Multimedia Reporting (Adler-Utsler)

The phone rings on the Marine’s desk in the office in the Military Science Building. The Marine, 5 foot 10 inches, 205 pounds, with biceps that stretch the fabric of his shirt, answers it.

“Gunnery Sergeant Sheppard speaking,” Eric Sheppard says, in a quick southern accent. “Okay, I’ll be right there,” he says and hangs up the phone.

“I’ve got people ready to pee,” Sheppard says, his smile bringing dignity to his words.

In his 15 years serving for the Marine Corps, the 33-year-old from Lagrange, Ga., never imagined he would be in charge of carrying out urine tests for the Marines.

But Sheppard will do anything – anything it takes to erase the black mark on his record and get promoted to first sergeant next December.

“I’m a good Marine, but I make mistakes. I’m still waiting to one day pay for those,” Sheppard says.

It has been 13 years since Sheppard was court martialed for assaulting another Marine.

Back in 1995, Sheppard served as a drill instructor for newly enlisted recruits at the basic training camp in Paris Island, S.C.

“Basically it was my job to drive them insane,” Sheppard says, bluntly.

Staff Sgt. Shawn Ridings, 29 years old and a KU junior, can attest to the intensity of a drill sergeant.

“When they yell at you, it’s chaos. They want chaos,” Ridings says, recalling back 10 years when he enlisted in the Marines. “Their whole purpose is to break you down; to de-individualize you...because their goal is to make you part of a team.”

But not all recruits respond to chaos in the same way. One day, at Paris Island, while Sheppard and his recruits were cleaning weapons, Sheppard made a comment that pushed one recruit too far.

Sheppard made a joke to one of the recruits named Mitchell, about Mitchell’s recruiting officer. The comment made Mitchell irate.

“Recruit Mitchell came at me with an M-16 as if he was going to assault me,” Sheppard says, the image still clear in his mind.

Sheppard says he responded in the only way he could.

“At first I was defending myself,” Sheppard says. “Then it became more like a primal thing. You attacked me, I’ll attack back.”

With one motion, Sheppard hit Mitchell in the face with his own rifle, and Mitchell fell to the floor. The incident left Mitchell with more than 20 stitches, 5 missing teeth, and a broken nose – and Sheppard was court-martialed for assault.

But after 17 of 18 recruits testified that Sheppard’s actions were in self defense, the assault charges were lowered to verbal abuse instead.

“It was my mistake. I did it. There’s nothing I can do to take it back,” Sheppard says, with a sigh of regret. “I work 14 to 16 hour days because I have stuff to make up for. All my reports have to say I’m a great Marine.”

So Sheppard does all that he can to prove to the promotion board that he is worthy of the first sergeant title.

But around the Military Science Building, Sheppard has already proven himself.

“He is a first sergeant in my eyes,” Ridings says.

When Sheppard arrived at KU in Spring of 2006, he overhauled his entire Assistant Marine Officer Instructor position, says Derek Miller, a KU junior and a Platoon Leaders Course candidate for the Marines.

Miller recalls seeing piles upon piles of weapons, ammunition, and uniforms scattered on the floor of the Military Science Building while the new gunnery sergeant organized and inventoried the armory.

Miller says Sheppard also took time out of his busy schedule to help re-start up the Rifle/Pistol team. Sheppard now goes out every week to the shooting range with the team.

“He’s the kind of person that throws himself into everything he gets himself into,” says Miller, captain of the Rifle/Pistol team.

Sheppard ended up as the urine analysis coordinator when he noticed that the battalion hadn’t done a single urine test for three years. Knowing the battalion would get slammed for this in an upcoming inspection, Sheppard spent two months creating a new urine analysis program.

When Sheppard noticed that the physical training schedules were not hard enough, he volunteered to be the personal training instructor to try to improve the battalion's physical fitness test scores.

“You want to talk about pride; this man has pride in the Marine Corps, and everything he does. It’s inspiring,” Ridings says sincerely. “You should just see how this man interacts with everything. If he were a recruiter for the Marine Corps, this school would be empty.”

But mistakes from the past continue to haunt Sheppard. Next December, when the promotion board has literally three seconds to look over each of the 3000 applications for first sergeant, Sheppard’s court-martial will stand out like a big red 'X'.

“Knowing that’s going to show up on the board makes me work even harder,” Sheppard says.

But Sheppard is confident that he will be one of the 200 selected for the promotion. He already has been promoted three times since his court-martial.

“Obviously there was something in my paperwork that showed them I still had something to offer. There’s a reason why they kept me around.” Sheppard says. “I’m really counting on getting that promotion next year.”

The promotion to first sergeant will put Sheppard one step closer to his overall goal of retiring as a sergeant major; the highest rank possible in the Marine Corps.

“I was a dirt bag. I did everything I tell these kids not too,” Sheppard says. “[This promotion] gives me a purpose. It allows me to say I’m something. People talk about five seconds of fame. This is mine, it's just lasting 30 years.”