MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- Why do some Marines reenlist? Is it because they love their country and the Marine Corps, or because of the benefits for themselves and their families? Sergeant Matthew I. Campbell of Moreno Valley, Calif., reenlisted for both of these reasons. Campbell, a machine gunner and battalion gunner’s assistant with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, reenlisted after five years in the Marine Corps. This was the length of his original enlistment contract. He explained why he first joined the Corps. “I was ready for a change from Southern California,” Campbell said. “I always wanted to be a Marine, and I wanted to see the world.” Campbell got that chance to see parts of the world, deploying to both Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Al Qa’im, Iraq, near the Iraqi-Syrian border. While deployed to Iraq from February to September 2005, Campbell made the decision to reenlist, not because of his experiences there, but because he simply enjoyed being a Marine. “I enjoy putting on the uniform everyday and defending my family and what I believe in,” he said. “I enjoy the structure of the Marine Corps because it forces you to be the best you can be and always improve.” The 28-year-old husband and father reenlisted to move from 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines here to Weapons Field Training Battalion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., hoping to become a primary marksmanship instructor and ultimately spend more time with his family. “I hope to get some more schooling while I’m at Parris Island, but it will also give me a chance to spend more time with my family and not be deployed away from them,” he explained. Campbell said he will likely start off working on the rifle range coaching young recruits on the M16-A2 service rifle, but he explained the difficult transition from training Marines to training recruits. “It will be a hard transition, because I’m used to training Marines where I’m free to teach them how I want,” continued the battalion’s training noncommissioned officer. “With recruits, there will be different guidelines and protocol when training them that I’ll have to get used to.” He chose Parris Island over Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego he explained, “South Carolina is closer to my wife’s family, and Beaufort, S.C. seems like a nice southern town that my son can grow up in.” His decision to reenlist was hard, because he had to think about how it would affect his wife and son, he said. Ultimately, he figured that the security the Marine Corps can provide will help his family. “I like the security of knowing that I’ll always have a job, and that my family will be taken care of no matter what,” he said. “That was probably the biggest factor in my decision to reenlist.” After five years as an infantry machine gunner, a combat tour in one of Iraq’s most dangerous areas, the Al Anbar province, and an overall successful first enlistment, Campbell summed up his decision to reenlist. “As of right now, the Marine Corps is where I belong,” he said. “I enjoy teaching people what I know and enjoy waking up in the morning knowing that I’m doing something that people appreciate. I’m a Marine.”