Mr. Sean Gallagher grew up in Westport, Connecticut, close to where I used to live in Greenwich, Connecticut. I understand what he means when he says, “I had a very good life growing up.” These are beautiful, bustling, New England towns. He says he was motivated to serve in the United States military because of the terror attacks on 9/11. Sean was in middle school when 9/11 happened. He felt guilty for having such a nice life, but his guilt turned into gratitude. “Westport is a commuter town…and there were people who were seriously affected by [the terror attacks,]” he says. His gratitude motivated him to want to serve in the military.
Sean was an avid soccer player. He was recruited to the United States Naval Academy to play for their soccer team. Going to the Academy was one of the best times of his life because of the people he met there, he says. Relationships are something Sean values highly, so when I asked him if he could share a specific memory that comes to mind, the story he told me was a true display of friendship and brotherhood.
“In the military,” he says. “There are a multitude of difficult times to go through together with the people to the left and the right of you.”
“During infantry school, you go through one week in the Marine Corps, called offense-defense week.” (For those like me who had no idea what this was, Sean simplified it very well… It is a time when you set out for 6 days with only 5 meals.
“You are hiking an immeasurable amount of miles and barely get any sleep at all”, he said.
“I think I slept about 8 hours that whole time,” he says.
On the last night, one of Sean’s friends, Brandon, came over and sat in his foxhole.
“Hey dude, you got any food left?” Brandon asked.
“Nah man I got nothing, why, you got something?” said Sean.
“Yeah, I have a few crackers, if you want to split them with me”
“No way! are you serious?”
“Yeah, let’s split them.”
“It sounds so crazy, but a few crackers, after six days of starving yourself and exerting yourself is like a full course filet minion placed in front of you,” Sean tells me.
I love this story.
Sean served as an infantry officer in the Marines for 5 years. He was stationed in California, and acted sort of as a “global 911”, transiting through the Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. They were on an Amphibious* Assault ship. Their mission sets would include “host nation training”, “embassy reinforcement” and “drone strike operations.”
While abroad something Sean had to deal with was being away from the people he loved. He married his high school sweetheart, and they navigated both having jobs and a family quite successfully. I can imagine this must have very been hard to do, but I bet it was also extremely rewarding.
Among other things, what the military taught Sean was to be decisive. Learning to act with a 70% solution. I think this is a really important point because we have to get comfortable with making decisions even when we do not know 100% of the information we would like. Trusting what you do know, and your ability to act with leadership.
Sean’s advice to young people interested in serving is: “Come to terms with a true reason as to why you are serving…have that self-evaluation…where you might come to find that you have a burning desire to serve your country and you might come together to find that you were joining the military for the wrong reasons.” This stuck with me because nobody I have interviewed made this point. He said that having been recruited to play soccer at USNA, there were guys on the team who were only there to play soccer, not necessarily to serve our country. Many of them ended up leaving the Academy because they didn’t have a true reason to stay and persevere through the hard parts. “There are bad reasons to join the military,” Sean said.
After Sean shared this advice he asked me a very similar question… “What is the spark that has made you interested in talking to Veterans?”
This is something that I do think about a lot, and I have written it down many times, but being directly asked feels different. There are many reasons why I interview Veterans. It started out with my curiosity to learn about something that I really didn’t know much about. I love hearing the personal stories and advice from the people who have experienced so much. Knowing why people decide to dedicate years of their life to serve our country is inspiring. I want to serve one day, and interviewing Veterans makes me more aware and appreciative of what it really means to be a Veteran.
Thank you, Sean Gallagher, for your time with me!! You are an inspiration.
*This is a picture of an Amphibious ship in the Marines and Sean when he was serving.
Watch the full interview here!
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