Learning the family trade

Jonathon Dean of Costa Mesa is one of several members of his family to join the military. * EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in an occasional series about former Newport-Mesa students who graduated from high school after Sept. 11, 2001, and the paths they’ve taken.

In his dreams, Jonathon Dean envisions himself as a strong and calm figure in a crowd representing one of America’s toughest jobs with a show of style and grace.

The Costa Mesa native, a graduate of Monte Vista High School, finished boot camp earlier this month and may be deployed to Iraq within the next two years. Like so many other students who were in high school on Sept. 11, 2001, Dean is prepared to fight for his country if need be. Before his tour of duty, though, he has another ambition: to represent the Marines in the Silent Drill Platoon, which travels around the country offering displays of discipline and marksmanship.

“It’s a 24-man group all moving together in one movement, flipping a rifle in the air,” he said. “It’s really awesome to watch.”

On Jan. 5, Dean, 18, graduated from the School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton. A few days later, he departed for the 8th and I Barracks in Washington, D.C., to start training for the drill squad.

For the next two years, before Dean heads to Iraq or any other combat situation, he will remain in Washington and work on finesse. Apart from performing at football games and other events, the platoon serves at military funerals and guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

It is an idealistic image -- stoic face, cocked rifle, perfectly tailored uniform -- that has passed through Dean’s family for generations. Though many of his peers grew up playing with toy soldiers and water guns, Dean spent much of his childhood around the real articles.

“I’ve got pictures of Jonathon when he was 3, 5, 7 years old,” said his father, Greg Dean, a Marine for 13 years and a veteran of the United States’ 1983 invasion of Grenada. “They’d have family days at Camp Pendleton where you’d get to climb on the tanks and stuff. He seemed to like it.”

NO EARLY ENTRY

Dean also had a family tie to the defining event of his generation. Just a month before terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, he and his father had visited relatives in Manhattan. On Sept. 11, there was added tension around the house in Costa Mesa; not only was Dean’s uncle on vacation in New York at the time, but one of his cousins worked for Morgan Stanley in the twin towers.

In the end, none of Dean’s relatives were killed in attacks, but the day still left him profoundly shaken. He had seen the aftermath of the first plane crash before going to school, and only learned about the second one from a classmate.

“I thought it was an accident,” he recalled. “It just didn’t seem real.”

A freshman at the time, Dean went on to complete his first two years at Corona del Mar High School before switching to home-schooling at Monte Vista. Part of his reason for transferring was the fact that he worked at Centaurus Financial, a company in Orange owned by his stepfather.

Dean’s step-grandfather, Frank King, had founded the firm, and many of its employees were former Marines, like King himself, who served in the Pacific in World War II and made it a point to support veterans. As his senior year approached, Dean, still a minor, wanted to enlist early, but his father declined to give his signature.

“I wouldn’t let him do that,” Greg Dean explained. “It’s a decision you need to make yourself. I told him most of the bad stuff first. Training is tough, there’s a washout rate, and there’s kids who just don’t make it. But at the back of my mind, I had all the faith in the world.”

FAMILY OF SERVICE

The Marines are a thread that runs consistently through Dean’s family tree. Apart from his father and King, Dean has a cousin formerly in the service and an uncle who died in Vietnam.

It’s a thread of more than one color, however. Not only did Dean’s father and uncle both serve their country, but they also served in wars that, like Iraq, aroused a great deal of opposition at home.

In October 1983, American forces landed on the shores of Grenada, a tiny Caribbean island, after a Marxist regime overthrew the government. President Ronald Reagan portrayed the invasion as both a Cold War responsibility and a mission to rescue American students on the island -- although, since the invasion occurred days after a terrorist bombing against U.S. forces in Lebanon, many critics viewed it as a face-saving operation.

Whatever skepticism there may have been at home, though, it didn’t travel much to the Caribbean.

“I went from one place to another,” said Greg Dean, who was diverted from a trip to Lebanon to serve in Grenada. “Whatever sentiment there was in the U.S., I didn’t hear it.”

Greg Dean, who supports the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, rarely listens to anti-war protesters, but he takes their existence as a positive sign.

“That’s why I love living in America,” he said. “Everyone has an opinion, and they get to state their opinion. They don’t get shot or thrown in jail.”

SAFE AT HOME

Dean, who enters the service as the war in Iraq is nearing the start of its third year, said he has gotten more praise than condemnation. While he was at Monte Vista being photographed for this story, a woman pulled up to the curb, handed the photographer $100 in cash and told her to give it to Dean in gratitude. She then drove off without giving her name.

“I’ve had people buy me breakfast before,” Dean said in disbelief as he counted the bills.

As his possible deployment approaches, Dean has the butterflies that many young Marines do. In his future may be hot desert winds, the beaten roads of Baghdad, the duties of fighting in a foreign land. In the intervening months, however, could be the drill platoon, the routines carried out gracefully on a mostly silent field.

“A part of me hopes that I’ll get to go over there and help their country, but then there’s my parents who really wish that I’d stay in Washington and be safe,” Dean said. “So I’ll just go with the flow.”

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or by e-mail at michael.miller@latimes.com.

20060127itq8bnncWENDI KAMINSKI / DAILY PILOT(LA)Jonathon Dean stands outside his high school. He enlisted in the Marines shortly after graduation, following in the footsteps of several in his family.