Meet US Marine Corps Veteran Terry McCartney of Park Avenue

This Veterans Day (2024), Rye will be adding 126 names to the veterans monuments at City Hall. A new plaque naming Rye Veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan, Global War on Terror and the Cold War will be unveiled which will include the names of 50 Rye veterans. The existing WWII plaque in memory of those killed in action will be updated to include an additional 15 names. The Vietnam plaque will now include an additional 44 names. And the WWII and Korea plaques will be updated with an additional 11 names and 6 names respectively. You can review the complete list of names being added.

To honor this milestone, MyRye.com is working with American Legion Post 128 to introduce you to Rye veterans – many who will be honored on our memorials for the first time this fall. If you are a Rye veteran and would like to be profiled, please contact us or Post 128.

Today meet Park Avenue resident and US Marine Corps veteran Terry McCartney.

Is your name already on the Rye memorials or is it being added this fall (2024)? This fall.

Rye Vet: Terry McCartney

Where do you currently live in Rye? Park Avenue

MyRye.com: What branch of service were you in and what years and where did you serve?

McCartney: I served in the U.S. Marine Corps from May 1986 to December 1997. My primary duty station was Camp Pendleton in Southern California and I deployed all over the world from there.

How did you come to serve in the military?

McCartney: I grew up in a military family; both of my parents served. My dad retired after 26 years in the Air Force. I strongly believe in military service and chose the Marine Corps because I wanted to serve with others, like me, who seek out challenges and want to make a difference.

Tell us about your responsibilities when you were in the service.

McCartney: I was an infantry officer. I trained and led platoons and companies of Marines in accomplishing whatever missions we were assigned. The most important skill I learned in the service was how to lead people.

How has your time serving in the US military influenced your views on service and the responsibility each of us has as a citizen?

McCartney: My time in the service confirmed my belief that we all have a responsibility to contribute time and effort to our nation and community to make them better. Whether it is serving in the military, volunteering at church, coaching a youth sport, helping your neighbors or just picking up trash, if we all pitched in, the world would be a better place.

Do you think military service or more general service (AmeriCorps VISTA, Peace Corps, programming modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps) should be required of young people?

McCartney: Yes. I think military service was a great way for me start out my life. It was challenging, I worked with great people, travelled the world and did some amazing things. I think if every young person served in some way for at least two years, it would teach them valuable life lessons which would set them up for success in life.

What are a couple of lessons you learned in the service?

McCartney:

• The most important lesson I learned in the service was that to be an effective leader, you must lead by example from the front. You can’t ask anyone to do anything you can’t or won’t do yourself.
• I learned that you have to take care of your people if you expect them to work hard and do their job well.
• I also learned the importance of being calm under pressure. When things get tough, you need to be calm so you can think clearly, perform at a high level and get the job done.

What is a story from your time in the service you enjoy telling friends and family?

McCartney: When I was in Thailand cross-training with the Royal Thai Marines in 1988, we had a jungle survival exercise where we were dropped off by helicopter in the jungle for a week and had to “live off the land” in an area that was about two square miles on the map. The gave us each a live chicken, two pocketfuls of rice and water. It turned out that there was a small village in our assigned “jungle survival” area so we went over and made friends with them. We did odd jobs for the village all week and they cooked our chickens and rice – we survived really well! They threw us a big party at our campsite on our last night in the jungle and we sang songs and drank Thai whiskey (their version of moonshine) around a bonfire. When the helicopter picked us up the next morning, the Marines who had not been as lucky as us looked hungry and tired but me and Steve Weinberg (RHS ’82 incidentally) just looked well-fed and a little hungover!