Long hours sitting in a sniper hole in the Middle East, starting a mini golf business in Opelika, smuggling Bibles into hostile countries, learning to knit mittens as a new hobby and currently working as an RN in the ICU are just some of things that describe Mark Drye.
The 27-year-old from Plainfield, N.H. cracks a joke as he explains how he ended up in the Auburn/Opelika area.
"(I) drove my car," he said.
Before his past few years in the South, Drye spent five years as a corporal in the Marine Corps, some of that time spent as a scout sniper.
Drye has been deployed three times and has been to over 47 countries.
The former marine is third in the line of nine children and grew up homeschooled. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after he finished his high school education, months later finding himself deployed to Bahrain.
Adjusting to a new country came easier for Drye because of the way he was raised.
"Growing up home-schooled, you kinda learn to just blend into whatever environment you're in, so for me it really wasn't that big of a deal," Drye said.
From Bahrain, his military career continued to rise, including multiple operations across the Persian Gulf, Middle East and Africa.
When he found himself stateside again at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in 2005, Drye was immediately placed in a leadership position as team leader.
For Drye, being a leader meant coming alongside his men as he directed them.
"Being willing to do the things that you're asking other people to do - I think that's imperative," Drye said. "Because anybody can yell and scream and say, 'You gotta do this,' or 'You're gonna do this, this way,' but if you're not willing to do it yourself or you can't demonstrate how it's supposed to be done, then you can't really ever expect those under you to do it effectively or be excited about it."
About halfway through his five-year commitment to the Marine Corps, Drye was presented with the competitive opportunity to become a scout sniper.
There are only about 400 Marine snipers in the world and the dropout rate from sniper school is 70 percent Drye said.
Despite the fact that Drye had almost failed the rifle range portion of boot camp, barely passing by 1 point, his superiors saw that he could run- a needed skill for a sniper.
"Because as a sniper, if you get caught, your pretty much only way out is run away, and it doesn't matter where you are," Drye said, explaining that sniper training involved running anywhere from 5-20 miles a day.
When overseas operating, Drye's teams' responsibilities varied.
"Pretty much our job was to monitor specific areas or targets just for activity, we're looking for known targets of interest," Drye said.
Often, it was a waiting game, a habit he has found hard to get rid of.
"About 90 percent of what we do is watching," Drye said.
While a scout sniper, Drye was also completing his bachelor's degree in business.
He said that while the job was high-stress, he enjoyed the responsibility and honor that came with his position.
"But it was entrusted to us because they knew that we would use it to help other people," Drye said. "It wasn't like, 'Hey, this is cool. I'm the man, I can do whatever I want.' They didn't want people that just did whatever they want because they could. They wanted people to do whatever they needed to, because they should."
Adam Miller, also a corporal, was led by Drye when he served as his fire team leader.
"A lot of guys in the military that get rank, they use their rank for themselves, but the one thing that Mark taught us is that his rank that he earned wasn't for him, it was for the guys below him," Miller said.
As Drye's five years in the Marines came to a close, he began to focus on other aspirations, relocating to Alabama.
He almost managed a handful of Waffle Houses, but instead decided to take up nursing school while also juggling a newfound passion- smuggling Bibles into closed countries with the organization Vision Beyond Borders.
Long time friend and fellow participator in the Vision Beyond Borders work, Daniel Solid said that Mark has always been able to juggle contrast in his life beautifully.
"Mark has always been deliberate in creating a paradoxical lifestyle," Solid said. "He loves to on the one hand be this sniper that can take out a bad guy at a thousand yards, then on the other hand, I walked over to his house the other night and he was learning to knit mittens for a child."
Solid said Drye's motivation behind his passion for people and service is Drye's faith.
For Drye, at the end of the day, he prefers to be known for his heart for people, not passport stamps or military career.
Now working as an RN at EAMC's cardiovascular ICU, Drye said he loves what he does and that every day is different.
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