Caleb Drown was a sergeant in the US Marine Corps when he deployed to Iraq in 2006, believing he could “save the world with an M-16.” Instead, the saw the needs of the people there.

He’s now traded his former military role for one at Samaritan’s Purse, which is providing humanitarian assistance along with other groups at near Mosul, Iraq.

Giving up his uniform, though, didn’t mean giving up his military life or his experience. When he worked for US AID:

…he was designated to translate military speak into a civilian dialect for his colleagues.

As a former sergeant, that took some getting used to, he said, since he was often the agency’s liaison with senior military officers and had to resist the urge to salute whenever a colonel walked into a room.

Now that he’s at Samaritan’s Purse, though, he noted he’s “fulfilled,” in part because

he now wears a cross on his chest, rather than an eagle, globe and anchor, keeping the faith through works done in the name of his Christian beliefs.

“It takes a lot more than an M-16 to save the world,” he said.

Amen.

Image Credit: Caleb Drown, pictured here at the Khazir displacement camp at Hassan Sham, Iraq, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, went from serving as a Marine to relief and development work after noticing a gap between the U.S. military and the populations it seeks to protect. Chad Garland/Stars and Stripes

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