Salutations. My name is Logan Smith (‘27) and I’m from Montana. After high school, I joined the Marines in 2018 as a cryptologic linguist.
After basic training, I studied Pashto, a language spoken in Afghanistan, at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, and earned my Associate of Arts. I completed follow-on training at Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo, TX and was stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC where I was for the remainder of my 5-year contract.
I was assigned to the Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) Electronic Warfare (EW) platoon under 2nd Radio Battalion, training with teams for Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) collection. I was briefly a team leader for the LAV team on the 26 Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and I also worked with the Expeditionary Operations Training Group (EOTG) in the S2, supporting the MEU’s pre-deployment training. To put it concisely, my time in the military was challenging, I learned a lot, and grew as a person. I have a lot of good memories, a lot of bad, and made some lifelong friends.
I had always wanted to pursue college after the military, but I never thought attending Harvard was a possibility for me until one of my friends got in and encouraged me to apply. I also received help with my application from Service to School (S2S) and am thankful for their support. I am very grateful for the opportunity to live and study here. Most people don’t get the chance. I am concentrating in Philosophy and Psychology and want to eventually pursue a PhD in one of those fields. I have been interested in philosophical questions for as long as I can remember. My guiding questions are: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why do people think and behave the way they do? What is the best way to live? How can we reduce suffering and promote well-being?
