Check out former Marine Dan Romeo, senior Phoenix Agency partner
The Marine Corps started as the Continental Marines during the American Revolutionary War, formed by a resolution of the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775, and first recruited at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They served as landing troops for the recently created Continental Navy. The Continental Marines were disbanded at the end of the war in April 1783 but re-formed on July 11 1798. Despite the gap, Marines celebrate November 10 as the Marine Corps Birthday.
Historically, the United States Marine Corps has achieved fame in several campaigns, as referenced in the first line of the Marine Corps Hymn: “From the halls of 
Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli”. In the early 19th century, First Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon led a group of seven Marines and several hundred Egyptian Mameluke soldiers in deposing the dictator of Tripoli. Separately, the Marines took part in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and assaulted the Castillo de Chapultepec, or the Castle of Chapultepec, which overlooked Mexico City. The Marines were placed on guard duty at the Mexican Presidential Palace, “The Halls of Montezuma.”
In World War I, the battle-tested, veteran Marines served a central role in the U.S. entry into the conflict, and at the Battle of Belleau Wood, Marine units were in the front, winning the Marines a reputation as the “First to Fight”. This battle cemented the reputation of the Marines in modern history. Rallying under the battle cries of “Retreat hell! We just got here!” and “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?”, the Marines violently expelled German forces from the area. The Germans referred to the Marines in the battle as “Teufelhunde”, literally, “Devil Dogs”, a nickname Marines proudly hold to this day.
The Marines are divided into four groups: the operating forces that do the actual fighting, the headquarters for leadership, the supporting establishment that provides logistical support, and the Marine Corps Reserve.
Now Dan and his group were pinned down at the extraction point and the guerillas were moving closer. Machine-gun bullets rained everywhere, punctuated by the screech of the howler monkeys and the squawking of tropical birds. Dan could only pray the kidnappers didn’t have rocket-propelled grenades with them. That could take down not just the team but the helicopter too. Disaster didn’t begin to describe what that outcome would be.
Then, at last, he heard the distinctive slap! slap! slap! of the helicopter blades and his comm unit crackled in his ear.
“I am above you and ready to extract,” Mike said. “Looks like you need a little covering fire.”
“No shit,” Dan answered. “Get that ladder down and have the shotgun riders start peppering these bastards.”
The chopper now hovered directly over them. Someone pitched the rope ladder from the open cabin door and it hung tantalizingly in the air. Two Phoenix men were balanced on the chopper skids, spraying the area around them with machine-gun fire. The occasional shrieks let everyone know that at least some of the bullets had found a target.
Dan hoisted Nolan onto the ladder and motioned for one of the guys in the cabin above just to pull the damn thing up. In seconds the man was inside the chopper and the ladder dropped again. Firing into the surrounding area as they climbed, aided by the gunners above them, each man scrambled up to the helo’s cabin, then reached to help the one behind him.
Dan was last, as usual, holding to the ladder with one hand and his machine-gun with the other. He was gratified to hear more screams of pain as hands pulled him through the opening to safety.
“Go now,” he shouted to Mike, who needed no urging to pull away and up.
As they lifted into the sky, the two Phoenix gunners continued to fire until the chopper reached a safe altitude.
“Sorry to cut it so close, Danny boy,” Mike yelled at him. “We had to wait for some other air traffic to clear. They didn’t look like they wanted to invite us for afternoon cocktails.”
“These damn thugs are getting better equipped all the time,” Dan cursed. “We’re having to run our asses off just to stay ahead of them.”
He looked around him and studied the activity. The men were all checking their guns, making sure they had full clips just in case a surprise awaited them somewhere along the line. The medic on their team was attending to Hank Nolan, expertly starting an IV even under the extreme conditions and then cleaning his wounds.
“Mostly malnutrition,” he told Dan over the roar of the chopper’s blades. “And shock. He’ll be a long time forgetting this little trip.”
Dan leaned back against the cabin wall, regulating his breathing, checking again to make sure everyone else was okay.
“You earned yourself a little down time after this,” Mike yelled from the cockpit. “Don’t you think? A break from the office? Maybe a little R and R?”
Dan gave his partner a lopsided grin. He knew what that meant. Get your ass out of town and get some rest before taking on another mission. Give your body some rest. He had to agree that Mike was right. At thirty-eight years old, he was getting a little past the age for this kind of activity.
