Trent+S.+&+Dylan+M.+-+Phil+Groff

** By ** ** Trent Shott & Dylan Martin **
 * __Phil Groff Questions__ **


 * __Childhood Life__ **


 * 1.)Where did you grow up? **
 * 2.)What was your home life like? **
 * 3.)Were your parents supportive of the Marines or war in general? **
 * 4.)Was there anything that happened during your childhood that led you to wanting to be part of the marines? **
 * 5.)Did you know any relatives or friends who were part of the Marines? **
 * 6.)If you did know any veterans or anyone that was in war, who were they and how did they affect you? **
 * 7.)Did your overall childhood affect your choice of later joining the marines positively or negatively? **


 * __Early Military Training__ **


 * 8.) Where did you enlist and when? **
 * 9.)Why’d you choose the Marine corps? **
 * 10.)Where did you begin your basic training? **
 * 11.)Who was your drill sergeant? **
 * 12.)What was he like? **
 * 13.)What were you made to do for basic training? **
 * 14.)How was your social life during basic training? **
 * 15.)How was your living quarters? **
 * 16.)Was the food desirable? **
 * 17.) After you graduated basic training, where did you go? **


 * __Specialized Training__ **


 * 17.) How was training to be a marine security guard? **
 * 18.)What were your special duties during training? **
 * 19.)Was training hard? **
 * 20.)What did you do as an MCIWS instructor? **
 * 21.) Please explain what an MCIWS instructor does? **
 * 22.)As a CQB member what training did you do and could you explain what a CQB team member is ? **


 * __Wartime Service__ **


 * 23.)Where did you serve? **
 * 23.)What did you do in Kosovo? **
 * 24.)Were you on the frontlines? **
 * 25.)What did you do with the FAST company in Kosovo? **
 * 26.)What friendships did you make in Kosovo? **
 * 27.)How did you stay in touch with your family? **
 * 28.) What did you do off duty? **
 * 29.)What did you do with the FAST company in Kosovo? **


 * __Wars End__ **
 * 30.)Where were you when the Kosovo war ended? **
 * 31.)How did you return home? **
 * 32.)How was your readjustment to civilian life like? **
 * 33.)What did you do after the military? **
 * 34.)Did you think you needed to enlist anymore? **
 * 35.)Or did you think I’ve served my country enough? **


 * __Reflections__ **
 * 36.)How did fighting in Kosovo affect your life? **
 * 37.)What life lessons did you learn in the Military? **
 * 38.)Did these life lessons help you today? **
 * 39.)What was the greatest lesson you learned? **
 * 40.)Were all these lessons easy to learn? **
 * 41.)How did the lessons you learned in the military affect your life? **


 * Thank you for your service and for participating in the Veteran History Project. **

=**Phil Groff Transcript**=


 * Dylan Martin: Um Today we are interviewing Phil Groff. Um his birthday was June 27th 1977. Um his branch of service was the Marine Corp, and he fought in the Kosovo War. His highest ranking was Sergeant. Today’s date is January 28th, 2015 and we are recording in Newmanstown, Pennsylvania. My name is Dylan Martin and Trent Shott is doing the video camera. Uh Trent Shott is friends with uh Phil Groff. The interview is being conducted for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress. Where did you grow up? **


 * Phil Groff: I grew up in Richland, Pennsylvania. **


 * Dylan Martin: What was your home life like? **


 * Phil Groff: Uh I had a great home life. Uh my parents are still married and we grew up in all kinds of family activities. So I had a real good home life and a real good upbringing. **


 * Dylan Martin: Well, were your parents supportive of the Marines or war in general? **


 * Phil Groff: My parents were very supportive of me overall. I think my mom was maybe a little reluctant in the beginning. Uh was a little concern with letting her baby boy go. But uh they were always very supportive of me and what I wanted to do. **


 * Dylan Martin: Was there anything that happened during your childhood that led you wanting to be part of the Marines? **


 * Phil Groff: Maybe um I you know decided that I decided I wanted to join the military at a really really young age. Um there wasn’t any big watershed event. Um, I just grew up uh playing with GI Joes and playing army like lots of kids do so it sort of steered that into me at a really really young age I decided I wanted to be in the military. **


 * Dylan Martin: Did you know any relatives or friends who were part of the Marines? **


 * Phil Groff: Um not the Marine Corps, but I have an uncle who was an Army Vet and a Vietnam Vet. So within our family, he was a member that served or a family member that served in the military so different branch but service none the less. **


