Marcellus Wilks joined the Marine Corps after graduating from West Des Moines Valley High School in 1988. He comes from a family with a strong military tradition and joined as young man because he wanted a challenge. With his experience, his feelings about military service are much more contemplative. “Before you enlist, you think you’re bigger than you really are, and the military showed me there was a lot more to being a man. It taught me about responsibility and being accountable for your actions.”

After 10 years in the Corps, Wilks enlisted for a second time in 2001. Staff Sergeant Wilks was with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment based in Fort Polk, Louisiana.  The unit was unexpectedly deployed to Iraq in March 2003 during the initial invasion to help secure the Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad.  Wilks’ regiment was responsible for coordinating supplies to different units in the field. While they faced a lot of fire during those operations, Wilks recalls that the greatest danger his regiment faced was many months later after their tour was extended and his regiment was split into two groups, in Najaf and Sadr City.  Anxiety was high as the threat of roadside bombs, ambushes and street fighting was a constant concern. His unit suffered its first casualty in Najaf.

Wilks is proud of his career and particularly of how he performed at a high standard and maintained that standard throughout his 18 months in Iraq. Although they faced outside enemies, the soldiers gradually built trust with the citizens. “The locals loved us,” he says. Most of his relationships with Iraqis were limited to those he worked with, like the interpreters and reconstruction project managers. But the typical Iraqi citizen would give them modest gifts of thanks, “fruit, or whatever they had.”  He was struck by the abject poverty in Iraq and recalls providing the people there with their first air conditioners, running water and toilets.