Second Lieutenants Ethan Amburn and Matt Moryto from Suffield cross paths in Quantico, Virginia.
Sometimes we travel different and narrow paths in life only to come across someone from our own small hometown on the very same path. Such is the case for Matthew Moryto and Ethan Amburn; two young men, both from Suffield, both graduates of Norwich University, founded in 1819, it is the oldest of six senior military colleges and is recognized by the United States Department of War as the “Birthplace of ROTC”.
On October 10th of this year, these two young men completed The Basic School (TBS); a six-month course for newly commissioned officers where they learned leadership and command skills to be competent leaders for the Marine Corps. For their next chapter, they will train to be Logistics Officers with the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) designation 0402 and each will be stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, although in different units.
They will learn to plan, coordinate, execute and/or supervise the execution of all logistics functions and the six functional areas of tactical logistics: supply, maintenance, transportation, general engineering, health services, and other services. Logistics officers serve as commanders or assistants to the commanders of tactical logistics units/elements and as members of general or executive staff in the operating forces, supporting establishment and joint staff.
Second Lieutenant Matthew Moryto’s journey began in the year 2000 in Winchester, Virginia, raised in Suffield and a 2018 graduate of Suffield Academy, where he played soccer, baseball and wrestled, as well as playing drums in the jazz band. With an interest in military service and a family steeped in military service, Matt earned a degree in Criminal Justice from Norwich University in 2022.
Following college, Matt enlisted in the Marine Corps in August 2023, graduating Marine Corps recruit training, also known as “boot camp,” at Parris Island, South Carolina as an 0311- Infantry Rifleman, becoming a fourth generation Marine. Following the School of Infantry at Camp Geiger in North Carolina in March 2024, then Lance Corporal Moryto was attached to Fox Company, 2nd Battalion 25th Marines based in Plainville, Connecticut until January 2025 when he was selected for OCS. He graduated ten weeks later and commissioned a second lieutenant and immediately started The Basic School.
On that same cold March Day, Ethan Amburn was also commissioned second lieutenant. Ethan’s journey began in Hartford in 2002. His early years were in Enfield where he graduated from Enfield High School in 2020, where he played football and lacrosse before moving over the bridge to make Suffield his home. Four years later, Ethan earned a degree in Political Science from Norwich University where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets and played football for four years.
Ethan is a competitive athlete with a desire to serve his country as his father did in the United States Navy and his grandfather in United States Air Force before him. Drawn to the warfighting culture of the Marine Corps, he applied and was accepted into the Marine Corps’ Platoon Leaders Course (PLC) program at Norwich to train and prepare for Officer Candidate School (OCS). Upon graduation from Norwich in 2024, he worked various jobs from restaurants to FedEx while waiting for his OCS class in January 2025.
Matt and Ethan’s paths started in different places at different times, unknowingly their paths crossed with the town of Suffield and Norwich University. Their similar family histories of military service guided their paths to finally cross and meet face to face in Quantico, Virginia, The Crossroads of the Marine Corps, where they all each step off on their life’s journeys, to new horizons, yet each always calling Suffield-HOME.