Leaving no one alone

 Cape Elizabeth man biking 4,000 miles for Marines

Daniel “Buck” Buckley, of Cape Elizabeth, will on June 27 dip his bike in the waters near Portland Head Light, then he will ride 4,000 miles cross-country in an attempt to raise $500,000 for the Marine Graduation Foundation, which helps bring families to Marine boot camp graduation

A milkshake.

That, says Daniel Buckley, is what every Marine craves most the moment he graduates from boot camp. Now a semi-retired Internet technologist, Buckley, a Cape Elizabeth resident known to all as “Buck,” came to this milkshake epiphany in 2008, while attending the graduation of his son, Tim. 

As soon as the ceremony was over, the entire unit, with family and friends in tow, made a beeline for the nearest ice cream shop. The gravity of the charge was so great it drew along with it even those Marines without a dollar to spend. While watching his son down his shake, Buck spied two Marines huddled together at a nearby picnic table, looking sad and forlorn. Tim saw them, too, and was quickly off his seat, insisting on sharing his drink.

“That’s just the kind of man my son is,” said Buckley, who paused for a moment, as if realizing for the first time that this exact moment was when he knew the little boy he’d raised from scratch had become a man. It was an experience, he thought, that no parent should miss.

“I can’t imagine,” said Buckley. “I just can’t imagine going through what they go though and then standing alone. And then, from the other end, I can’t imagine the frustration, or the guilt, or whatever, of someone knowing they couldn’t be there for their kid. But that’s why those two kids were there together. They had no one else, and they needed to be near us.”

And that’s when Buckley hit upon a plan. For his son’s military graduation, Buckley rode his bicycle 1,000 miles – from his Cape Elizabeth home to Parris Island, South Carolina, the site of a Marine Corps Training Depot. It was, he said, his way of symbolically sharing his son’s experience in “the Crucible,” the 54-hour forced march that serves as the culmination of initial military training.

If he could do 1,000 miles in support of his son, Buckley thought, why not 4,000 for all Marines?

So, Buckley founded the No Marine Alone Project, along with an accompanying website (www.nomarinealone.com). On July 27, the day a new class of recruits steps off the bus for its first day of training at Parris Island, Buckley will dip the rear tire of his bicycle in the Atlantic Ocean and set out for the nation’s capital. From there, he will embark on a 13-week journey to the Marines’ other training camp, in San Diego. If all goes according to plan, Buckley will arrive just as the recruits he started with are stepping off The Crucible.

Along the way, he hopes to raise $500,000 – all of which he will donate to the Marine Graduation Foundation (www.usmcgrad.org).

The Marine Graduation Foundation (MGF) was founded in 2005 by commercial printer John Weant, of Missouri. In 1962, Weant was one of those recruits who came out of military training alone. That was the norm then,” he said. Still, he felt no less lonely than the two graduates Buckley met. Those feelings remained buried under the steely resolve of an ex-Marine until 2003, when Weant’s own son graduated military training.

“There were several new Marines standing alone without any family, so we invited them to join ours,” said Weant. “They enjoyed the time and were very appreciative.”

From that experience, Weant hooked up with Gretchen Miller, whose daughter also underwent the boot camp ritual in 2003.

Together, the pair founded the MGF, which aims to make certain every Marine has a family member present to greet him or her at the conclusion of training. They estimate that about 4,000 Marines graduate each year without a loved one present.

Employing just one staffer (paid less than $100 per week) the MGF funnels virtually everything else it raises into reuniting families. Last year, it sent loved ones to greet 96 Marines, paying hotel fares and assisting with gas money, meals and flight arrangements.

But that’s hardly enough. Even with nothing more than a simple website to market its services, the MGF received 329 pleas for help last year.

“That means 233 new Marines had to stand alone last year on the proudest day of their lives,” said Weant.

So, Buckley, with his ride across the country, plans to pitch in to help.  He has lined up benefactors – friends and family, really – to defray the $30,000 cost of his trek. 

  

“I’ll bring a tent, but hopefully, I’ll be staying in hotels as much as possible,” said Buckley. “But, really, I’m spending money I don’t have.”

He and Siglock are looking for a corporate sponsor. That would allow her to tag along in a support vehicle, for safety, but also for collecting additional donations along the way.

Either way, Buckley said, he’s determined to make the trip, raising whatever he can.

“I don’t ride as much as I used to,” he said. “But riding long distance, it’s 13.5 miles-per-hour, day-by-day. You push your left foot down, then you push your right foot down, then you push your left foot down again, and eventually you get there.”

For Marines marching the Crucible, it’s much the same – put one foot in front of the other and, eventually, you get there. Buckley just hopes that, once each young Marine gets where he or she is going, they find someone they love waiting with open arms.

“I’m not a man of means,” said Buckley, “but each Marine’s graduation day is moment in time they can never get back. I want to show my son, and all young Marines, that I appreciate with they’ve done.”