MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Sgt. A.J. Rasure spent most of his life devoted to music. He played the trumpet throughout middle and high school, with a goal of playing in Marine Corps. Rasure realized his dream in 2006 when he joined the Corps, where he played the trumpet for Quantico Marine Corps Band. But after serving only three years, a freak workout accident left him at a crossroads.
Rasure is now the photographer and public affairs representative for the band — a job the 25-year-old musician never expected.
The Navy brat, moved around the country throughout his childhood but one constant was his dedication to music, said Rasure who picked up his first instrument in elementary school.
“I started out as a percussionist in the third grade and then by the sixth grade, I switched to the trumpet,” Rasure
said. “I’ve been playing brass instruments since then.”
In addition to playing in the band throughout middle and high school, he also spent a lot of outside of school hours perfecting his craft.
“I was in a jazz band, so I would spend two hours practicing before school and then two hours after, everyday throughout my high school career,” he said.
Music was his passion, but with a father serving in Army and his stepfather in the Navy, aspiring to serve in the military seemed only natural. He signed up for the ROTC program and joined the Corps after high school graduation.
Rasure’s path was set. He would spend his career playing the trumpet in the Corps. That was, until a workout routine went horribly wrong.
“I was doing pull-ups when the pull-up bar broke and I landed on my knees,” Rasure said. “I must have spent 30 minutes on the ground in pain thinking about how I was going to get up.”
Initially, Rasure said doctors didn’t know the extent of his damage.
For Rasure, it was a minor setback that complicated working out, but didn’t inhibit his ability to play. He carried on as usual until last year, when a sharp pain revealed something more serious.
“I’d play, and the pressure would move something in my back, which would cause intense pain,” Rasure said. “I tried to play through the pain, but it just got to the point that where I couldn’t.”
Rasure’s spine was fractured and he could no longer play the trumpet. It was a dream-shattering moment that left the young Marine feeling stuck.
“I was just not doing anything,” Rasure said. “I wasn’t productive ... I couldn’t play. I couldn’t do really anything.”
With years of musical experience no longer possible, Rasure said he felt worthless until his unit went on a band trip that proved to be a turning point for him.
“I went on a trip to supervise but someone had to take photos,” Rasure said. He took photos for that event and subsequent band performances, discovering a talent.
“I had to become productive and find out how I was benefiting the unit,” Rasure said. “I learned that you can always do something, regardless of whether you can do your primary [military occupational specialty] or not.
However, it was more than effort and talent that snagged the attention of his leaders. Rasure’s resilience is what Master Gunnery Sgt. Jeffery Fangman, band master, said was the most inspiring.
“He’s the epitome of staying in the fight no matter what the circumstance,” Fangman said. “We’re one of the few MOS in the Marine Corps where you have to have a pre-existing skill-set. To be focused on that your whole life and all of a sudden not be able to do it is pretty painful, but to make a positive out of that really speaks to his character,” Fangman said.
“It’s a classic case of making lemonade out of lemons,” said Gunnery Sgt. Timothy Otis, enlisted conductor. “Life isn’t always fair, but I think he’s a great example of someone who loves being around Marines and he wasn’t willing to give that up.”
Rasure’s gear may have changed, but his mission remains the same.
“A major part of our job is telling the Marine Corps’ story to people who don’t hear it. We show them through music who we are,” Fangman said.
Now, instead of telling the Corps’ story through the music, Rasure captures it visually.
“He can hear it, feel it, sense it and capture it — to have that skill is priceless,” Fangman said.
— Staff Writer: afelton@quanticosentryonline.com