I looked around for more info on Shaggy being a Marine because I couldn't see how the Marines helped him with his career. Here is something interesting I found:
"In '88 after a difficult year trying to find work, Shaggy had joined the US Marines. He wanted to escape from the harsh streets of Brooklyn, where the only options seemed illegal. But he had no idea what he was letting himself in for. "I thought it would be like summer camp ", he laughs. Instead they sent him to the frontline of the Gulf. "Some people go in the military for 20 years and never see fighting. I go for four and get straight into a war". He remembers it as a tough experience. "Everywhere you went you were digging. The oilfields were burning, and you couldn't see anything. You'd wake up in the morning and there'd be black soot all over you".
Meanwhile in New York, the street tunes he'd recorded had made him a local star. Back from the Gulf, Shaggy was stationed in Le Jeune, North Carolina. His friend, fellow reggae performer Red Fox, called him to say "You got a tune in New York, you'd better get up here". Shaggy began a period of driving eighteen hours every weekend just to voice his tunes. This caused problems since he was still on active service. "People in the marines, they basically see you as a mean green fighting machine, and that's it. They had no time for us being DJs". In fact Shaggy is still technically a soldier; he's supposed to visit the base every six months, but with a career as an international popstar, he's happy to forget about the army."
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