Some families celebrate patriotism with a Fourth of July
cookout, but the Tinkers have a different tradition
– joining the U.S. Marines Corps.
Morgan Hill – Some families celebrate patriotism with a Fourth of July cookout, but the Tinkers have a different tradition – joining the U.S. Marines Corps.
At the moment, the Morgan Hill family includes two sons – and one feisty grandmother – who are full-fledged Marines. In addition to that, several other Tinker relatives display a fine legacy of military service.
The Tinkers, you see, are a “Marines” family.
“We take patriotism very seriously,” said Mary Tinker, the family’s mom. “To me this country is the best in the world and freedom shouldn’t be taken for granted. When you stop and think about how our forefathers were willing to put everything on the line, we should be willing to do nothing less.”
Mary’s two sons, Rich and Joey, took that to heart, each enlisting in the Marine Corps.
Rich joined in 1996, three days after he graduated from Oak Grove High School in South San Jose.
“It was a tradition in my family,” said Rich, now a 28-year-old mortgage broker in Morgan Hill. “I wanted to give back … and I knew it would be good for me.”
His younger brother, Joey, felt the same way when he enlisted in 2004. He and Rich had grown hearing their grandmother, Helen Smith, 72, talk about her loyalty to the Marine Corps, which she joined as an 18-year-old in 1952 to gain her independence from her parents’ home. After surviving a psychologically grueling boot camp with other women enlistees, Smith traveled across the country to be stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where she worked in the payroll department at the camp’s headquarters. There she met a Marine from the engineer corps named Lowell, who soon became her husband, and later, Mary’s father.
“I’ve told everyone if it weren’t for the Marines, I wouldn’t be here,” said grandson Joey, a 22-year-old lance corporal stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
“I guess I was born a patriot,” he added with a tinge of laughter.
Smith’s intention was never to coax her grandsons into the Marines. Still, she was “thrilled” when each enlisted, including a third grandson who now lives in San Jose.
“We never talked about it much,” she said of her own “war stories.” Lowell’s two brothers, she added, had also served in the Korean War, even seeing the battle of Chosin Reservoir, where 12,000 U.S. Army personnel and Marines fought their way out of an encirclement by more than 60,000 Chinese soldiers.
“They knew we were Marines,” said Smith of her grandsons. “And we were very proud of being Marines.”
More so than family tradition, in Rich’s case, family tragedy played a role in his decision to enlist.
“My dad passed away (from cancer) when I was 14,” he said. “I didn’t have anyone there to send me into manhood. That’s why I decided to join the Marines: To grow up.”
Rich said he served in the infantry and became a corporal. He finished out his service in 2002, shortly before the U.S. military entered Afghanistan to uproot the Taliban government.
“I practiced for the big game and never got to play in it,” he said. “But I was there, ready to go.”
Joey, on the other hand, quickly got an opportunity to put his training to more direct use. In April, he returned safely from his first seven-month tour of duty in Iraq, where he said he was part of Echo Battery 211, an artillery unit that also assisted in mobile transport missions. Joey’s job: Driving seven-ton Humvees.
“When you get there, you’re kind of nervous,” he said, “like going into a new job. When you step off the plane, you know you’re on hostile ground. But it’s not so bad, it’s just a task to do it.”
Joey said the gut-check overseas only emboldened his sense of patriotism. “My understanding of the price of freedom has changed,” he said, referring to the dangers he faced.
Mary said her religious faith allayed her fears while her son was in Iraq.
“I prayed for him daily,” she said. “I knew he was in God’s hands, and If anything happened to him, as much as I didn’t want it to, I knew it would only be a temporary separation.”
Willingness to sacrifice everything, including one’s life, is a basic understanding among Marines. But beyond that, men and women in uniform must make countless other sacrifices civilians take for granted.
For Rich, that meant forgoing the typical “college” experience, or “going off to party,” he said, as many of his friends did. It also meant putting off a degree that could have led him to a good paying job earlier in his life.
“It was a sacrifice of time, talent and money,” he said, not the least bit regretful of his decision to serve his country before gunning for other goals. “Anybody who serves in the military, from staff sergeant on down – you’re not making money.”
Rich is finishing a bachelor’s degree and is working as a wholesale mortgage broker in Morgan Hill.
As for Joey’s future, he said he’s not so sure what he’ll do when he finishes his four-year commitment to the Marines. Unlike Rich, Joey hadn’t given much thought to college before enlisting, although he now hopes to enroll.
But the toughest thing at the moment, he said, is coping with being apart from loved ones.
“It’s four years of time away from my family that I love and care about,” he said, adding he expects to ship out again in January, heading first to Japan.
