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While in the Marine Corps, I was selected from among my peers to be taught Arabic as our military rushed to fill the need for more Arabic Linguists in a post 9/11 military. While undergoing this intensive language training for over 18 months, my teachers assigned every student an Arabic name, mine happened to be Mustafa. The other students in my class all referred to me by that name, as it was less confusing for our teachers. Around this same time my rank was that of a Lance Corporal (once stripe up, cross rifles in the middle). I was so proud of my rank at the time that I changed my user name (which had been PFC Rusty (or with a little rearranging, as my siser-in-law was always quick to point out, to PF Crusty)) to LCplMustafa. The rank of Lance Corporal stuck with me a little longer than the rank of Private First Class had, and by the time I was promoted to Corporal, it was too large an endeavor to switch all my accounts according to my rank. Eventually, as a Sergeant, I received a little grief over it from my peers.

All of that makes me glad that I never got the tattoo of the Lance Corporal insignia on my arm like some of my friends did.