 * Dylan Martin: Did you look up to him? **


 * Phil Groff: I did, I looked up to his service um it was always honorable. He didn’t talk about it much and the little bit I talked to my uncle about his service in Vietnam only happened since uh you know I’ve been back from the military and did some other things in my career and in my life. We’ve talked a little bit, but growing up he never spoke of it. **


 * Dylan Martin: Did your overall childhood affect your choice of joining the Marines positively or negatively? **


 * Phil Groff: Um I don't think it really had a big difference. I had a good home life. So the support let me follow what at that point was an ambition and a dream of mine, so positive. **


 * Dylan Martin: Where did you enlist and when? **


 * Phil Groff: Um I enlisted the day I turned 17. Um just with the local recruiting office up in Lebanon and uh you know went in and I already had a plan together. I had to have my parents sign off on that and the recruiter came to my house, and we signed the paperwork and I entered what was called the delayed entry program. **


 * Dylan Martin: Were you nervous? **


 * Phil Groff: Um no not really um. It was what I wanted to do at that point since I was about 7. So um excited but not so much nervous at that junction yet. **


 * Dylan Martin: Why did you choose the Marine Corps? **


 * Phil Groff: The biggest thing that pushed me towards the Corps was um you know just some things that I was young and I got interested in the military. I did a lot of reading, I read a lot of history, when I was growing up um most of the military history that was out was focused on Vietnam and some from the Korean War and WWII and you know just reading stories and uh the general reputation of the Marine Corps really attracted me as an elite branch of service and a good branch of service. Once I got in, I learned you know that all branches have their positives and they all fit the puzzle in a certain way but growing up you know it was influence plus I was a child in the eighties and the Marine Corps had some great commercials and really good marketing, and they got me. **


 * Dylan Martin: Do you remember any specific commercials or anything? **


 * Phil Groff: You know there was the old “the few the proud.” And you know the Marine with sword and the lighting striking it and that turned a guy into a Marine. There was a lot of different ones but those were some of the ones. They did a lot of really cool commercials. I ended up serving with a couple guys that had starred in those commercials um obviously I was a junior enlisted guy and they were senior enlisted Marines, but they had been part of those. So it was pretty cool to meet some of those guys. **


 * Dylan Martin: So after you like enlisted where did you begin your basic training? **


 * Phil Groff: Uh I went to Basic Training at Parris Island, South Carolina. **


 * Dylan Martin: Um who was your drill Sergeant? **


 * Phil Groff : I had four so there, in the Marine Corps they are called Drill Instructors and my senior drill instructor his name was Sgt. Piskanka and then I had Sgt. Bee, Oliver and Duncan were my other drill instructors. **


 * Dylan Martin: How were they like? **


 * Phil Groff: Um intense, yeah they were intense guys. They have a short time frame to take people from what they come in as and make them Marines. So um professional, all business and intense. **


 * Dylan Martin: Broke you in. **


 * Phil Groff: Yeah I mean the entire idea. I didn’t need a lot of um I needed a lot of redirection and a lot training and a lot of education to understand the ways but um I had already been uh commited to know that’s what I wanted to do, so boot camp to me was not a challenge of having to break um break a spirit and build me back up as a Marine I already knew I wanted to be a Marine, so it was just a matter of getting the knowledge and being part of a team. **


 * Dylan Martin: So what was basic training like, what was your daily routine? **


 * Phil Groff: Um you know it’s up early uh and it’s a wide variety, the thing about Basic Training its designed to appear like chaos when you're doing it um in reality when you learn and you talk to guys who were drill instructors or you learn behind the curtains or behind the scenes. Everything is scripted out. Its all training topics, that ranges from physical conditioning um to other types of knowledge, to classroom to hands-on, to disciplinary training through close over drill and all kind of things but very structured and they keep you busy from the time you get up to the time till the time you go to sleep. **


 * Dylan Martin: Did this affect your social life in any way? **


 * Phil Groff: There is no social life. I mean in the Marine Corps you're there. You're part of that um some of the other services towards the end do allow you some liberties and things like that. Um you know when I was in there there was no social life, there is no contact um no phone calls, no computers um no email, no anything. You don’t have that so you don’t have a social life. You like write letters, so that’s what I did. I know that’s kinda a lost art now but a pen and paper that’s all you had. **


 * Dylan Martin: What were the living quarters there like, was it trashy or clean? **


