Marines ... Lasting Relationships
by U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Levi Voss
July 30, 2024

Several years after last seeing each other, two U.S. Marines shared a moment of unexpected excitement after reuniting at the National Wrestling Coaches Association Convention at TPC Sawgrass Resort in Jacksonville, Florida on July 26, 2024.

U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Jamel Johnson, a logistics officer with 8th Communication Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, and Jaime Miranda, a Marine veteran, have more in common than just being brothers-in-arms, they also wrestled on the All-Marine Corps Wrestling Team. Each took an uncommon path to the Marine Corps and beyond.

“It was a wild experience,” said Johnson regarding the reunion. “I mean, to not have seen him for so many years and now all of a sudden we’re at the same event because of wrestling, - because of the Marine Corps. It’s kind of what you join for.”

After finishing his active-duty status in the U.S. Army, Johnson decided he needed another source of income to support his young family. Johnson, wrestled in college and in the Army as part of the World Class Athlete Program, he knew the network of wrestlers nationwide was a small, tight-knit community. He reached out to his former college coach, who had just received the job as the Marine Corps Wrestling Team’s coach.

“I reached out to him and was like, ‘Hey, is wrestling for the Marine Corps a possibility? Can this happen?’ The coach said, ‘You’ll definitely have a job, but I’m not sure you’ll be wrestling.’ So, I decided to become a Marine.”

Johnson would eventually wrestle again. There he would meet an enlisted Marine and fellow wrestler, Miranda.

Miranda, a native of Aberdeen, Wash, joined the Marine Corps with a bachelor’s degree after realizing the Marine Corps would give him the opportunity to earn G.I. Bill benefits, so that he could pay for a graduate degree program he had wanted to attend.

“I decided to enlist,” said Miranda. “After that, I heard I could wrestle in the Marine Corps so I pursued that and made the team. I ended up doing that for about a year and that is where I met Capt. Johnson.”

After exiting active duty, Miranda began teaching and coaching. There, he fell in love with coaching and decided to continue that while pursuing a doctorate.

Both Miranda and Johnson acknowledge the similarities between the wrestling community and the Marine Corps. Miranda recounts thinking Marines are the “wrestlers” of the military branches. Likening the tight-knit wrestling community to the culture of camaraderie in the Marine Corps.

“You see a wrestler in public and you immediately strike up a conversation about wrestling,” said Miranda. “It’s the same in the Marine Corps. There’s no one tougher than a Marine and there’s no better, - or tougher, than a wrestler. So, they pretty much match up.”

Throughout the course of the NWCA convention Miranda and Johnson continued to reminisce on their time wrestling together, as well as what they were planning on doing now that their lives’ have moved on. Like old friends they encourage each other in their endeavors and even swap advice. It’s relationships like these that exemplify why the Marine Corps established its national partnership program.

“Our goal with partnerships like NWCA is to build personal connections and create a larger pool of advocates,” said Greg Gilliam, MCRC Community Engagement and National Partnerships Officer. “We want to find ways to inspire the next generation of young folks to serve our country. The mindset and values in wrestling are aligned with those of the Marine Corps.”

The Marine Corps’ partnership with the NWCA convention offers the opportunity to develop new relationships with wrestling coaches to build trust and create a larger pool of advocates to access the nations next generation of leaders. Throughout the convention the Marines in attendance conversed with coaches about leadership, as well as coaching and mentoring. They also presented awards and built relationships with coaches by inviting them to learn more about the resources available to them.

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