When Mark Brilakis retires from the Marine Corps this year after 38 years of service, it will be as commander of the United States Marine Corps Forces Command, made up of 46,000 sailors and soldiers in various units deployed both stateside and abroad that cover everything from active combat to nuclear incidents.

Not too shabby for a kid from Haworth.

"It's a big responsibility, it's a great honor," Brilakis said. "It's a privilege to be at the head of an organization this size with the mission it has."

Brilakis, a 1977 graduate of Northern Valley Regional High School in Demarest, is retiring as lieutenant general, making him a three-star general.

Brilakis, 60, will officially retire on Sept. 1, but on July 12 there will be a retirement ceremony for him and several of his fellow lieutenant generals in Quantico, Virginia.

He said he thought about retiring for some time and didn't have a problem with wrapping up his career serving his country.

“I have had two assignments as a lieutenant general, so it’s about time to get out of the way for the younger guys,” Brilakis said. “There was nothing more for me to do. It’s time, it’s the right time.”

Originally, he was supposed to do just a three-year term in the Marine Corps, ending in August 1984, but his personal life took a turn.

“About that time, my now-wife … Kate had graduated from college and joined the Army. She was serving at Walter Reed Army Hospital,” Brilakis said. “I had an opportunity to transfer up to [Washington] D.C., and I decided to take that opportunity to get closer to Kate because by the time we were engaged. I started up at the Marine Barracks in Washington and I just kept going.”

Now, he and his wife are building a home outside Durham, North Carolina, where they can be closer to their parents.

As he moves toward retirement, Brilakis said what he will miss most is working with the men and women of the Marines, both those under his command and his peers.

“I have worked with some phenomenal individuals, both young Marines and senior Marines, professionals committed to the defense of the nation. So, it has been pretty special,” Brilakis said.

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Life of service

Mark Brilakis' family moved to Haworth from Dayton, Ohio, when he was 8.

Looking back, Brilakis appreciates the stability of growing up in the Bergen County suburb, where he delivered The Bergen Evening Record and went to solid schools.

“Northern Jersey was a great place for a kid to grow up: the suburbs, playing on ball fields, going to Northern Valley Regional and getting a great education,” Brilakis said.

Brilakis also developed a passion for the Giants, attending games at the old Yankee Stadium and then Giants Stadium. He would emulate his gridiron heroes like former Giants tight end Bob Tucker when he played the same position on his high school football team.

It was also at Northern Valley Regional High School that he met his future wife, with whom he would have three children, including a daughter currently serving in the Navy.

After high school, Brilakis enrolled at Franklin and Marshall University, where a postcard he received during the first semester of his freshman year changed his life forever.

“I got this postcard from the Marine Corps, and they said mail this back and we’ll send you a poster,” Brilakis said. “They followed up with a phone call and we started a conversation. By January of 1978, I signed up and we went from there.”

He did Officer Candidates School training during summers over the next few years, while still in college.

By the time he graduated, Brilakis was prepared to serve.

He was stationed in Beirut, Lebanon, then a terrorist hot spot, at the University of Lebanon in October 1983 when two truck bombs struck buildings, killing 307 people including 241 Marines.

“That was a bad day, I lost a number of Marines that I was personally responsible for. That was a memorable day. I think about them every day,” Brilakis said of the four men who served under him at that time.

But that situation did not discourage him. After re-upping in 1984, he moved up the ranks while moving with his family up and down the East Coast with stints in Virginia and North Carolina as well as stops in Germany, Japan and the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War.

"Like I tell people, it's not an easy life, but it can be terribly fulfilling," Brilakis said. "And the value that you get from service and a commitment to something bigger than yourself is something that overcomes the relatively low recompense and some of the challenges of being deployed and being away."

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com