 * Phil Groff: No, spotless clean. Um we saw to that,so there was never any, we made sure that everything was very clean. Um that was part of our job. Uh very spartan, very simple. You know we had a metal cot with a mattress on it and you had a wooden footlocker and all your possessions went into that foot locker. You didn’t have anything other than what you were issued. We had very few possessions. It went in there and you know you made your rack and it was tight and you kept everything clean. Um you performed what they called field day every week. Uh so in addition to doing daily cleaning and maintenance you would take a day of the week and you know basically if you can imagine spring cleaning on steroids you do that once a week, so. **


 * Dylan Martin: Was that your least favorite day? **


 * Phil Groff: Um no you know it really wasn’t. I’ll tell you why it wasn’t my least favorite. Um it wasn’t my least favorite because of the fact that you got a chance to not be constantly hounded um it was almost a little bit of a break. You got a task you had a mundane task and you could work your way through that task without constant pressure. **


 * Dylan Martin: After you graduated from Basic Training where did you go? **


 * Phil Groff: Uh after I graduated my basic training I went to my primary MOS training so Military Occupational Specialty uh and my primary till I ended my career I had four different MOS’s. But my first was uh as an infantryman. So I went to Camp Geiger down in Jacksonville, North Carolina. **


 * Dylan Martin: How was the specialized training different? **


 * Phil Groff: Um in the MOS training, so basic training is designed to turn you into a Marine. Uh your MOS training is designed to teach you your specific job. So it was much more specific um to what you were going to be doing in the Marine Corps. Uh a little bit less strict. We got weekends off sometimes or at least one day off in the weekend um getting a bit of taste of freedom again but that my initial MOS training. **


 * Dylan Martin: What were some specific duties you had to like to train for? **


 * Phil Groff: Um you know as a Marine infantryman thats kinda the training to fight. So learning to fight, learning to defend. Um a lot of weapons training, tactics um that was the general so learning exactly what we needed to do and how to we need to operate effectively as a team and different element sizes and continuing conditioning and that was the biggest training topics we had. **


 * Dylan Martin: Was this training any harder? **


 * Phil Groff: Um no, I don’t think I would say that the school of infantry was harder it was a little bit more um information thrown at you more detailed specific information um still pretty general level. You didn’t really get into some of the very fined detail training till you got to your unit and then got onto some additional specialty training. **


 * Dylan Martin: What did you do as an MCIWS instructor? **


 * Phil Groff: A MCIWS instructor so what a MCIWS is um called a Marine Combat Instructor of Water Survival so that was one of my additional MOS’s. So as a MCIWS I was tasked with teaching Marines how to um not only swim but swim in an environment where you know not like you think of swimming when you go to the pool in a pair of shorts but how to survive and not drown while wearing all their equipment, carrying a rifle, wearing boots and all their clothing. Um and teaching the Marines how to save each other and navigate water and so that was our primary job there. **


 * Dylan Martin: As a CQB member what training did you do and could you explain what a CQB member did? **


 * Phil Groff: Yeah there was um again that was uh my third of four MOS’s which actually came before my MCIWS. Um its a close quarters battle team member so that was a specific MOS based around the unit that I was in so we were tasked with um the closest connection and the closest parallel when I went through that was kinda like what a SWAT team would do domestically so it would be entering a structure to um you know seek out those we were looking for and take care of them once we got in and basically fighting inside. CQB is Close Quarters Battle what that stands for. **


 * Dylan Martin: How out of all your MOS’s what was your favorite? **


 * Phil Groff: Um CQB MOS which is a sub MOS um that was my favorite job so doing that the unit that I was with at the time I went through that training was yeah probably my favorite. **


 * Dylan Martin: And after you left your specialized training where did you serve at? **


 * Phil Groff: Um my first duty assignment um I was initially assigned to the Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team Company at Norfolk Virginia. Uh I spent about two years with them thats commonly known as FAST company. After I got done with FAST Company um I was stationed with Bravo Company 1st Battalion 6th Marines back in Camp Lejeune North Carolina where I had my initial training. Uh so back down in North Carolina there and went back to my original infantry MOS after my first assignment. **


 * Dylan Martin: When the Kosovo War arose what did you do? **


 * Phil Groff: Um you know the Balkans were kinda simmering throughout all the late 90’s through all the former Yugoslavia and Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo. Uh the Kosovo conflict started in earnest towards the tail end of the 90’s and um you know I was just coming back to the infantry unit getting ready to go on a deployment cycle called a MEU. A Marine Expeditionary Unit. So we would deploy out over six months at a time uh into what they call a amphibious ready groups. And we go on a group of ships and in those groups of ships you kinda patrol around and if there is a hotspot or something that comes up uh often times that unit is one of the first ones to get sent to go and do whatever they need to do. And there is a large group of different types of mission sets that they may be involved in. So that was how we became involved. It was relatively minor you know the conflict in Kosovo never got a lot of news coverage here in the United States so it was never, wasn’t really on our radar that deeply that anything was going on till we were pretty close to the situation. **


