or with his mother and stepfather, Auburn residents Kathy and Greg Ziegler.
There is no animosity between the parental parties. In fact, Judy said, they all sort of leaned onto each other for support when Dustin made his initial choice. They all would have loved to see him become a collegiate athlete, but Dustin was resolved and it wasn't meant to be.
It wasn't until Dustin was sworn in as a Marine when it finally clicked for his mother and step-mother, Judy said.
"The best thing I can ever recommend (for someone) who is having issues with their child entering the military is to see them sworn in," she said. "When I went and saw them sworn in, it changed my outlook on everything. (His mom) and I talked about it afterwards and it made us realize that he actually belonged there."
Dustin got to spend Christmas with his family this year, but heads off to infantry training on Jan. 6 at Camp Lejeune, N.C. To serve in the infantry was Dustin's choice, he said.
From there, it's more than 50 days of training before he's based in a location of his superiors' choosing. There, he will complete more training "before I need to answer where I'm needed," he said.
Dustin is not sure when or where he'll see his family again from here on out, but his father is sure he'll come visit when he can. "That's just who he is," Dennis said.
This is just the start of Dustin's life as a Marine, one he plans on taking as a career. He'll miss his parents, but said he'll be fully committed to his new family with the Marine Corps just as he was with his football team.
"Just like a football team, you have to look out for each other," Dustin said. "A football team is like a family: once you walk out onto that field, it's like you're in a mini-war. You've got your enemy and what you need to accomplish.
"Same thing with the Marine Corps. You've got what you need to do and you've got your friends and family to do it with you."
Staff writer Greg Mason can be reached at (315) 282-2239 or greg.mason@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @CitizenMason.