Lance Cpl. Kody Broderick, right, a machine gunner with 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, stands post with Lance Cpl. Carl Adams, a mortarman, on Dec. 11 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Broderick is from the town of North Pole, Alaska. (Photo by Cpl. Timothy Lenzo/ Marine Corps)
I’ll admit it: When I first saw a headline hinting that a deployed Marine was from the North Pole, I assumed it was for a story on The Duffel Blog, the military’s Onion.
Turns out there really is, though. The Marine Corps itself reports that Lance Cpl. Kody Broderick is from the town of North Pole, Alaska. He’s a machine gunner with 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, and was based at Combat Outpost Taghaz in Khanashin district when interviewed.
From the Corps’ news release:
When I tell people I am from North Pole, they think I’m joking,” said Broderick. “I usually have to show them my driver’s license to get them to believe me.”
Also, this:
Broderick takes the humor in stride. He understands there is no ill will behind the Marines’ comments.
“They’ll ask me if my dad is Santa Claus, things like that,” said Broderick.
A little ninja work on Google tells me that North Pole, Alaska, has a population of about 2,100. It’s near the larger city of Fairbanks, and has a predicted high temperature today of -28 degrees.
I think we may have just found the one Marine who doesn’t think sleeping outside in Helmand during the winter is miserable.
