User talk:James Crabtree

James Crabtree
James Crabtree graduated from McCallum HS in Austin and the University of Texas with a degree in Government. He worked his way through college with jobs at the Texas Republican State Headquarters, as a Texas Senate Messenger, and as a Staffer to State Sen. Jerry Patterson and State Rep. Terry Keel. Crabtree was also an enlisted Marine in the Reserves and used the Reserve GI Bill to pay for college.

James served as a PFC and Lance Corporal from May 1997 to May 2000 with Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, and 23rd Marines in Austin, Texas. He earned a commission as a 2nd Lt by attending Officer Candidate School during the summers of 98 and 99 in Quantico, VA. Upon graduation from college he was commissioned and attended the 6-month long Basic School Course in Quantico, VA. Crabtree served from Sept 2001 until March 2004 as the adjutant for 5th Battalion, 10th Marines an artillery unit based in Camp Lejeune, NC. Upon his completion of active duty he returned home to Austin and rejoined his old reserve unit 1/23, a reserve infantry battalion as a platoon commander. Just a few weeks later the unit was activated for a deployment to Iraq. After 2.5 months of training in 29 Palms, CA the unit served for 7.5 months in the Al Anbar Province. During that time Crabtree was the battalion adjutant, and held various collateral duties such as voting officer, postal officer, and public affairs officer. His efforts to bring attention to the battalions deployment succeeded in generating a large volume of career packages from all across the nation and from many corporations and schools. He was instrumental in getting increased media attention for the unit and set up numerous phone calls for the Marines to radio stations back home in America. Crabtree also wrote weekly updates on the battalion for the award winning website Politics1.com He was rewarded with the Navy Achievement Medal from the battalion commander.