 * Dylan Martin: So were you ever on like a frontline situation? **


 * Phil Groff: No no not in what we think of in a more um intense type of conflict. Uh what we did with the MEU during the opening stages of what became known as Operation Allied Force which was primarily an air campaign um to stop some of the ethnic crimes and the infighting that was occurring in Kosovo. Um we positioned ourselves very very close to the coast um so we were in line with the coast of Kosovo. And we were there to perform a couple different missions. If an American pilot were shot down we were the force to go in and rescue them. Um if we needed to evacuate any U.S. personnel um at that time I don’t believe we were operating an active embassy in Kosovo. I know we had been in Albania at the very beginning of our deployment. But uh you know if there was somebody that needed to be evacuated that would be us. And there was a whole list of other missions, but we were more or less a standby force. We weren’t used in a conventional ground combat role at all during the Kosovo War. **


 * Dylan Martin: Uh what friendships did you make during this conflict? **


 * Phil Groff: Um you know some of the closest friends that you’ll ever have are guys that you served with and uh you know adversity can bring friendship and you know being in areas like that, so being in conflict zones like we were in Kosovo and just being in close proximity. So we were on a ship with guys for six months uh you know guys I hadn’t seen. There’s a guy that I was uh in the bunk just above me that I hadn’t seen since I got out of the Marine Corps and uh we just knew we were gonna be close to him on a family trip last year in Kentucky, and we stopped by and saw him. So it does develop very deep friendships. Uh you know anytime you share any level of adversity that that really strengthens friendships you have. **


 * Dylan Martin: How did you stay in touch with your family during this time? **


 * Phil Groff: Um back then so the communications wasn’t as good as it is now, so we had written letters. We could write back and forth. Uh you know my wife and I would make videotapes for each other and send tapes back and forth and we had a very sporadic and limited amount of email. Um email is still pretty new back in the stone ages in the 90’s. Um but we would wait you would have a couple computers on ship and you would know you would wait and have 10 minutes to go on and check your email account and uh write an email. That probably happened once or twice a week. Other than that it was written letters. Occasionally you get a phone call. There was a satellite phone on ship. But you know that came out but they would black it out anytime we would be in any operational setting. All the communications email and the phones would shut off so there would a go for a period of a couple weeks at a time if we were in a ready status or something we wouldn’t be able to tell anybody we were changing location. When we first went in close proximity to Kosovo into the air conflict zone um they shut down all of our communications. But when you got to port you could use pay phones. I know again another technology that doesn’t really happen but you know that was always a fun adventure whatever foreign country we were in to try and figure out how that pay phone worked and make international calls. **


 * Dylan Martin: Uh What did you do off duty? **


 * Phil Groff: Um you know, (clears throat) excuse me, when I wasn’t working um you know when you're not uh deployed, when you're deployed there off duty, you're not really off duty you’re not doing anything your not training or working you're not in any kind of uh job status your off duty was you know we ate, we slept or we went to the gym and worked out. Uh when you're back in Garrison and you're not deployed um lot of times particularly in the job that we had it was like a Monday through Friday we would train and go through training cycles so I kinda spent off time like everybody else. I went home and spent time with my wife and my kids. **


 * Dylan Martin: When and where did you go after the Kosovo War ended? **


 * Phil Groff: Um as soon as we came back from the deployment we were extended a little bit so we spent a little more than 6 months out on ship. Uh that was right at the tail end of my service and right after we got back from deployment uh I started my out processing and within a month I was out of the military. **


 * Dylan Martin: So where did you go? **


 * Phil Groff: Um after that I came back home here and uh I became a police officer. **


 * Dylan Martin: How did you return home? **


 * Phil Groff: Once we got back and we were on ship so we rode the big grey can back across the Atlantic. Uh once I got home we just packed the family up and moved them all back home and drove home and got a house. **


 * Dylan Martin: Did it take you time to readjust? **


 * Phil Groff: Um civilian life takes time to readjust. Uh you know in general, its you know uh at the time my daughter was really really young and when I left she was only a couple months old so you know getting to see her six months later and six months older. Uh just reconnecting and getting in the daily routines and getting used to being around um other folks when you get back opposed to just the guys that are in your unit. Uh that’s an adjustment. **


