While there are many who coast through life working purely out of financial necessity, it took about 30 seconds to realise that Bermudian and United States Marine Sgt. David Perinchief is absolutely, head-over- heels in love with his job.

Back at home for an extended rest following an arduous eight-month combat tour in the freezing cold mountains of northern Afghanistan, the 23-year-old?s eyes still burn with an intensity and dedication that defy his years. While some would recoil in horror at the thought of battling it out day after day with determined and fanatical religious extremists on their own turf, Sgt. Perinchief positively revels in it and talks in energised tones of his life on the frontline of George W. Bush?s war on terror.

Educated first in Bermuda and then in the United States, Sgt. Perinchief finished school at age 19 with little idea of which career to pursue.

Certain that the academic rigours of college were not for him, he ultimately threw himself ?head first? into the training of the US Marine Corps ? a process from which only the very toughest emerge successfully. Despite the enormity of the challenge, it is a decision he has not once regretted.

?I knew Regiment was going to call me up or my entry was going to be deferred while I went to college,? he said.

?And the only thing I knew for sure was that I didn?t want to go to college because I was not about to waste $200,000 of my parents? money and then turn round and say ?I don?t know what I want to do?. So I called the recruiter (for the US military) and asked them what was the hardest thing they had to offer. And so I jumped right into it and eventually found out that not only was I extremely good at it but also that I really enjoyed it. I cannot now imagine doing anything else.?

One would have thought after his first extended tour of duty, where he endured countless sleepless nights in the freezing cold and being shot at by Taliban fighters from their mountain perches, that Sgt. Perinchief would now be grateful for an substantial break from the firing line.

Not a bit of it. Instead, without hesitation, he re-enlisted for another four years in the Marine Corps and has volunteered to go to Iraq in a few months time ? a place where his sister Lauren Baskins has been also serving in the US Marines.

So, how did he find the training to become a full-time Marine ? reputedly one of the hardest, most soul-destroying regimens on earth ? and what exactly motivates him to put his life on the line on an almost daily basis?

?The training programme when you first enlist in the Marines is incredibly tough,? he conceded.

?If the Marine Corps drill instructors didn?t want you, they got rid of you ? in fact they did everything in their power to get rid of you and to find out who was tough enough to handle it. Marine Corps drill instructors are the most unmerciful, evil men imaginable! But they say from the outset that you?re going to hate me when you first meet me, but by the time you leave you?re going to respect me. And that was so true.

?They were extremely tough, but they were also fair. They?re not going to baby you or coddle you. The only thing they care about is that if you do a job, you do it right and you do it well. If not, get out. There were times when I thought I wouldn?t get through it. But I kept thinking, this is volunteer, nobody made me do this.

?To quit would have been an insult to myself. Now I?ve re-enlisted until 2009 and I will probably re-enlist after that because I am enjoying it so much. I?ve found my niche. I love the togetherness and camaraderie of the Marine Corps ? which is something you don?t come across in civilian life that often. Anybody in your platoon is like family. It doesn?t matter if you don?t like the guy or you?ve only spoken to him once. You count on everybody to drag you out of danger if you get hurt. I love that spirit.?

All the training in the world, however, does not really fully equip a person for the first taste of fully-blown combat, and Sgt. Perinchief admitted to being somewhat anxious in the early throes of the frequently fierce gunfights.

While a fear of death or serious injury did initially gnaw away at him, it is now only a distant thought. As bizarre and extreme as it might sound to some people, doing his job well is of more immediate relevance to him than the risk of having his young life cut short.

?Everybody had a little bit of anxiety when we first got to Afghanistan,? he said.

?We realised, after all the training, that now we were doing the real thing. We were extremely far north ? right near the border with Pakistan ? and right in the middle of a combat zone. But once we got into our first firefight and everybody got out of the truck and lay siege to everything that was shooting at us, then the nerves went. We just got on with what we had to do. Every guy who was there with you did their job. Nobody needed to be told.

?Even if I go to Iraq and get one of my limbs blown off, it won?t bother me because I would have been doing my job.

?Getting injured or killed is not something I think about anymore. I?ve made my choice and I?m prepared for the consequences.?

Yet coming through the current conflicts unscathed is a notoriously tricky business.

