36 Toombs County Magazine
only to look next door. Carla Perez
was a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marine
Corps at that time, and she was also
Samantha’s next door neighbor. “I
could ask her lots of questions to find
out what it was like to be a woman
in the Marines, and she shared her
own stories and experiences,” said
Samantha. And Camp Pendleton, one
of the largest Marine Corps bases in
the U.S., was just down the road.
Samantha left California on
September 11, 2006, for Parris Island,
South Carolina, where all female
Marines are sent for boot camp.
Even though training was intense,
the environment was much less of a
culture shock for her. “I was raised in
the South and accustomed to saying
‘yes ma’am’ and ‘no ma’am.’ Boot camp
was more about overcoming fears for
me. I had a fear of heights and a lot
of opportunities to get over it,” she
laughed.
As a Marine, everything in
Samantha’s life was defined. “From
the moment they wake you up to the
moment they say you can sleep, it’s
all about structure,” she said. It was
a structure in which she excelled.
In fact, Samantha graduated in the
top 10% of her unit and received a
Located in downtown Vidalia,
S'Moore Coffee Shop is a great
place to meet friends for a good
cup of coffee and some fresh baked
treats. Samantha has an assortment
of things on display from her years in
the military.