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Fitness and nutrition enthusiast, Kagan Dunlap, gets candid about his friendship with an Army Ranger who changed his life for the better and even inspired him to join the military.
Kagan Dunlap was born in Portland, Maine, and resided there from 1986 till 1998. His family then moved to New Bern North Carolina, where he attended middle school. After high school in 2006 Kagan chose to take a break from community college and started working in construction. He felt completely unfulfilled and realized he had much loftier aspirations so he decided to finish his associates’ degree at Asheville-Buncome Technical Community College. It was in Asheville, that Kagan met his future inspiration; an Army Ranger who had previously served in the Iraq war. The man had a significant impact on young Kagan and he was overwhelmed and inspired by the stories that his friend narrated to him.
“Not only did he inspire me to want to serve but he also really got me into fitness and weight training. After I moved in with him I really started getting into bodybuilding and weight training to become stronger and better than I was before,” says Kagan Dunlap
His friendship impacted him so intensely that Dunlap even gave up all mind-altering substances – and hasn’t consumed any since 2008. Moreover, he had his mind made up quite strongly to get into the military. Kagan struggled for 7 long years for the chance to join the military service but due to the drawdown in troops after the Iraq War he was unable to get the waivers he needed to join the Army. After relentless pursuit of military service, he finally made the decision to attempt joining the Marines instead. A blessing in disguise is what Kagan describes his Marine life as.
“This ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made not only because I was finally given the opportunity to serve but because of the strict lifestyle I already lived which really lined up with a lot of the standards that The Marines represented,” shares Kagan.
After his third deployment, Dunlap was selected for an enlisted commissioning program with the Marines which enabled him to remain on active duty and finish a degree. He chose to attend The University of North Carolina and major in Exercise and Sports science. Kagan is attending UNC at Chapel Hill currently and finishing his degree. He plans on getting his NASM CPT certification while he’s there as well as becoming a Certified Sports Nutritionist from the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Meanwhile, he is also working on growing his Instagram and youtube accounts where he plans on helping people through personal training experiences and recommending suitable diet plans.
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