Early Life and Military Career
Stann was born at Yokota Air Base in Japan and grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Scranton Preparatory School and subsequently enrolled in the United States Naval Academy in 1999 (Class of 2003). He played football for the Midshipmen as a middle linebacker while at the Naval Academy. Upon graduation, he was assigned as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps and achieved the rank of Captain.
On May 8, 2005, then Lieutenant Stann was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, and he commanded the 2nd Mobile Assault Platoon. His unit was ambushed by insurgents during Operation Matador while trying to secure Ramana Bridge, near Karabilah. Stann and his Marines held out for six days under heavy attacks while coordinating air and tank support that eventually allowed them to be relieved on May 14, 2005. All 42 Marines in Stann's platoon survived. The following March, Stann was awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest award for valor in combat. Part of the citation reads: "Second Lieutenant Stann personally directed two casualty operations, three vehicle recovery operations and multiple close air support missions under enemy small arms, machine gun and mortar fire in his 360-degree fight." This mission was shown on the episode, "Iraq's Most Wanted" on the History Channel show, Shootout!, in which Stann was interviewed. His actions were noted by President George W. Bush during one of his speeches. He left active duty in the Marine Corps as of May 2008. Captain Stann was also the commanding officer in the 8th Marine Regiment Headquarters Company while continuing to fight in the WEC.
Marine Corps officials have stated that they continue to use Stann's story as a recruiting tool, and he attributes his success in mixed martial arts to the foundation he learned fighting at the Marine Corps Martial Arts Center for Excellence in Quantico, Va. "He has been an ideal spokesperson and role model", said Lt. Col. Mike Zeliff, assistant chief of staff for advertising with Marine Corps Recruiting Command.
Read more about this topic: Brian Stann
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early, life, military and/or career:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“The science, the art, the jurisprudence, the chief political and social theories, of the modern world have grown out of Greece and Rome—not by favor of, but in the teeth of, the fundamental teachings of early Christianity, to which science, art, and any serious occupation with the things of this world were alike despicable.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Actors ought to be larger than life. You come across quite enough ordinary, nondescript people in daily life and I don’t see why you should be subjected to them on the stage too.”
—Donald Sinden (b. 1923)
“Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and economic power is necessarily wielded by people.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)