Prior to my first enlistment I didn’t really plan on being in the military long; I genuinely just wanted a faster way to advance my career and thought the Marines might be a good way to finish college faster while also creating the contacts and gaining the experience that might help me get into either private military contracting or law enforcement,
I enlisted during the COV19 Pandemic, towards the end of the Global War on Terrorism. At the time, I was working at a grocery store while studying to get my insurance license, and trying to find a way to finish college. The grocery store I was working at was offering to pay for my college if I accepted a full-time position, but the salary was awful and the schedule was worse.
This year, the 9th of Av fell on August 3, 2025, which also happened to be my mother’s birthday. My mother and I speak regularly, but it’s been years since I’ve seen her in person. Naturally, my mother and I have things in common, but we are separated by our differences. As adults, we have never seen each other eye to eye, and we likely never will, as was the case with her and my grandfather, whom I have never actually met.
העיר שלי
Introduction and Backstory
The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 US Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the National City Bank of New York (Citibank) convinced the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, to take control of Haiti’s political and financial interests.
During the occupation, Haiti had three new presidents while the United States ruled as a military regime through martial law, led by Marines and the Gendarmerie.
A corvée system of forced labor was used by the United States for infrastructure projects, resulting in hundreds to thousands of deaths. Under the occupation, most Haitians continued to live in poverty, while American personnel were well compensated. The American occupation ended the constitutional ban on foreign ownership of land, which had existed since the foundation of Haiti.
The occupation ended on August 1, 1934, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt reaffirmed an August 1933 disengagement agreement. The last contingent of marines departed on August 15, 1934, after a formal transfer of authority to the American-created Gendarmerie of Haiti.
The Gendarmerie of Haiti (French: Gendarmerie d’Haïti), also known as the Haitian Constabulary, was a Haitian gendarmerie (or military-style police) born and raised during the United States Occupation of Haiti.
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