Coming of age through war: Cpl. Tyler Van Effen 

Camaraderie: it’s the crux of every great action movie, the hinge upon which the scales are balanced between the light and dark moments. In that classic scene, after the protagonist pulls himself free from a metric ton of rubble, unscathed save for a few fashionable scratches on his cheeks and chin, when he walks through the wall of smoke and his brothers in arms welcome him back from the brink of death.

Jokes are made and cigarettes are lit and passed about. Cliché phrases and puns are in abundance.

The full cast of cinematic stereotypes are in attendance: the edgy one with his mop of hair tied back by a colorful bandana, the joker with wild eyes and a quick tongue, the moody intellectual with horn-rimmed glasses and a small book of highbrow literature tucked away somewhere in a pocket.

The cinema version of brotherhood, though far removed from and far flashier than reality, is based on something real, something tangible. It’s that rare connection which comes into being only through shared misery and hardship, but once it manifests forms a bond that can hold men together through the harshest of realities.

“Camaraderie is being able to depend on the person to your left or right, whether in a firefight or just because you need someone to talk to and joke around with,” said Cpl. Tyler Van Effen, from Escanaba, Mich., now on his second deployment with 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment.

“In the Marine Corps, even when you don’t know people that well at first, you spend one week out in the field with them and you get to know what they are like,” said Van Effen, a 2008 graduate of The Academy, in Port Charlotte, Fla. “You develop a bond very quickly, even with those you wouldn’t normally like.”

Through shared experience, and in particular, mutual hardship, friendships which would have never existed otherwise are formed, he explained. “Even if you disagree with someone or dislike one another – you still have each other’s back - especially on deployment.”

In addition to making friends out of potential enemies, the experiences shared by brothers in arms, can often lead to a change in character, one which the oft times aloof and joking Van Effen can attest to.

“People change, come into their own and fulfill roles they never had before. The true you starts to come out, people really show their colors. When under extreme duress, Marines tend to joke and fall back on humor to relieve stress and lighten the mood,” said Van Effen, explaining that it can be as simple a transformation as the introvert becoming an extrovert, the quiet and somber one may become the joker, or the aloof one has a close call and becomes the voice of reason for the rest of the group.

“We’re all brothers…we all are...even those you clash with; you’re around them so much they become family,” said Van Effen, his easy going smile overshadowed by a more serious and genuine tone.

“I’ll talk to my wife and try to tell her what’s going on, but to a point, family back home won’t get it unless they’ve done it too,” said Van Effen, adding that it’s his family out here who understands, because they’re doing it alongside him, through the worst and the best of it.

Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment in an ongoing series which will highlight the lives and growth of junior servicemen within 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, during their deployment to Afghanistan. 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment is a subordinate unit of Regimental Combat Team 8 is currently assigned to 2nd Marine Division (Forward), which heads Task Force Leatherneck. The task force serves as the ground combat element of Regional Command (Southwest) and works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Force and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces, and enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.