SYRACUSE N.Y. — According to the Military Child Education Coalition, children that come from military families are twice as likely to join the military than those from civilian families. In the Rutledge household, paths between two brothers split different ways.
“People in the military I think are underappreciated, Garrett Rutledge said. “They do it because they want to do it. They do it because they love it. They don’t do it for the recognition.”
Garrett Rutledge’s father, Steve, was a United States Marine. Garrett’s brother Connor made the military his way of life too, joining the U.S. Army.
“My brother, ever since he was a little kid, always wanted to be in (the military),” Rutledge said. “My dad never pushed it on me or my brother. My brother, just knowing my dad was a Marine, always wanted to be a Marine, wanted to be like my dad.”
Connor is stationed in Poland, but younger brother Garrett resides at Syracuse University. And even though Garrett didn’t join the military himself, lessons he learned from his father and brother will always stay with him.
“I just think when you come from that family… you can handle adversity more, we can handle bad situations,” Rutledge said. “Because I had that my whole childhood.”
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© 2018 Garrett Rutledge -
© 2017 Garrett Rutledge
