Shortest Marine on record says his height is his ‘greatest strength’

Nathaniel LaPrade applied for the Marine Corps as soon as he was eligible in high school.

“I saw a Marine recruiter came to our school and it was almost like an instinct, like I had to have that. It was discipline, it was order,” he said.

LaPrade said his height wasn’t a major factor in his own eyes, until he got to boot camp. He stands at 4 feet 7 inches tall. In high school, being the “short kid” didn’t matter. In the military, it made him feel that he had “something to prove.”

“If you have a weakness and you know it’s your weakness, I can pretty much promise you that by the end of your time in the military, it will become one of your greatest strengths,” he said.

In fact, LaPrade is believed to be the shortest member of any of the U.S. armed forces on record. A Green Beret, Richard Flaherty, clocked in at 4 feet 9 inches and served during the Vietnam War.

The toughest part of the grueling boot camp, LaPrade said, were the multiple hikes with up to 45 pounds on his back.

“I don’t want to go back and say, ‘Oh, it’s because I have little legs,’ but it is a tad harder to keep up.” he said. “But you just keep your head up, keep your legs moving one foot in front of the other. Honestly, I always felt that I had to do better than everyone else.”

LaPrade finished 13 weeks of Marine Corps Recruit Training at Parris Island in South Carolina this fall. That included hikes, obstacle courses and daily training. It ended with a 54-hour endurance test called the Crucible. He said he got through those difficult days with the help of his instructors who would tell him to “push a little harder and dig a little deeper.”

“And sure enough, I just do what the instructors tell me to do, and I got through it,” he said. “I’ll say, ‘I want to be like that guy.’ And so when he tells me to do something, it’s straight on the spot.”

WATCH: The chaos and fog of the first night of Marine Corps boot camp

LaPrade’s plan is to become a logistics specialist. Those specialists are involved in planning and managing equipment, resources and personnel to support deployment. Long term, he hopes to eventually come back as a drill instructor, inspired by the leaders who motivated him through his own training.

“I wanted to be that kind of leader, get in and actually help people and help them improve themselves,” LaPrade said. “I know that if I use what they’ve been using on us, I’ll be able to become an even better teacher.”