CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq — They could have used the names of their prominent families to take an easy way through life, capitalizing on the accomplishments of those who came before them.

But for three members of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, easy wasn’t an option.

They chose the life of a Marine and deployed to Iraq, getting down and dirty in a dangerous chess match of explosives and bombings with insurgents.

To the world, Lance Cpl. Jake Mathers’ grandfather, retired Air Force Col. George “Bud” Day and Medal of Honor recipient, is the most decorated officer since Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

To Mathers, he’s just “Grapo. It’s just one of those things,” the 18-year-old said of the name he calls his 80-year-old grandfather. “He’s just granddaddy to me.”

For Mathers, Day is the man who taught him to fish, inspired a love of aviation and introduced the poetry of Robert Frost.

Mathers comes from a family of military men. His father and two stepfathers all served, as did their fathers.

“I wanted to be a Marine ever since I was seven years old. I think they’re just a little tougher than the rest,” said the infantryman, who spends his days in Iraq tracking the ground movement of friendly forces.

He asks questions of his relatives, and gets a lot of advice. But in the end, he is looking to carve his own path, he said. And that’s not easy, being the grandson of his mother’s father, a Medal of Honor recipient with a dramatic story that is frequently told.

Day, now a lawyer in Florida, had served in the Marines and Army Reserve before joining the Air Force. Thirty-seven years ago, he was the forward air control pilot in an F-105 when he was shot down Aug. 26, 1967, over North Vietnam. He was held captive for more than five years, tortured, beaten and injured until being released on March 14, 1973.

“If they’re expecting me to be a Medal of Honor winner, they’re expecting too much. They can pound sand,” Mathers said. “There is a lot of added pressure. People expect me to do good things, to add up a little to him, try to do above and beyond.

“I do that, but I do that for me.”

When he’s stuck on an issue, 1st Lt. Erik Cooper sometimes looks for solutions in words penned by his grandfather, a retired lieutenant general turned author. In his book “Cheers and Tears: A Marine’s Story of Combat in Peace and War,” Charles Cooper speaks of leadership and the band-of-brothers concept. The younger Cooper has read it three times. Still, the olive-green paperback was among the items the 25-year-old commander of the battalion’s 1st Platoon, Weapons Company packed when he set off for a seven-month deployment to Iraq.

He doesn’t like to broadcast that he’s the son of a Navy captain and grandson of a retired three-star general, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, fought in the Korean War, commanded two infantry battalions and the 1st Marine Division, and served as commanding general of Fleet Marine Force Pacific.

“Yeah, I don’t like too many people knowing about it, but sometimes it happens,” said Cooper. “[The Marine Corps] is a small community and I try to keep it under wraps.”

While his family steered him toward the military, their efforts were unnecessary because that’s the life Cooper planned all along.

“When I was a kid, back in the day, I loved playing G.I. Joe,” he said. “They didn’t need to pressure me, even though they did.”

Because of the military accomplishments of his grandfather and father, Cooper puts pressure on himself to lead his men well.

“I do put in an extra effort,” he said, “because I don’t want to mess up the family name and all the stuff they did really well.”

Politics is in 2nd Lt. Perry Akin’s blood. The son of U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., says he has political ambitions of his own.

But first, he wants to get the Marine Corps out of his system.

Akin, 24, of Company A, 1st Platoon, 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., said he has been fascinated with military life since childhood, both because he studied it and from hearing stories from his grandfather, who fought in World War II, and from his father, who joined the Army Corps of Engineers during the Vietnam War but did not see combat.

“I wanted to be the best, and the Marines are the best,” the platoon commander said. “I wanted to be a Marine. They garner a lot of respect. They’re a smaller force, with a lot of history, and they are more willing to accept change and adapt to new and cutting-edge ideas, which is what has made us such an effective force on today’s battlefield.”

Though his father sits on the House Armed Services Committee, he finds no conflict of interest in serving and doesn’t advertise who he is.

He’s more focused on keeping his men and himself alive as they conduct their business of moving Marines and equipment, sweeping roadways for bombs, and erecting facilities for the thousands of deployed Marines.

Akin said that in both military and politics, he wants to make it on his own hard work. And despite his father’s position in Congress, he said the competitive edge in his personality comes from somewhere else.

“My competitive streak? That comes from my mom.”