His voice sounds optimistic, strong.
At 41, Nick Popaditch has big plans. He’s pursuing a college degree 22 years after leaving Indiana State University as a freshman. His new book hit shelves nationwide a few weeks ago. Next month, he’ll return to Terre Haute to autograph some copies at a book signing.
Exciting stuff, all of it.
When Popaditch spoke by telephone Monday from his home near San Diego, that’s how he sounded — excited. The difficulties he’s overcome don’t dampen his enthusiasm, which is impressive. He’s legally blind, having lost his right eye and 92 percent of the vision in his left. He’s partially deaf.
He also looks forward to the future. He’s got some advice, too — be true to yourself.
“When you’re faced with a life-changing event — and in my case, a life-changing injury — that character is who you are,” Popaditch said.
That’s exactly what he did in 2004. In April of that year, a rocket-propelled grenade fired by an Iraqi insurgent hit the M1A1 Abrams tank occupied by Popaditch, a gunnery sergeant, and fellow Marines in Fallujah, Iraq. He was pulled from the burning tank, survived and began a long physical recovery, which included being medically retired from the Marine Corps.
One year and two days before his injury, an Associated Press photographer snapped a very different image of Popaditch. He was smiling, holding a celebratory cigar, sitting atop his tank. In the background was a statue of defeated Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The picture ran in newspapers and magazines around the globe, and became a memorable vision of that effort by U.S. forces in Baghdad.
Those diverse moments fill the pages of his book, “Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander’s Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage and Recovery.” That story, published nationally by Savas Beatie, follows Popaditch’s path through a career as a noncommissioned staff officer in the Marine Corps.
Still, Popaditch thinks anyone facing adversity can benefit from the book, penned along with freelance writer Mike Steere.
“Whether they were in the military or not, fall back on your character,” Popaditch advised.
Right now, that spirit propels Popaditch through classes at San Diego State University, where he’s studying to become a teacher of, most likely, high school mathematics. History, geography and economics are possibilities, too.
More than two decades ago, Popaditch had just finished high school at Terre Haute North Vigo, where he was “a book worm” who also liked motorcycles. Popaditch’s parents, Duke and Dolores, and their family of five children moved to Terre Haute when Nick was an eighth-grader, enrolling him at Otter Creek. Nick stayed in Terre Haute through one semester at ISU, where he initially majored in physics. “Back then, I was a freshman out of high school, and didn’t know what I wanted to do,” he remembered.
By May 1986, he’d joined the Marines and began that career in San Diego. But he retains “fond” memories of Terre Haute. “When I think back on Terre Haute, I think of fun times,” he said. Going to football games on Friday nights, and dances afterward.
That carefree life is a good thing, Popaditch said. He and his wife, April, have a son, Nicholas Jr., who’s 15 and in high school now, too.
Someday soon, Popaditch will be teaching high school kids. After his injury in Fallujah ended his military career, he saw teaching as a new door. “It seems like, to me, a noble profession, where you can make a difference,” he explained.
The experiences that precede his second career are kept in perspective. The grenade attack is “not something that troubles me in any way, at all,” Popaditch said. His limited eyesight is “just a matter of me rehabilitating, and it’s a lot better now than it was.” As for that famous photo in Baghdad, which left him with the nickname “Cigar Marine,” Popaditch said, “It’s a fond memory, and it reminds me of that day. You were seeing the birth of a nation, of freedom.”
In “Once a Marine,” Popaditch also explains how he and his wife navigated his recovery, and those details have proven enlightening to those who’ve known the couple. “They saw things were a little more difficult on my wife and me,” he said. “We put a pretty good face on things.” The book is a tribute to sacrifices made, from fellow Marines in the midst of war to family at home.
Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.
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AP file photo/LAURENT REBOURS
Discussion
Mark Bennett: ‘Once a Marine’ chronicles Popaditch’s trials, tribulations
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