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Edward P. Ackley
Edward Ackley was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and raised in the town of Fairfield along with two sisters and two brothers. His father was a career firefighter with the Fairfield Fire Departmen...view moreEdward Ackley was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and raised in the town of Fairfield along with two sisters and two brothers. His father was a career firefighter with the Fairfield Fire Department who served in the United States Navy during Vietnam. Edward attended Fairfield High School and was active with the wrestling team. Edward followed his father’s footsteps and became a volunteer firefighter with the Southport Fire Department. While serving the Fairfield and Southport Communities as a volunteer, he also was a member of the Fairfield Police Explorers where he achieved lieutenant and discovered his true passion for law enforcement. After graduating from high school, he became a security officer at Nordens Radar Manufacturing Company in Norwalk, Connecticut, until his acceptance into the Marine Corps.
On December 14, 1994 Ackley entered Marine Corps Recruit training at Parris Island, South Carolina, as a private first class. After graduating on March 10, 1995 he attended the School of Infantry at Camp Geiger earning the military occupational specialty (MOS) of rifleman. His first tour of duty on active service was 3d Battalion, 6th Marines (3/6) in Camp Lejuene, North Carolina. While serving in the 3/6 he held the positions of squad automatic weapon gunner, team leader, squad leader, close-combat instructor, and company guide. He also received meritorious promotion to corporal.
Ackley accepted orders to the Marine Security Guard School and served four tours overseas. His posts were Athens, Greece, Tirana, Albania, Bern, Switzerland, and Stockholm, Sweden. He was meritoriously promoted to staff sergeant.
He then received orders to 3d Battalion, 4th Marines, (3/4) in Twenty-nine Palms, California. In addition to serving as an infantryman, he earned other MOS’s as a martial-arts instructor trainer, safety and mishap investigator, and served as an Augment Military Police Officer. He was promoted to gunnery sergeant while serving in the 3/4.
Gunny Ackley executed regimental special orders to the 7th Marines Regiment Operation Section. He served in the duty capacity as a casualty assistant call officer and chief trainer for Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom pre-deployment training, and he continued his commitment as an augment military police officer.
Gunny Ackley attended Drill Instructor School at MCRD San Diego, California. In addition to being a drill instructor, he also served in the capacity of a military police officer and earned the MOS Basic Military Police Officer as a secondary MOS. Gunny Ackley was promoted to first sergeant during this tour.
First Sgt. Ackley received orders to 2d Battalion, 25th Marines, Fox Company, Inspector-Instructor Duty in Albany, New York. He held many responsibilities while assigned there, one in particular was antiterrorism officer. He also assisted the Greenfield Fire Department as a Firefighter EMT, achieving the rank of lieutenant.
Ackley next accepted orders to 3rd Amphibious Assault Battalion. He continued his antiterrorism role, and on his off time, he was a reserve/augment police officer for the Camp Pendleton Police Department’s, Traffic Division. His short time there, he was diagnosed with Celiac disease, resulting to immediate transfer to Wounded Warrior Battalion-West, Camp Pendleton, California, where he served as the Alpha Company first sergeant under patient roles. Ackley continued his reserve duties as an augment traffic investigator with the Camp Pendleton Police Department.
First Sgt. Ackley medically retired from the Marine Corps in 2012.view less