The Georgia Virtue Veteran Spotlight Series showcases veterans in communities across Georgia who have humbly and selflessly served our country. The series is sponsored by Femac Security Solutions.
Ferdinand, Indiana. Today, the small town has a population of 2,157 in an area of two and a half square miles. As Randall Weyer grew up, the United States Marine Corps was a way out of the even smaller town of 1,427.
It was a decision he was sure of when he was a junior in high school. Military service was a familiar concept in his family. His stepfather was a Marine, his father was in the army and his grandfather was just a hard worker.
After doing well at the ASVAB, he knew he wanted to go into mechanics in some capacity because of the skills he already had. Weyer wasn’t a bad boy, although he was prone to mischief. While his mother and sister had to play a vocal and instrumental role to get him to class each day, he worked for his grandfather and for the school after school, and his work ethic was enough to keep him going.
Weyer graduated from high school in January of his senior year and went to Marine Corps Boot Camp at Parris Island, South Carolina on March 27, 1983, a decision he has never regretted.
Education & Specialty
The 12-week physically intensive school was a journey of its own. He started out in 46th Platoon in 3rd Battalion before being pulled out after three weeks and ‘recycled’ to 2nd Battalion where he resumed camp on the second day.
“I was undisciplined,” Weyer said. “Back then they had to pick one or two people. They would use the process to show it could happen. Me and another guy did, and I think they thought I was going to stop.”
Of course he didn’t give up and finally Weyer graduated in July 1983 with the 49th Platoon in the 2nd Battalion.
After completing basic training, Weyer was shipped to Camp LeJeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina for his MOS school. He was “early” for class – by just over two weeks – prompting him to work for battalion administration in the meantime. He then learned that he was scheduled for training to become a basic hygiene equipment operator. He became a water purification specialist and was trained for other utility administrations such as plumbing.
At the time, while he knew what the job descriptions meant, Weyer really didn’t understand what the specialty would train him for throughout his career.
Camp Pendleton, California, with the 7th Engineer Battalion, was the next stop after 12 weeks of MOS school. This is where he started work and Weyer stayed there for about a year. In his capacity to work, he was also selected to be responsible for servicing trailers in the workshop, maintaining mounted generators and other equipment and expanding his skills.
His tenure there also enabled his education at 29 Palms, California. His team of five would drive into the middle of the desert with a well-drill and a jeep… and drill. It was one of many moving parts of a training exercise for infrastructure implementation in under-resourced environments. 200 miles to the nearest infrastructure with water would prepare Weyer for what was to come in the near future.
Base Stations and Deployment
Lance Corporal Weyer was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, where he oversaw all water purification operations. From there, he and his team of five supported operations in Korea, including showers, laundry, basic sanitation, and clean water. For three months, the around-the-clock responsibility lay with Weyer’s team. There Weyer graduated from the Warfare Training School. Korea was followed by a four-month stint in Mount Fuji, Japan, again in a support role at a base for about 200 other service members.
In 1985, Weyer returned to Beaufort, South Carolina. He married in 1986 and worked in equipment maintenance for the Marine Wing Support Squadron while in the US.
1988 brought Weyer a change when he was stationed in Hawaii. When he was three years in the Marine Corps, he was given the opportunity to re-enlist a year early. Priority was given to his “wish list” locations…Hawaii was one of them. There he went to a Marine Wing Support Squadron and supported fixed wing aircraft, F18s and the like. The staff support role focused on water and cooling, including preparations to ensure the ability to construct a morgue. During this time he was promoted to corporal and then sergeant and continued his training in heavy equipment operations
While stationed in Hawaii, Weyer was assigned to Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. On August 8, 1989, he and his comrades traveled to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. He spoke of their arrival in an environment of unspeakable conflict and their visit to a football stadium under King Abdul Aziz. For a month, the troops slept in the concrete soccer stadium while they built a base camp for the upcoming rotorcraft helicopter.
Sergeant Weyer and his unit were tasked with creating an emergency power source and converting salt water into drinking water at the time. That meant setting up an operation on the beach about two miles away and ensuring the base had over 150,000 gallons of water available at all times.
