DeKalb Marine’s service extends beyond active duty

DeKALB – For Marshall Boyle, his service didn’t end when he got out of the military.

He’s spent the years since continuing to help others.

In fact, Boyle said, he doesn’t believe his mission is over.

A retired U.S. Marine from DeKalb, Boyle said his service won’t be complete until he’s in the dirt, dead and gone.

“Part of my [post-traumatic stress disorder] therapy is one of the things you pretend to do is make successes bigger than they deserve in your head and your failures and setbacks bigger,” Boyle said. “It’s this cycle for me. So I don’t think I’ve considered my mission done until they put me in the ground.”

He said he’s in pursuit of his next great challenge after his eight-year stint in the Marines ended.

“The civilian world, it’s kind of a shock, and certainly more so for combat veterans in battle who have lived under the most extreme circumstances,” Boyle said. “A lot of it has to do with finding a mission.”

I’m the most unlikeliest Marine in the world. I grew up with a kid whose grandpa served in the Marine Corps in Atlanta and Hiroshima. … I was going to be a rock star.”

—  Marshall Boyle

Recently, Boyle participated in a veterans build organized by Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County.

The event was designed to bring the community together to build a home in Kingston for the Gonzalez family.

Boyle said he stands behind the work that Habitat for Humanity is doing in the community.

“I’ve seen what they did for people who I’ve known my whole life,” Boyle said.

Boyle’s passion for veterans extends to music. He said he found himself struggling mentally after having served eight years and primarily being based in Okinawa, Japan.

In 2019, he began participating in a 10-week program dubbed Guitars4Vets, which connects veterans to instructors as a means of aiding the healing process for veterans who struggle with physical injuries, PTSD and other emotional distress.

“I finally had a colossal meltdown and a passive-aggressive suicide attempt,” Boyle said. “That’s how I got into Guitars4Vets. I have loved music my whole life. [I’m] still with that program, still representing them [and] still trying to help them grow.”

Bernard Kampf, chapter coordinator/instructor and director of operations emeritus for Guitars4Vets, said he considers Boyle a success story.

He said he used to be Boyle’s instructor. Although that’s ended, the men continue to meet for coffee every couple of months.

“I had a great time working with him,” Kampf said. “He was eager to learn anything I would throw at him. He was regaining his skills. It was just enjoyable. We had a lot of fun. We had gone on to do a couple of things together in support of guitar shows.”

But Boyle didn’t always have a clear, defined path in life.

“I’m the most unlikeliest Marine in the world,” Boyle said. “I grew up with a kid whose grandpa served in the Marine Corps in Atlanta and Hiroshima. … I was going to be a rock star. Six months later, I was living in my car.

“For some reason, in this conservative DeKalb County full of farmers with long hair and earrings and, quite frankly, probably really stoned, I couldn’t get a job. I was going nowhere.”

Instead, Boyle went to the Marines in 1981, ending his service in 1988.

Record of Boyle’s selfless acts go back years.

He recounted the actions he took in response to the tornado that touched down in Fairdale several years ago. The April 9, 2015, tornado injured 22 people and killed two Fairdale residents, Geraldine Schultz, 67, and Jacklyn K. Klosa, 69. The town of 150 in the northwest corner of DeKalb County saw 17 homes leveled off their foundations after the tornado.

Boyle said he did his part and stepped in.

“I got involved with Habitat for Humanity in a tornado April 2015, where I was wounded helping,” Boyle said. “I was living out there. It didn’t hit our property. It hit our daughter’s property.”

Boyle said that when disaster struck, it had a significant effect on him.

“It kind of changes your view of the world if you don’t let it just depress you,” he said. “I have a mission now. [I’m] kind of in Marine mode.”