CAMP KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq -- Without a continuous flow of supplies, combat-ready units within the Marine Corps would cease to function. This is where Marines like Lance Cpl. Kevin J. Bourbon, a supply administration and operations clerk, play a big role in ensuring that does not happen.
“I order everything from parts for (light armored vehicles) to Simple Green,” said the supply clerk, assigned to the supply section of 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. “We get the equipment for others to do their job.”
A 2004 graduate of Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, Calif., Bourbon did not have a desire to attend more classes after high school. The Redondo, Calif., native yearned for adventure and service to his country instead.
“After Sept. 11, I decided that I wanted to serve in the military,” said the athlete, active in football and baseball during high school. “I joined the Marines because I wanted to be the best of the best.”
More than a year after joining the Marines, Bourbon and his unit, 1st LAR, arrived in this arid, dusty corner of Al Anbar, Iraq, in support of combat operations here. The 19-year-old Marine has served as a machine gunner for various convoy missions in addition to ordering and tracking the supply needs of the battalion.
“This job keeps you busy and there’s always more to learn,” said Bourbon of his experience as a Marine and supply clerk. “Supply is the way to go.”
Marines in the supply section have taken note of the positive role Bourbon—who was meritoriously promoted to his current rank—takes on.
“He’s a junior lance corporal filling in for a task usually done by a corporal,” said Cpl. Rob E. Diaz, 20, of Chicago and fiscal chief with supply section, 1st LAR. “He’s doing now what it takes Marines at least a couple of years to do in the Fleet and he’s doing it in the combat zone.”
Bourbon, currently on his first tour to Iraq, is considering a career in the Marine Corps at the end of his current enlistment.