Community Corner

NP Alum Serving 'Greater Purpose' in Marines

Dawn Edwards, a 1998 North Penn graduate, was recently promoted to gunnery sergeant and re-enlisted for four more years

If you knew Dawn Edwards in high school, then you may remember her as a standout softball player or one of the many cheerleaders at North Penn games.

You may remember her living on Rosemont Avenue in Upper Gwynedd with her parents, Eleanor and Michael Philbin.

Chances are, you may not recognize Dawn Edwards today – but you are familiar with her efforts.

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Today, Edwards has traded pom-poms for M16s. She gave up on softball scholarships to head to the Marine Corps, where she was recently promoted to gunnery sergeant and re-enlisted for four more years on Oct. 11.

“I knew that I wanted to get out of Lansdale,” the 1998 North Penn grad said. “I knew I didn’t want to stay there and get caught in a rut.”

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Edwards is currently at Ft. Story, VA where she repairs communications equipment, such as radios and phones, and works with security operations with foreign military.

She is also mother to an eight-year-old son, Kyle.

It was 1998 and Edwards had graduated North Penn. She turned down a couple offers for scholarships to play softball, because, one day, she was burned out from it all.

“I knew I couldn’t just tell my parents I was not playing softball; that was my ticket to college,” she said. “With five kids in the family, I knew I had to come up with a plan.”

Edwards found inspiration in high school best friend and fellow cheerleader Kristi Jones, who was headed to the Marines after graduation.

“I said, ‘That sounds like a good plan to me,’” she said.

She was afraid that if she stayed in the Lansdale area, then she would not be able to expand her knowledge and see other places and do other things.

Her fears of not being able to pay for college were erased when the Marine recruiter’s words were everything Edwards wanted to hear.

“I could get away, and travel, and learn a skill set that I could transfer to the civilian world,” she said. “Everything that I wanted, the Marine Corps offered.”

Being that a seaman was something her father had done, Edwards wanted to do something perceived as being more difficult.

“It’s something I can say I did that my dad didn’t do,” she said. “I find that one of the best things that I’ve experienced is being in the Marine Corps.”

Everybody Edwards met was from completely different backgrounds. Half the people she has met in the service aren’t ones that, in high school, people would have thought of to be made for the military.

“It goes to show that anything you put your mind to you can succeed at,” she said. “The Marine Corps is not built for one type of person; we need everybody from completely different backgrounds. It’s such a melting pot and that’s what makes us such a great organization.”

Edwards went from Pennsylvania to South Carolina in a matter of weeks following graduation, attending boot camp at Parris Island.

She graduated number one in her platoon on Dec. 18, 1998 and was promoted to lance corporeal.

“I wasn’t surprised by the accomplishment. Even back in high school, I’ve always been competitive,” she said. “From the day I got to boot camp, I didn’t worry about other girls there. My focus was on what I had to do to graduate and get out of boot camp.”

It wasn’t just academics that Edwards had to excel at in boot camp; there was physical fitness, written history and customs and courtesy of the Marine Corps that was instilled in her.

From boot camp, Edwards headed to Marine combat training for three weeks at Camp Geiger, NC. It was there when she found out what her specific job was going to be in the Marines – computer technician.

“Honestly, the first time I ever turned on a computer was when I went to school to learn how to fix it,” she said. “I couldn’t tell you anything about a computer in high school. I had no interest in it, either.”

When she first joined, a test determined that communications would be her ideal job in the Marines.

“I don’t regret it. I enjoy it,” she said. “I learned a lot and it’s a lot of fun. I got to do some really cool things.”

The Dawn Edwards at North Penn was learning about stuff she wasn’t interested in; she didn’t see the bigger purpose and why she needed to be in a classroom.

In the Marines, Edwards discovered her purpose and education was to fix the computers that aid her fellow man.

Soon, she would find herself being a teacher.

With training done in 29 Palms, CA, Edwards went to the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in San Diego. She was there from 1999 to 2001 before heading to Okinawa, Japan.

Her main purpose in Japan was a martial arts instructor for a new program that the Marines just instituted that year.

“The Corps just took from many different martial arts and combined them and made a program that was best suited for our needs and hand-to-hand combat,” she said.

By July 2002, Edwards was back in Camp Pendleton, CA. She fixed communications equipment for a year and then headed back to 29 Palms in October 2003.

That same year, she would head back to the depot to improve her education to become a communications technician so that she could fix more than just computers.

Once school was finished, Edwards moved to Camp Lejeune, NC and was deployed to Iraq in August 2005.

She didn’t see any battle, but she did see a different culture.

On the many trips Edwards took off base for communications repair, she found herself taking on another role.

The Marine Corps would setup entries into different cities, and individuals would need to be searched for unauthorized weapons when coming into the cities.

“In Iraq, in their culture, they don’t believe in a male searching their women. The Marine Corps sent women Marines out to conduct searches on women and children. While in Iraq, I did that,” she said.

As a communications specialist, Edwards finds there is a unique nature of what she does and when she does it.

“I’m sure that there is a radio somewhere in the Marine Corps that I fixed that did end up being a radio that was used to call for some type of assistance for our ground units,” she said. “I was never there present to see that happen. Because of the nature of where we do our job, we are not on the frontlines fixing equipment as it breaks.”

Edwards touched down at North Carolina from Iraq in March 2006. She stayed at Camp Lejeune until July 2008 when she went back to 29 Palms and continued to fix whatever equipment came through her shop and also train new Marines.

In July, Edwards headed back to Virginia with the Marine Corps Security Cooperation Group.

With the new rank of gunnery sergeant, Edwards finds herself on the start of two paths – that toward Master Sergeant or toward First Sergeant.

The former would make her an expert in communications repair; the latter would be as a leader and administrator of the Marine Corps.

“Being promoted to gunny is the epitome of success,” she said. “The first sergeant route is where I would like to go. I enjoy what I do, but I enjoy leading Marines and I’m more suited for administrative than I am technical expertise.”

Edwards has a fresh four years ahead of her, but she doesn’t know what she will be called on to do next by the Marines.

“I’m going to do at least 20 years,” she said. “At that point, I can retire from the Marine Corps. The pay is very adequate, and it provides a comfortable life for me and my son.”

Now that she’s back on the East Coast, Edwards is hoping for an opportunity to go home more.

She might even be able to reconnect with Jones, who she hasn’t seen since 2001.

“In the last couple of years, I haven’t been home very often,” she said.

What’s most important to Edwards is setting a good example for her son. She sees her life as serving a purpose for his future.

“There’s been moments where it’s difficult and he can deal with being away from me. At the end of the day, it’s always been for a good cause,” she said. “I know if something happened to me, he’d be well taken care of by my family and the Marines, and he knows what I’m doing serves a greater purpose.”

When Edwards comes home, she’s certain to see other links to her past – the town, the food and those high school friends who are not doing what they should be doing with their lives.

“You always get asked the question: Where would you be five years from now? I never thought this would be my life,” she said. “But I don’t regret it; I never have for a second.”


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