The enemy ? heavily-outnumbered and outgunned by America?s intimidating military might ? has been forced to adopt tactics which do not necessarily square with the traditional rules of war. Such tactics rely on the element of surprise and superior cunning, meaning American soldiers can ill afford to rest on their laurels.

This constant worry has also made the ?kill of be killed? mentality of warfare easier for Sgt. Perinchief to handle.

?It depends on the situation, but the cold reality is, if you don?t take him first, then he will get you,? he said.

?And in the end, the enemy are not the sort of guys who fight by the rules of war. They will put bombs in the roads, they will dress up as women and then attack you.

?It is no longer toe-to-toe combat like it was in the old days. It is sneaky and underhanded ? but they are very determined; very patient as well. If something is going to take months or even years to accomplish, they are prepared to wait it out.

?But taking the lives of others is part of the job. If you join the Marines or the infantry and expect not to get into that sort of thing, then you?ve got a serious misconception of reality. We train to win wars.?

Controversy, of course, is never far away from America?s aggressive foreign policy in the Middle East.

While liberals denigrate the approach as counter-productive, hypocritical and imperialistic, George Bush?s administration insists that ?liberating? the Middle East and confronting rather than appeasing tyrannical, despotic regimes is the only way to defeat this new and powerful threat to global stability.

For someone in Sgt. Perinchief?s position, however, having a viewpoint on the greatest global issue since the end of the Cold War is not an option.

He is a pawn of the US government, paid to carry out their orders without question or fear. Not surprisingly, this voluntary subjugation of his democratic rights is something he is more than happy to live with.

In fact, he said, it was a refreshing change to live in an environment where everybody thinks alike.

?If you?re in the military, you do not have the luxury of having political beliefs,? he said.

?The culture of the military is that you do what you are told. It was your choice ? you joined the service, so live with it. There is no in between.

?You don?t ask questions, you just do. That might sound a little strange to some people but, at the same time, it is quite nice to operate in an environment where everybody is on the same page. You don?t have to worry about somebody coming up with strange ideas or arguments.

?Everybody knows where they stand. For me, it?s a great change from civilian life and I think I?m always going to have a bit of the Marine Corps with me.?

But with so many pundits suggesting that America?s mission in Afghanistan and Iraq is faltering ? if not imploding ? does he believe that in his time there he actually made a difference?

?Absolutely,? was the unequivocal reply.

?The local populace was extremely welcoming. They were very open and knew what we were there for. They knew we were not there to conquer them or hurt them.

?If they had problems they would come and tell us and we would go to the Afghan Army and get them to assist. Our main focus is on helping the Afghan army develop. In the eight months we were there, the troops we worked with went from rag-tag to a well-disciplined outfit which could do its job.

?As far as the enemy was concerned, it really is only the HIG (Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin, an Afghan faction with ties to Osama bin Laden) and the Taliban ? about one tenth of the population.

?They are the ones with the power and the money, which is in sharp contrast to the rest of the Afghans who can barely feed themselves. And, by the time we left, they had been forced to start working together because we had destroyed their infrastructure to such an extent that they could no longer function as independent entities.?

Having been immersed in a war zone for many cold and exhausting months, Sgt. Perinchief admitted to feeling a little discombobulated on his return to civilian life.

But he said that he is more than ready to deal with this periodic inconvenience, as well to forfeit any chance of a meaningful relationship with a woman, as he continues to fight his way up the ranks in the most demanding environment imaginable.

?When I first got back, it took me a few days to get used to big crowds again because every time I was around a large group in Afghanistan I had a rifle across my chest and was always looking over my shoulder,? he said.

?And during the night, I?d find that I would be waking up because in the field you kind of get used to sleeping lightly. You never sleep soundly.

?Relationships are something which are extremely difficult in my line of work. I?m gone for eight months, back for three months and then I?m away again. If I could find somebody who would be willing to go through that with me, it would be amazing. But it is not likely. So, I?m keeping going because it is my way of life. As a Marine, even in your downtime there is always something to do and achieve.

?Yes, we go out on weekends and have a great old time, but we?re very serious about what we do. As time goes on, you get more and more immersed in your career. It becomes very competitive because you are always trying to be better than the next man and move up the ranks.

?Everyone wants to be the best and there is a culture of excellence in the Marine Corps which I have become used to and I love ? the few and the proud.?