Marine shares service stories with students
by Juanita I.C. Traughber, communications director.
In advance of Marine Week, an alumnus shared his memories from the U.S. Marine Corps during a lunch and learn.
Alumnus Joe Starnes '01 returned to USN on Thursday, Aug. 25 to talk with students about his experiences as a Marine. Over brown bag lunches, Starnes shared stories of flying F/A-18 jets, T-34 fighter planes, and helicopters, as well as hunting pirates in the Indian Ocean and surviving training simulations, like freeing himself from a chair while strapped to it upside down.
"The confidence you get from pushing your limits is the best thing you could learn," said Starnes, who added his military experience taught him about leading teams, managing people, and paying attention to detail.
He said he was inspired to join the military by the 9/11 terrorist attacks while he was a freshman at Union College. Starnes graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science before serving in the U.S. Marine Corps for 10 years. His deployments included stints in Guam, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Hong Kong.
Starnes resigned his command as a captain and continues to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve while earning a master’s degree in business at Vanderbilt University’s Owen School of Management.
His campus visit came as a prelude to Marine Week, which begins 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7 at Public Square Park and continues through Sunday, Sept. 11. It includes more than 80 events free and open to the public, including concerts, a Marine Air-Ground Task Force demonstration at Riverfront Park, a parade down lower Broadway, and a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony at War Memorial Plaza.
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Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.
University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.