Massachusetts Marine Recruiters Shock Met With Strength

Local Marine recruiters face shock with strength 
Boston Herald
Peter Gelzinis
July 17, 2015

It wasn’t simply the horrific events in Chattanooga that he was trying to fathom, but also the appearance of media folk looking for answers to questions he was still grappling with.

Staff Sgt. Zach Zapotoski needed very few words to sum up the treachery that befell four of his fellow Marine recruiters in Tennessee yesterday.

“The world is a rough place, sir,” he said, “I know, I’ve been to six continents and 43 countries in the 11 years I’ve spent in the Corps. As Marines, we pray for peace and train for war.

“Is it frightening to think that something like that could happen here at home? Of course it is. But as Marines, that’s the life we live and the career we’ve chosen.”

Clipped and to the point.

In a first-floor corridor of the Marine recruiting office on Tremont Street late yesterday afternoon, Zach Zapotoski looked at 15 kids in running shorts and black T-shirts decorated with the same Marine Corps designation. They are known as “poolees,” kids who have signed up to be Marines but have yet to leave for Parris Island, where they will become full recruits.

Before he put them through a two-hour workout in and around the Boston Common, Zapotoski left them with this piece of advice.

“Be aware of your surroundings,” he said. “Pay attention. Remember you’re wearing Marine Corps T-shirts and understand what that means.”

Zapotoski’s boss at the Tremont Street recruiting office, Staff Sgt. Ben Warshaw, who grew up in New Hampshire and has served 13 years on his way to 20, looked a bit shell-shocked yesterday.
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