 * Dylan Martin: Did you ever consider wanting to back? **


 * Phil Groff: Yeah I did um I sure did uh I got out in the middle of “99, uh became a police officer in 2000. So I was working as a cop uh you know when 9/11 happened in ‘01 uh gave strong consideration to whether or not I went back in the military um and whether that was the right thing to do whether I was useful, uh ultimately I decided to stay where I thought I could be immediately helpful in the domestic role as a police officer but yeah you miss it I mean sometimes you know for the first couple years you would miss things about it or miss guys and miss parts of it . Considered going back. **


 * Dylan Martin: How did fighting in the Kosovo War affect your life? **


 * Phil Groff: Um you know it didn’t, it wasn’t, we didn’t really have like I said there was no no high intensity combat. We were not involved in combat in the Kosovo Conflict. Not for us you know the guys flying the planes were certainly at a higher level of risk and we didn’t really so that didn’t have a, it didn’t seem like much of a difference to me with my normal military service. Uh it wasn’t really a deep impact to me I mean I know uh a lot of guys from now and the wars we fought since then its uh a lot different than it is for us. It wasn’t a big impact because it was low intensity uh you know understanding getting to see the ugly side of things uh as a cop then you see real quickly how guys can come back with with really a lot of different perspectives and no comparison whatsoever to the time spent over that really intense. But for me it wasn’t, it was kind of service as normal while I was in. **


 * Dylan Martin: So did the military affect you more than the Kosovo War itself? **


 * Phil Groff: Yeah I think the military experienced more and shaped you know myself as that individual uh part of you know that conflict was going on while I was in. **


 * Dylan Martin: Any major life lessons? **


 * Phil Groff: Um you know the military does a great job of teaching you discipline and understanding leadership and doing a lot of different things so yeah there’s great life lessons learned throughout the whole experience. **


 * Dylan Martin: What was the hardest lesson you learned? **


 * Phil Groff: Um I think probably the hardest lesson would be just self control, discipline um you know just learning that strong discipline and that self control um getting the job done and putting yourself uh behind others and putting things that you know whether its a mission or the guys you work with putting them ahead of yourself. So that selflessness. Uh all great lessons that you pick up in the military. **


 * Dylan Martin: Did this help you like with treating your family in any way? **


 * Phil Groff: Um I think that it’s tricky. It can helps at times and if you take some of those lessons and it does a good job of teaching that sometimes um some of the things you learn in the military and some of the things that make you a successful Marine, or a successful service member don’t always translate very well in family life uh some parts of it are great and its just a balance of understanding of you know what's important and making that transition. **


