Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego -- Recruit Luke Z. Liery, Platoon 1043, Charlie Company, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, is the son of a retired Marine lieutenant colonel, and while that may or may not mean anything to a civilian, it carries weight with Marines.
As a teenager, Liery said he admired the way his father carried himself in his service uniform. He explained he chose to join the Marines because he noticed Marines carried themselves differently from the other military branches and believed they acted in a much more confident manner.
Although Liery received a scholarship to The Citadel, a military school with various Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs, he explained the school couldn’t guarantee he would be accepted into their Marine specific ROTC and decided to turn down his scholarship to enlist in the Marine Corps.
From the beginning, his drill instructors noticed something different about him that set him apart from his recruit peers.
“I made him a squad leader before I found out who his father was,” said Sgt. Eric A. Newman, senior drill instructor, Platoon 1043, with a grin. “The platoon really liked him. They liked his leadership by example, and I noticed that, and that’s why I made his a squad leader.”
Newman said he could see from the way Lierly conducted himself in recruit training that his father had a large impact on his character.
“He’s one of the top recruits in the platoon for physical training, he’s an expert on range, he’s personable and compassionate. I’m sure his dad being a lieutenant colonel had something to do with that,” said Newman.
Lierly said he came into recruit training with the goal of obtaining a leadership role and believed if he took care of his fellow recruits and performed in the top percentile of the platoon’s physical tests, he would be successful.
“It’s easy to be a squad leader because I care more about the recruits in my platoon than myself,” said Lierly, a Fresno, Calif., native. “This helps me, too, because after hikes when I’m checking on the others, I’m focused on them and not on any pain I might be in.”