Independence County Veteran Signed Up, Inspired by Terror Attack

By Julie M. Fidler
Remembering 9/11 inspired a Batesville veteran to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. Josh Newman, 27, said he was in his senior year of high school and remembers the morning clearly. He was on his way to school when it happened.

“I was a senior in high school,” Newman said. “I remember it like yesterday. It was September 11th. I was driving to school that morning, and I remember watching the news seeing the airplane hit the tower. After I graduated, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to serve my country and be a part of the whole war on terrorism.”

He enlisted in May 2002 through the delayed entry program and signed in as an active duty Marine that October.

A native of Fox, Ark., Newman was in the Marines from 2002-07.

“Boot camp was a humbling and unique experience,” he said. “I went to San Diego. It was more mental than physical. I think a lot of people should go through it. It’ll make them grow up and think on their own. I’m glad I did it. I don’t have any regrets. I loved it. I miss it. Like any jobs, it’s not always fun and great, but when you get through,  it’s like, ‘Wow. That wasn’t too bad.’”

To the veterans who served before and with him, Newman said, “May God bless them for their service. Those are the only words I could say to them.”

 Stationed at Camp Lejeune, N. C., he worked in personnel administration. That included typing up orders, issuing plane tickets for first-time Marines arriving for their schooling.

“They’d come straight from boot camp, go to Marine combat training, then go to their first schooling to get their specialty,” said Newman. “Then they’d get shipped off.”

“I was stationed at base command,” he said. “Marine Corps engineer school was the unit I was with. I would handle the mail. I did a lot of different things in administration. I was a human resources liaison.” Instructors and staff sergeants were also stationed at the base.

“It was a great job,” said Newman. “I was stationed on the bay. There was water coming in from the ocean there. I could look out my window and see dolphins jumping.”

About the area in which he was stationed, he said, “The weather’s pretty much the same as here. They did have a lot more rain. It felt like home, but at the same time, it was not near.”

In boot camp, Newman started as a private in the enlisted ranks. He excelled fairly quickly and was soon promoted to lance corporal in 2004. The next year he was promoted to corporal, and in 2007, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant.

He said he was fortunate not to get deployed. “When I went through school, it was a little unique because my instructor had a heart for his Marines, and I did get to choose where I wanted to be stationed,” Newman said. “I was married, and I had my daughter. I was stationed at a non-deploying unit. It just happened to be the one I chose was a really good one.”

“Once I was stationed there,  I loved it,” he said. “I did a lot of exercising and would get up and run 3-8 miles every morning and would do a lot of physical training. Occasionally, we’d go on what we called ‘humps’ where you get a backpack full of stuff and take this long hike. I went through the gas chamber.”

As a part of his job, Newman supervised 14 Marines. “For me doing my job, I excelled. Simple as that,” he said. “I just did my job, and that’s why I excelled.”

Newman and his wife, Kayla, welcomed their first child, a daughter, at a nearby Naval hospital early in 2004. They named her Elexis.

“My wife has been a stay-at-home mom,” he said. “We’re high school sweethearts. I met her when I was in tenth grade, we dated since eleventh grade and have been together since then. We got married in ’03 and have three children.”

Elexis is now six; Logan Joshua is two; and the family added Natalie Faith the last day of this past August.

His job in the military helped prepare Newman for his current position as a city mail carrier. “After I got out, since I worked in the mail room and handled mail, I was planning on trying to go back to the civilian world. So, about a year before I got out I took the postal service test, and within a few weeks after coming back to Arkansas, I got on at Mountain View as a ‘casual’ just to help out part time.”

In May of 2008, he hired on as part-time “flexible” at the Batesville Post Office. He started in distribution, sorting the mail. He then went to a window clerk job and finally to a city carrier position.

“They’re downsizing and cutting jobs, so I decided to take the carrier position,” said Newman. “It’s a lot more strenuous, and I am a disabled vet. I hurt my knee when I was in. It’s pretty hard walking the streets.”

 In August 2009, he  decided to go to college to pursue an associate’s degree in general education with a business focus. “I’m going to try to get a business bachelor’s degree,” he said. “I’m looking at Lyon College to get my bachelor’s degree.”

When he’s not carrying mail or going to class, Newman plays drums with a contemporary Christian band, The Awakening.

“Since I’ve been here in Batesville the last couple years, I immediately got with some friends, met new people and play music,” he said. “We started a band. I was in a band called Titus 3 for a year. A couple members quit, so we recruited a couple new guys and changed our name to The Awakening. We’ve been together since this last July. We play at the Depot once a month or so.”