 * __Phil Groff Narrative__ **
 * By Trent Shott and Dylan Martin **
 * Phil Groff grew up in Richland, Pennsylvania with a lovely family. Growing up he played with GiJoe toys and pretended to be in the army along with his friends. Once he reached the age of 17 he decided that he wanted to join the Marines. Heading to Parris Island South Carolina he started his basic training as a young recruit in America’s elite fighting force. At the camp he learned to work hard as it became apparent what leadership truly was. Mr. Groff then went and had to endure physical and mental toughness as a young, hard charging recruit. **
 * Next, Mr. Groff really didn’t have a social life due to the fact that everyday it was training and conditioning all day long from sunup to sundown. “There is no social life. I mean in the Marine Corps you're there. You're part of that um some of the other services towards the end do allow you some liberties and things like that. Um you know when I was in there there was no social life, there is no contact um no phone calls, no computers um no email, no anything. You don’t have that so you don’t have a social life.” (Phil Groff Interview) **
 * The only type of communication Phil had with the outside world was letters. He had to keep his barracks spotless clean or there would be dire consequences. “Um you performed what they called field day every week. Uh so in addition to doing daily cleaning and maintenance you would take a day of the week and you know basically if you can imagine spring cleaning on steroids you do that once a week, so.” (Phil Groff Interview). He and his buddies had this day set aside every week to have a very large cleaning day that is basically on steroids. After basic training, Mr. Groff went and endured his first of four MOS trainings at Camp Geiger in Jacksonville, North Carolina. **
 * Also, his first MOS was infantry training. Basically, his task was to learn to fight, defend and tactics as well as to fight in a team and be effective to neutralize the enemy. “As an MCIWS instructor which stands for Marine Combat Instructor of Water Survival. So as a MCIWS I was tasked with teaching Marines how to um not only swim but swim in an environment where you know not like you think of swimming when you go to the pool in a pair of shorts but how to survive and not drown while wearing all their equipment, carrying a rifle, wearing boots and all their clothing. Um and teaching the Marines how to save each other and navigate water and so that was our primary job there.” (Phil Groff Interview). Mr. Groff was tasked with taking raw recruits and turn them into Marines that could survive and fight as one in the water to accomplish a mission. **
 * After that Mr. Groff headed off to do his next MOS which was as a CQB team member which means he was a Close Quarter Battle member. Mr. Groff job was to enter a structure and search and find the bad guys then take them out. He basically did what a SWAT team does but in a much larger force. **
 * Then he was sent to Norfolk Virginia, as a FAST team member Which is called the Fleet Anti-Terrorism Team. He was stationed with Bravo Company 1st Battalion 6th Marines. The FAST company was more high paced and kept the soldiers on their feet. “ And you may deploy in a couple hours notice to areas around the world whether if it was a U.S. embassy or naval facilities and we could be called upon to go reinforce them if there was a threat from terror attack” (Phil Groff Interview). He was sent out on various of missions. **
 * One time he had to abort a vacation with his girlfriend because he had to be deployed within a few hours before they could go to the beach. “And you know she came down and she got to the barracks and saw I was still in uniform and I basically told her. Hey I’m going to have a buddy of mine go take you to dinner so you can get something to eat. And you know. Grab a night at the hotel and you’re going to be driving home on your own tomorrow because I’m leaving”(Phil Groff Interview). **
 * Even though Phil Groff had less leisure time with the FAST company, he still enjoyed his time served there. It became his favorite years of serving with the Marines. The reason was mainly because the men and women there were full of morale and spirit which made the soldiers feel welcomed. Another reason was because the FAST company worked with many weapons and were able to fire them at ranges. This allowed him and the other FAST company members to be the best teachers for various of camps and units to learn about different, mainly hand held, weapons. **
 * After he was done with FAST company. His job during the Kosovo war was to go and do a MEU which was a Marine Expeditionary Unit. “And we go on a group of ships and in those groups of ships you kinda patrol around and if there is a hotspot or something that comes up uh often times that unit is one of the first ones to get sent to go and do whatever they need to do.” (Phil Groff Interview). Mr. Groff was never on any frontline situation, but if an American Pilot were to be shot down they were sent in to find them and bring them out safely.” (Phil Groff Interview). “But we were more or less a standby force. We weren’t used in a conventional ground combat role at all during the Kosovo War.” (Phil Groff Interview). **
 * Mr. Groff friendships as a Marine helped form bonds of mutual respect between him and his buddies. That’s why when he got the chance to see his old bunk buddy when he was on a family trip, he took the time to catch up with him. He was able to communicate with his family by email aboard ship or payphones in the country he was stationed in. Basically he would try to find ways to communicate with his back home. **
 * Another thing, while he was off duty he would work out or do training cycles and then go home on the weekends to be with his family. When Groff returned home, he became a police officer to serve his country domestically. “So I was working as a cop uh you know when 9/11 happened in ‘01 uh gave strong consideration to whether or not I went back in the military um and whether that was the right thing to do whether I was useful, uh ultimately I decided to stay where I thought I could be immediately helpful in the domestic role as a police officer but yeah you miss it I mean sometimes you know for the first couple years you would miss things about it or miss guys and miss parts of it.” (Phil Groff Interview). He felt that as a cop he could do things better after 9/11 if he stayed where he was as a police officer. But he did want to go back and serve his country. But he thought he would serve a greater purpose at home. During the Kosovo war it didn’t affect him that much because he wasn’t a frontline soldier. **
 * Finally the lessons he learned in the military helped him to treat his family and the people around him with respect and self discipline as well as selflessness. “Um I think probably the hardest lesson would be just self control, discipline um you know just learning that strong discipline and that self control um getting the job done and putting yourself uh behind others and putting things that you know whether its a mission or the guys you work with putting them ahead of yourself. So that selflessness.” (Phil Groff Interview). **
 * The military helped Mr. Groff become a better Marine and a better person overall with the lessons that they taught him while he was in service to his country and abroad protecting the U.S.A. from its nations enemies. Though even when he was apart from his girlfriend he could send her tape recordings or letters to stay in touch. He was able then to later return home and finally be together with her and his family. He was welcomed back as a hero. He served a good life with the Marines. **