Charles Piscopo

Charles Piscopo initially served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He recalled reading his older brother’s Marine Corps Gazette and Leatherneck magazines and mused that they may have contributed to his decision to enlist. When he did so in 1967, he journeyed to Paris Island, South Carolina for basic training. He survived the rigors of that experience by thinking of the millions of men that had come before him. He told himself that if they could do it, surely, so could he – and sure enough, he did. Mr. Piscopo shared a particularly funny anecdote about a friend coming to pick him up for leave after graduation. The friend was told by a guard that graduates could only be released to a family member, to which the friend replied, “I’m his step-brother.” Mr. Piscopo, recently indoctrinated in the Marine Corps values, was first horrified at his friend’s casual deceit and then paranoid he would be disciplined!

While in the Marines, Mr. Piscopo served as a Ground Radio Maintenance man (aka Field Radio Repairman) with the 2nd Forces Service Regiment (FSR), 2nd Marine Division. Duty stations included Camp Lejeune, Camp Geiger, and Guantanamo Bay. When discussing his stay at Guantanamo Bay, he commented on local nationals working at the base and the overall Cold War climate. He stated that he rarely felt fearful because “a platoon of Marines is a formidable thing.”

Mr. Piscopo left the Marine Corps in 1971. He attended college (receiving some college credit for his military experience) and held a few jobs in the private sector. By 1976, though, he was ready to return to military life. He was interested, specifically, in language training. The Marine Corps recruiter wanted to steer him towards African languages, which did not appeal to Mr. Piscopo (who joked that there would be too high a chance of being taken hostage in a jungle somewhere). The Army offered to assign him to learn Arabic, which he was much more interested in. Mr. Piscopo thus entered the Army in 1976. 

Given the amount of time that had passed since he had mustered out of the Marines, he was required to take “minuteman” training (a type of condensed basic training) at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. His wife accompanied him to that (and, somewhat unusually, to many other assignments thereafter). Mr. Piscopo then attended the Defense Language Institute (DLI) Foreign Language Center (FLC) in Monterey, CA. All language courses at that point lasted 47 weeks. The course of study for several languages (including Arabic) was later extended to 62 weeks. Mr. Piscopo shared a humorous anecdote about how the NCO/Enlisted Club at Monterey had a much better view than the Officers’ Club. (Note: He would later return to the school to learn Polish.)

As an Army interrogator, Mr. Piscopo’s duty stations/assignments included Fort Carson, Colorado, and, overseas, Berlin, Munich, and the Middle East (during Operation Desert Storm). During those deployments, he specialized in interviews of local nationals and intelligence gathering (aka as a Human Intelligence Collection Technician). During his varied career, Mr. Piscopo also served as a recruiter for a period in Marin County, California; and graduated from the Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Piscopo’s last duty station was Fort Monmouth, NJ. He opted to retire when his unit, at that point the 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion, prepared to move to Fort Gordon, Georgia in 1994. He definitively stated, however, “I enjoyed being a soldier.” His awards include the Meritorious Service Medal.

Post active-duty career, Mr. Piscopo went on to work for the state of NJ Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, advocating for Veterans. He declared that “New Jersey is terrific for Veterans” and “[the work is] satisfying, except when the VA doesn’t give them the benefits I think they deserve.” He himself has a service-connected disability (to include ulcerative colitis).