But as a major in the Marine Corps and a former company commander in Camp Lejeune, Reep is used to big jobs.
“Lead, redirect, solve problems, communicate — it’s all part of the job," Reep said Wednesday.
The 36-year-old is the lead military escort for U.S. Rep. Mike Turner and the U.S. delegation to the NATO event. He and his team will be in Dayton until Monday evening, planning and executing everything the congressional delegation needs to do its job.
He has served as the lead military escort for Turner in several delegations all over the world, and Reep said the congressman specifically requested his involvement in Dayton.
“We’re responsible for everything that goes wrong,” Reep said, adding with a laugh: “And everything could go wrong.”
Reep grew up in Springfield. His father, Jeff, is director of Cedarville University’s Career Services department. His wife, Jenn, also is a Springfield native. Their parents still live in the region.
“Ohio is home in our hearts,” he said.
A lead military escort helps coordinate and facilitate everything the congressional delegation needs. Adaptability will be key as Reep and his team will be tasked with making sure “the trains run on time,” he said.
In an interview, he sprinkled his detailed answers with terms like “co-del,” which is short for “congressional delegation,” and “mil escorts,” short for military escorts.
It’s not lost on Reep that NATO’s parliamentary representatives are meeting at a hinge-in-history moment, at a time when Russia and Ukraine are at war and when the government of the United States is challenging fellow NATO members to spend more on defense.
“I think there’s a lot of attention on NATO right now,” he said. “In the geopolitical environment that we’re in, there’s a lot of interest and a lot of attention and a lot of importance that NATO brings to the table. I’ll think we’ll see that play out in the next five days or so.”
“We really want to enable the success of the U.S. congressional delegation,” he added.
Reep wanted to be a Marine infantry officer since he was 16 years old, drawn to the ethos and challenges inherent in wearing the uniform of the nation’s maritime land force. Commissioned in 2012 after graduating from the University of Northwestern in St. Paul, Minn., he is going on year 13 in his Marine Corps career.
“First to fight and ready to answer the nation’s call in a crisis response force,” he said. “All of those things were aspects that drew me to the Marine Corps.”
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