John Simpkins remembers exactly when he knew he wanted to join the military: September 11, 2001.
Simpkins, then a student at Plant City High School, was in class when the news about the terrorist attacks broke.
“I remember the history teacher at Plant City, that same day, had ‘Osama bin Laden’ written on the board,” Simpkins said. “He said, ‘This guy’s gonna be the one that’s responsible.’ I didn’t really pay attention to what was going on anywhere else up until that point, (when) 9/11 happened.”
The attacks sent a shockwave through the classroom — moreover, through the United States — and awakened mixed emotions in Americans. One that stood out among the feelings of fear and paranoia that gripped the nation applied to Simpkins and many young people: patriotism.
“It was crazy at that time because everybody was so patriotic,” he said. “That’s all you saw was flags on cars, you know. It was a bad time, but at least something good came out of it.”
It was then that Simpkins, like many people his age, knew what he wanted to do after high school. Like his grandfather and uncle before him, he enlisted as soon as he could. Unlike them, however, he decided on the Marine Corps instead of the Army.
“I just jumped right on it,” he said. “I was talking to recruiters my whole senior year to figure out which branch I wanted to go to. I was trying to pick the one where I could make the most difference, so I ended up choosing the Marine Corps.”
He graduated from Plant City in 2003 and was in boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, by that July. Simpkins said he knew from “day one” that he wanted to join the infantry on the front lines, so he went to the School of Infantry after boot camp. He was a machine gunner for his entire term of service, from 2003 to 2007.
Simpkins said that serving with like-minded individuals led to some of his closest friendships.
“The best thing about the Marine Corps is the actual Marines,” Simpkins said. “The camaraderie we have, the brotherhood, it’s not like anything else I’ve experienced. You’ve got guys from every background. You’ve got guys that grew up very, very rough in the inner cities, you have country boys, you have rich kids, poor kids — no matter what, once you’re in that unit, everybody’s best friends.”
Simpkins said he was deployed three times in his four years, including two combat tours in Fallujah, Iraq — experiences he said had to be seen to be fully comprehended.
“Joining the Marine Corps, they tell you what you’re going to do, what you’re going to be going through and you can kind of imagine things you’re going to see,” he said. “But once you’re there, you can’t even comprehend it at first. It’s kind of a big shock. The first month you’re over there, you’re in disbelief that you’re actually there … it’s just a whole different world. You can imagine, you see it in the movies, but it’s a lot different once you’re there.”
Deployed in one of the most notorious combat zones of the Iraq War, Simpkins said he’d seen plenty of “bad things” happen. He did want to go back to Iraq after his first tour, but said he had “burned out” by the end of his second tour. He began to plan for life after the Marines, settling on joining a police department when his four-year term ended.
“I never planned to actually become (a police officer) until I was in the Marine Corps,” Simpkins said. “I knew I wanted to do something in that line of work. Protect and serve the country, the community, either one.“
He joined the Tampa Police Department in 2008. He still wanted to be around the action, just as he did coming out of high school, and eventually became a part of the SWAT team — a position he’s held since 2011.
Though he does admit to missing active life in the Marine Corps, Simpkins said his service taught him valuable lessons that changed his perspective on life.
“The biggest lesson I learned was to never take anything for granted. And I did,” Simpkins said. “When I was in high school I took a lot of things for granted. Figuring out what was important. In high school it was about what you were doing on Friday nights, who your friends were. You learn real quick that none of that matters at all. Friends are important and stuff but, at the end of the day, when you come back, it’s all about family. Now that I have kids, I’ve learned that even more. I just try to make it better for them and I don’t worry about things outside my family as much.”