“This was the first time I really needed to show up and use every opportunity and resource I knew. Set up infrastructure for everyone, plan for washing and showering and make sure numbers match demand,” he shared. “We couldn’t just run to the store or find what we needed. If we didn’t have it, we had to find another way quickly.”
Weyer spoke at length about the impact of being away from his family and the hardships for him and those at home. A ray of hope, however, were not only letters from his loved ones, but also from a school class that wrote to him and his comrades. He corresponded with one from his base throughout the outreach and made a point of meeting the young child at his school upon his return in 1990. Of course, this included talking to the whole class and sharing stories about his time in Saudi Arabia.
Back to the States
From 1991 to 1995, Weyer worked in a quasi-civilian capacity near Camp LeJeune, where he worked on hazardous waste, continued his education and received awards for his work with the EPD. Weyer said one of his greatest accomplishments during his time in the Marine Corps was getting the training and certification to handle hazardous waste. “I was responsible for everything that came onto the base and everything that left hazardous waste behind. I followed it when it got into the grave,” he said.
Statesboro became “home” after his children attended schools in Bulloch County. “It was time for me to make that sacrifice for her,” Weyer said. For the remainder of his tenure in the Marines, he commuted back and forth between Statesboro and Beaufort.
Albany, Georgia was another stop for Staff Sergeant Weyer and his family. “It was a culture shock for my children,” Weyer shared with humor. He rejoined Albany as first choice to be closer to family. In his new home, Weyer headed the emergency services department.
In 1997 he attended Recruiter School in San Diego, returned to Albany and moved with his family to Statesboro, Georgia, where he began working as a recruiter for the US Marines. A year later, he commuted daily from Statesboro to Beaufort, South Carolina to serve in the Marine Wing Support Squadron as a utility Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge (NCOIC). His knowledge of hazardous waste management brought him to become the battalion’s hazardous waste safety officer.
Though he was by no means ready to exit and was still able to meet (and exceed) physical standards, a medical issue resulting from spinal compression and subsequent surgery eventually prompted the Marines to settle on the decision of a VA physician, recommending Weyer’s dismissal from his duties. In 2000 his career in the Marines was over.
Life after the Marines
Weyer had worked part-time in landscaping at Hilton Head, so the transition to full-time was natural. Though it was a stark contrast to anything he’d ever done, Weyer says there was a peaceful vibe to it, along with a daily sense of accomplishment. He enjoyed the job so much that he didn’t think he would ever look for a job again, but in 2008 it happened and he adjusted again. A brief stint with the City of Statesboro led Weyer to work for the county jail in the maintenance department.
It was fairly short-lived, however, as Weyer found himself in prison school and became a POST-certified peace officer in 2011. He was promptly hired by the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office, a transition he says was not just easy, but a sensible one.
“I know that. Protecting people, physical activity, always something else,” he said.
During the same period, Weyer met his now-wife, Janie, and began dating her. Together they have six children of different ages: Leigh, Chris, Taylor, Alexander, Ashley and Casie.
He worked at Bulloch County Correctional Institute for three years, but when Sheriff Noel Brown was elected in 2017, Weyer reapplied for a position in the sheriff’s office. Now a security sergeant at the Bulloch County Courthouse annex.
The Influence of the Marines
While he misses the camaraderie and people he worked with, Weyer says like all things, the culture of the Marines has changed. “As law enforcement imitates society, so does the Marine Corps,” he said.
Weyer’s 17-year military service career is on display today in a three-ring binder as paperwork. Documents detailing criminal records, letters of appreciation, Navy achievement medals, and much, much more overwhelm his record, but not his conversation about what he took away from his time in the service and why. This part of the story is best told in memories and stories from Weyer himself.
The Marines gave Weyer the opportunity to build the life he wanted independently and the way he wanted it, while also experiencing places and things outside of the confines of Ferdinand, Indiana.
“I love people, I love culture and I love to learn. I have experienced all of this while building a life for myself and my family and serving my country. Of course, people helped me along the way, but I put the work into it. What I built – I can say that I actually built it,” Weyer shared.
