Captain Sean Brock USMC
On May 11th 1975, Sean Brock was born a fraternal twin to parents Anita Brock and Maury Espelin at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, CA. As a child, Sean had a unique fascination for reptiles and a special love for cats. He and his siblings Rayme and Kelly would spend endless hours on the cliffs of nearby Palos Verdes in search of lizards and other local animals and flora. Sean was very inquisitive and skillful where he would utilize local plant species to make a fibrous noose. He would then use this noose to safely capture the illusive, camouflaged, blue bellied lizard. Sean’s love for most living things even encompassed his joy of a pet spider that lived in the corner window seal of his bedroom. Sean would shoot down household flies using a rubber band in order to feed his eight legged friend.
Growing up, Sean was actively involved in Boy Scouts where he learned various wilderness survival skills, camping techniques and held various leadership positions. Sean learned the value of the dollar early on while working as a paperboy with the Daily Breeze news agency and held various jobs thereafter as a pizza delivery boy for Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza. Sean was a talented trumpet player where he actively participated in various military functions and ceremonies to include various musical arrangements with the Mira Costa High School Marching Mustang Band and Jazz ensemble. Throughout his high school years, Sean was actively involved with the Marine Corps Jr. ROTC program where he was a member of the rifle drill team and participated in various events to include the Armed Forces Day Parade in Torrance.
Sean was thrill seeker and maintained a very active lifestyle which included running, swimming and honing his martial art skills as a member of the South Bay Kung Fu Club. Sean also enjoyed hiking and back packing year after year in the back county of Yosemite National Park. Sean also had a deep love and devotion for the ocean and enjoyed fishing and body surfing with his friends and family in his home town of Redondo Beach. In the early nineties, Sean became a certified PADI scuba diver where he clocked hundreds of dives along the California coast in search of the biggest and tastiest Scallops and lobster he could find. Sean’s love for the ocean and its unique marine ecosystem inspired him to become a PADI dive instructor where he taught many others some of his favorite passions.
In 1993, Sean and his twin brother Rayme enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego and graduated in November of that year. Sean then reported to MCAS El Toro where he became a Marine Reservist and worked as a fire crash rescue specialist until June 1994. Sean then transferred to a Marine infantry company, Golf Company 223rd in Los Alamitos, CA. During this time Sean competed in the Marine Corps Super squad competition with his fellow Marine Conan and won 1st place.
During the fall of 1996 Sean transferred to UCSB, where he studied Political Science, Economics and Global Peace / Securities. He had a passion for comradery which lead him to pledged the Theta Chi fraternity. He found some close friends in Santa Barbara and they made life long traditions, such as house parties in Del Playa, jogging along the coast of Goleta and, always welcoming the New Year in style in Las Vegas.
In July 1998 Sean, graduated the University of California as Santa Barbara with a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Global Peace and Securities. This year proved to be a valiant year as he also was commissioned as an officer with USMC. This is where he served in various duty assignments to include working as Battalion aid to BGen McCarthy in New Orleans, LA. He then transferred to Marine Aviation Training Support Group in Pensacola, FL as a flight student until 2000. Sean then reported to Camp Johnson, NC where he completed the Financial Management Officer’s Course and became the Deputy and MEU Disbursing Officer for the 1st FSSG located in Camp Pendleton, CA. Education was a driver for Sean as he quickly earned a Master’s of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University and was working on his Doctorate in Public Policy & Administration from Walden University. He kept pushing others just as hard as he pushed himself and was often time caught asking his friends “when they would complete their graduate degrees”?
Carpe Diem would be the adage that could best describe Sean because he truly lived life to the fullest. In 2003, he had only known his soon to be wife (Heather) for two weeks before he eloped and got married. From January to July 2003 Sean was assigned to the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit and served in Iraq. Sean was later promoted to the rank of Captain and was transferred to HQSVC Bn. MCB Okinawa, Japan. During this time Sean was tasked as the force protection Officer and Company Commander until Nov. 2004. Due to Sean’s extensive background experience as a prior infantry platoon commander; he was reassigned as the G-3 Operations Ground Watch Officer for the 1st Marine Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom II in Iraq. On Feb 2, 2005 Captain Sean Brock was fatally wounded during a mortar attack on Camp Blue Diamond, Ar Ramadi, Iraq. Sean was survived by his wife Heather Brock, his mother Anita, twin brother Rayme and his sisters Kelly and Ivy. His personal decorations include the Purple Heart, Navy Marine Corps Achievement medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Commendation and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Metal to name a few.
RIP CAPT. BROCK 2-2-05