Mr. Rodman graduated from John Tyler High School, Tyler, TX in June of 1967.  He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 4 April, 1968. He went to boot camp and Hospital Corps School at Naval Training Center Great Lakes IL.  After several extensive schools, he was assigned to Field Medical Service School, Camp LeJeune, NC and earned the vaunted Navy Enlisted Classification as 8404/ Field Medical Technician or "grunt doc" for short.
He was assigned  field Corpsman to 1/9 in Okinawa to help train other corpsmen in small unit tactics, and combat medicine. Deployed to Viet Nam, he was assigned as senior corpsman for the unit and saw one major campaign.  During the pull out, his unit was reassigned to Camp Hansen on Okinawa and also to 3rd FSR.
Mr. Rodman exited the Navy to finish his degree at Texas Tech University.  Knowing something was missing,, he realized his dedication to the Marines he loved and served,  was his true calling.  He re enlisted in the Naval Reserve to be assigned to 4th Truck Co., 4th Marine Division, where he served until his graduation from Tech.  Having applied to Marine Corps OCS, he was turned down for being 3 days too old.  The Navy was building her 600 ship fleet and picked up Mr. Rodman for Navy OCS.

Upon graduation and commissioning,, Ensign Rodman was sent to surface warfare school in Coronado CA.  From there to the USS Leahy (CG 16). Assigned to M division, he made one Western Pacific cruise, went to boiler water, feed water school and was re assigned to ASW division where he completed ASW school at Point Loma, CA, ten to NUWEPS and CRUDESGRU schools. He was also assigned to Assistant Weapons Officer as well.  Five fleet readiness exercises and two refresher training cycles gleaned him no less than a grade of Outstanding in combat readiness, leadership and engineering excellence. Not to mention the Battle E ribbon and Sea Service ribbon.
Transferred to the ship named by President Ronald Reagan as "America's Flagship" the USS Constellation (CV-64), Mr. Rodman assumed the duties of OI division officer.  Taking over and training his division to be razor sharp in combat air, surface and subsurface warfare, he again was awarded the Battle E and promoted to Lieutenant.  He was also promoted to assistant Operations Officer, as a junior Lieutenant taking over a billet designed for a senior LCDR.  For his leadership, in again, leading his men ( 379, and 17 officers ) to six combat readiness grades of no less than outstanding, was nominated for the Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal.  For his efforts, the ship was awarded the Meritorious Unit Citation. Consistently recognized for his outstanding leadership, seamanship, and military bearing. His liaison work between the Marine Corps and Navy earned him another nomination for Navy Achievement. 
Mr. Rodman is a life member of the VFW.  He also holds membership to the Marine Corps League, Military Officer's Association, National Rifle Association and Combat Corpsman Association.  He currently is employed as a Medical
Technologist in our community.
To this day, Mr. Rodman testifies that, had it not been for the Marine Corps influence in his life as well as his father, and his faith in God, that none of this would have been possible.  His strong belief in the Marine Corps and the core values is what he believes can and will turn America's youth around to be our leaders of tomorrow.  Courage, Honor, Commitment, Discipline, Leadership and Team Work. He firmly believes these principles taught to young people of the Young Marines can and will make the difference in their lives and this country's future.  He is 120% committed to that goal of teaching our youth these principles.