Camp Lejeune Marine featured in Cosmo's 50 sexiest bachelors
Iraq has always been warm. Now it's hot.
That's because Pvt. Jake Lybrook, a 21-year-old Camp Lejeune Marine who is currently deployed there with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, is featured in the current issue of Cosmopolitan magazine as one of America's 50 sexiest bachelors. (3/6)
October 30,2005
BY Francine Sawyer View stories by reporter
Freedom ENC
By CHRIS MAZZOLINI
Iraq has always been warm. Now it's hot.
That's because Pvt. Jake Lybrook, a 21-year-old Camp Lejeune Marine who is currently deployed there with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, is featured in the current issue of Cosmopolitan magazine as one of America's 50 sexiest bachelors.
That's right, ladies: one of the nation's "most eligible studs" lives here in Onslow County - when he's not in Iraq waging war on terrorists.
Lybrook's transformation from just another Marine into a to-die-for Devil Dog began when his mother, Robin Edinger, and sister were passing time while waiting at an airport. They picked up some magazines to pass the time, including a Cosmo. Inside was an ad for the sexiest bachelor's contest.
The inspiration came when Edinger saw the male model featured on the advertisement.
"I said, 'He's not very good looking,'" she recalled. "My daughter was like, 'Jake would probably win that if we put him in.'"
It gave them a good chuckle, but what started as a joke between a mother and daughter evolved into a silly idea among family friends. Next thing they knew, it was a full-fledged campaign to get Lybrook entered into the contest.
Edinger said her phone rang constantly as friends and family pestered her about submitting her son. Eventually, just days before the deadline, Edinger pulled together the required photos and information and sent it in - never really expecting him to win. When he did, Edinger said she was surprised.
"He is a good-looking kid, but I don't view him as sexy or hot," she said. "He's a cutie pie to me."
Lybrook, of course, knew none of this.
So the unaware Marine was checking his phone messages one night while out in the field training for his unit's upcoming deployment to Iraq. One message, drowned out by the loud chatter of his comrades around him, mentioned winning a contest. So he tried his best to shut his buddies up.
It didn't work, so he put it on speaker phone - and learned both that he won the contest and that his fellow Marines would never let him hear the end of it.
"All the guys just started laughing and hooting and hollering," Edinger said. "They made a banner for him and started going around calling him Mr. North Carolina."
Lybrook was initially hesitant about accepting the award, but it was nothing good old-fashioned peer pressure couldn't fix.
"His buddies said, 'Are you crazy? You know how many girls you're going to meet?' " Edinger said.
While the winners of the magazine's annual contest are usually treated to fancy parties, modeling contracts and TV deals, Lybrook's training and subsequent deployment in August would not allow it. While most of the models were pictured outdoors, Lybrook had his photo shoot during his leave before deployment, in a studio in New York.
The magazine spread features pictures and bits of info offered by the models, including an e-mail address where the bachelors can be reached. Lybrook's photo, at the bottom of page 78, features a quote explaining why he joined the Corps.
"I used to watch news reports on the struggle to defeat terrorism and think that more people should do something," he told the magazine. "I finally thought, why not me?"
Edinger echoes Lybrook's sentiments, saying that 9/11 changed her son in a profound way.
"He was supposed to go to college, and then one day he came and said, 'Oh, and I joined the Marine Corps,'" she said. "He was so upset about (9/11), he just wanted to fight back. He wanted to defend his country and off he went."
Now that he's in Iraq - Lybrook's unit is fighting insurgents in western Iraq's bloody and chaotic Al Anbar province - Edinger said her son has been telling her not to send the magazine because he wants to avoid the teasing. But she thinks it's likely a copy will make it over there.
Teasing from buddies isn't the only attention Lybrook's received. Edinger said there are already 300 e-mails from interested women.
"He just can't keep up with them," she said. "He tells me, 'I don't want to be mean, but we're really busy over here. I can't answer all these women back, and I don't want to send a chain letter to them.'"
Trying to be a helpful mother, Edinger offered to help him respond to some of the e-mails.
"He said, 'No way, because some of them are sending pictures.'"
Contact staff writer Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or at 353-1171, Ext. 229.