Honoring our Great-Hearted Veterans: Gabe Duttlinger

On this Veteran’s Day, we are privileged to count among our faculty and staff the men and women who have worn the uniform of our nation’s armed forces. Their courage, discipline, and devotion to service embody the same virtues we cultivate in the minds and hearts of our students.

Gabe Duttlinger teaches mathematics, primarily 11th and 12th grade calculus, at Scottsdale Prep. In his fourth consecutive year with Great Hearts, Duttlinger says it is his honor to address the whole high school in the gym every week for the “Monday Meetings” assembly, speaking to the students about the meaning of the “Quote of the Week” and how we can develop the “Virtue of the Month.” Duttlinger said he addresses the assembled students with the same squad leader confidence he acquired during his time in the US Marine Corps.

In the summer of 2006, Duttlinger enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserve at the age of 19 after his freshman year of college at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. “I completed boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina and joined Military Police Company C, Headquarters & Service Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group, based in Dayton, Ohio,” he explained.

Shortly after boot camp, he withdrew from Xavier and worked full-time to support himself while fulfilling his monthly drill obligation as a military policeman (Military Occupational Specialty: 5811). “Instead of training for the on-base law enforcement typical of active-duty MPs, our reserve unit focused on detainee handling and truck-mounted machine gunnery. Our company leadership described us as ‘field MPs’ whose focus was dealing with the enemy rather than dealing with other Marines.”

“In the summer of 2009, my company and I were activated and deployed to the Al-Anbar province of Iraq as a part of Combat Logistics Battalion 46 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 9-2. My company’s mission was convoy security: to add our gun trucks (which were MRAPs: Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles) to logistics convoys travelling between bases in order to deter and repel any potential attacks. As a lance corporal (E-3, i.e. the 3rd enlisted rank), and often the most junior Marine in the truck, my specific role on missions was to man the turret, scan the field with my handheld spotlight — our convoys only travelled at night — and to be prepared if necessary to engage the enemy with the mounted M240B medium machine gun.”

“We were based in Ramadi for 3 months, and we then spent a month each in Al-Taqaddum and Al-Asad. Our 5-month deployment was short, in part because we were the very last Marine combat logistics battalion to serve in Iraq. While in Ramadi, I got to stand in a small formation of Marines opposite a small formation of Army soldiers in the ceremonial meeting in which the Marine general handed control of the province to a US Army general,” shared Duttlinger.

“Although Al-Anbar was a combat zone with combat still semi-regularly breaking out at the time, the Marines and soldiers that came before me had done a great job pacifying the region, and I was lucky enough that no one ever tried to blow up or take shots at any of the convoys that included me. I never had to fire a weapon in Iraq.”

After his deployment, he was soon promoted to the rank of corporal (E-4) and held positions of fireteam leader and later squad leader while at the same time resuming and completing his work toward his bachelor’s degree, this time at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. “My responsibilities during my monthly drills (now a 4-hour drive from my college) shifted to training the younger Marines, which gave me my first taste of teaching. I completed my monthly drill obligation in May of 2012, and two years later in 2014, I was honorably discharged at the rank of sergeant (E-5).”

Duttlinger feels there is significant overlap between leading Marines to mission accomplishment and leading students to learning and loving what is True, Good, and Beautiful. “Perhaps most obviously, training Marines helped me develop a powerful and clear voice and the confidence to address large groups,” he said. “The Marine Corps also required me to set clear expectations, define a common objective, and prioritize troop welfare without compromising high standards — all essential elements of good teaching.”

“I’m proud of serving with honor as a very small part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and then passing my knowledge to the younger Marines. But I’m just as proud, if not even more so, of the good that I’m doing for our country as a Great Hearts teacher,” he shared. “I now get to be a memorable part of my students’ lives that hopefully inspires them to become good citizens, which our country dearly needs. Therefore, I consider teaching at Great Hearts to be a direct and natural evolution of my service in the Marines.”

On behalf of the entire Great Hearts community, we extend our deepest gratitude to all who have served. Your courage in defense of our country and your continued commitment to forming young hearts and minds inspire us daily. Thank you for living out the virtues that make both a great citizen and a great educator.

Do you have a story or know of one that you would like to see featured at Great Hearts? Please contact jmoore@greatheartsamerica.org

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