A few days ago, Major Michael McNamara, USMC (Ret) from the “All Marine Radio” held a rather lengthy interview with me via telephone. He had been after me for nearly a year to do this and for some reason, primarily me, we just couldn’t find the time to do it. In retrospect, I wasn’t up to it. I know those of you who know me, will chuckle loudly when I say I’m really a humble guy when it comes to talking about myself. I always enjoyed, and preferred talking about Marines. Anyway, Michael wore me down and I finally agreed after far too many emails to count. He had me talking about things I have not thought about since the days of writing the book. The interview wore my cell phone’s battery out. Towards the end I kept getting the usual beeps when your phone is telling you to shut up and hang up or I’ll do it for you – it lasted over three hours. He had me talking about so many things in my life in the Corps, and especially my heroes; primarily all the fantastic SNCO mentors I was fortunate enough to have over the years. If I was an okay leader, it was due to them, especially GySgt’s! Far too many of them to recount them all, but I did talk about many.

So, if you have nothing to do for about an hour each, below are the three segments of the interview, totally unedited, which was a surprise to me when I finally listened to them. For my mentors, don’t be surprised to hear your name mentioned several times, especially you JD!

The career of Jim Bathurst, from Private to Colonel USMC (Part 1)

The career of Jim Bathurst, from Private to Colonel USMC (Part 2)

The career of Jim Bathurst, from Private to Colonel USMC (Part 3)

Originally posted 2018-03-01 15:41:33.