thedrifter
04-09-08, 05:23 AM
JOHNSON: Persistence finally pays off for new Marine recruit
By Bill Johnson
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
In the end, it was just him, his mother and a Marine captain standing Monday in a room filled with flags. It was over in a few minutes.
In other ways, it was just beginning.
The story goes back a couple of weeks.
The woman called me in a panic.
Was there an Army group I knew of that talks people out of joining the military?
This was a first.
You go to Iraq a couple of times and people figure you for an expert: Which branch do you think my son should join? I have no idea why I get that one.
Maybe there was such a group that could help Christina Asebedo. I didn't know of it.
It was her first cousin, Keith Lopez, she explained, as she worked the line at a hot dog stand her family operates outside a home improvement store in the Stapleton neighborhood.
For some reason, she'd said, he is intent on joining the Marines. And nobody, certainly not his friends or anyone in her family, has been able to talk him out of it.
She tried everything, Christina Asebedo said. Their mothers are sisters. Now 38, she considers her 18-year-old cousin her brother. He won't listen, she agonized.
"The way I look at it," she said, "you don't have to support the war to support the soldiers fighting it. My best friend is over there now.
"My cousin, I just don't want him coming back dead, or with those wounds and experiences that are almost worse than dying."
I wanted to talk to Keith Lopez. He was about to be sworn in to the Marine Corps when I finally reached him.
"They rejected me again," he said, late last week, emerging unsuccessful from another swearing-in ceremony.
Once again, the tattoo on his right arm was keeping him from joining up.
Turns out, the Marines will not accept you if you are "sleeved" - have tattoos running from your wrist to your shoulder.
Keith Lopez's, though, runs from his elbow to his shoulder. It is a tribal tattoo, he said, one that has been photographed by the Corps to allow a variety of officers and officials to determine if it was passable under the rules.
"They're still investigating my tattoo," the Metro State freshman said, a bit incredulously. "This is the third time I was supposed to be sworn in."
The photograph of his arm had been sent to Washington, D.C., Dallas, San Diego and elsewhere, he said.
"It has been all over the place," he moaned, "just for a tattoo."
Yes, Keith Lopez said, he knows of his cousin's apprehensions. They are the same as his father's, a former Marine himself, who'd pleaded that he at least join the Army, get the better signing-up money and join the Rangers.
Not good enough, said Keith Lopez. It is the Marines or nothing.
And not some soft job in the rear. He wants to go infantry - reconnaissance, if he is lucky.
His father, grandfather, uncles and cousins all served in the military, he explained. It is simply his turn.
And yes, he said, he is somewhat surprised by the resistance almost everyone he knows has given him.
"Everyone in my family and all of my friends are telling me I'm crazy, that there is a war on," Keith Lopez said.
He knows they do not want to see him get hurt, he said.
"Even my dad, who served with the Marines in Beirut, was trying to talk me out of it, telling me all these horrible stories about the Marine infantry. He thought he was scaring me out of it, but I thought his stories were pretty cool."
He was an OK student, he said, graduating from Regis High with just shy of a "B" average. It was good enough for a full scholarship to Metro on a soccer scholarship.
He had, though, been thinking of the Marines since September. He said he was never cut out for school.
"It is an honor to be a Marine," Keith Lopez said. "They're the best. The way I look at it, this is a patriotic thing for me. I want to fight for my country. It makes me feel good to do this."
For Christina Asebedo, the more she thinks of it, the more she is coming to peace with her cousin's decision.
"I really do believe what he is doing is an honorable thing," she said. "I just don't want him to get hurt. He tells me it is just a job, one that has to be done. I guess I just don't want my cousin to do it."
Keith Lopez was told to come back one more time, on Monday, that a decision on his tattoo should come back favorably.
"It went pretty well," he said hours after finally raising his hand. "My mom was there. My dad, he was at work, but he tells me he's cool now with my decision."
He is due to report for basic training at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif., on May 5.
Christina Asebedo says she will be at the airport to see her cousin off.
"I will be scared to death for him, but I will wish him well," she said.
"What else can I do?"
johnsonw@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2763
Ellie
By Bill Johnson
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
In the end, it was just him, his mother and a Marine captain standing Monday in a room filled with flags. It was over in a few minutes.
In other ways, it was just beginning.
The story goes back a couple of weeks.
The woman called me in a panic.
Was there an Army group I knew of that talks people out of joining the military?
This was a first.
You go to Iraq a couple of times and people figure you for an expert: Which branch do you think my son should join? I have no idea why I get that one.
Maybe there was such a group that could help Christina Asebedo. I didn't know of it.
It was her first cousin, Keith Lopez, she explained, as she worked the line at a hot dog stand her family operates outside a home improvement store in the Stapleton neighborhood.
For some reason, she'd said, he is intent on joining the Marines. And nobody, certainly not his friends or anyone in her family, has been able to talk him out of it.
She tried everything, Christina Asebedo said. Their mothers are sisters. Now 38, she considers her 18-year-old cousin her brother. He won't listen, she agonized.
"The way I look at it," she said, "you don't have to support the war to support the soldiers fighting it. My best friend is over there now.
"My cousin, I just don't want him coming back dead, or with those wounds and experiences that are almost worse than dying."
I wanted to talk to Keith Lopez. He was about to be sworn in to the Marine Corps when I finally reached him.
"They rejected me again," he said, late last week, emerging unsuccessful from another swearing-in ceremony.
Once again, the tattoo on his right arm was keeping him from joining up.
Turns out, the Marines will not accept you if you are "sleeved" - have tattoos running from your wrist to your shoulder.
Keith Lopez's, though, runs from his elbow to his shoulder. It is a tribal tattoo, he said, one that has been photographed by the Corps to allow a variety of officers and officials to determine if it was passable under the rules.
"They're still investigating my tattoo," the Metro State freshman said, a bit incredulously. "This is the third time I was supposed to be sworn in."
The photograph of his arm had been sent to Washington, D.C., Dallas, San Diego and elsewhere, he said.
"It has been all over the place," he moaned, "just for a tattoo."
Yes, Keith Lopez said, he knows of his cousin's apprehensions. They are the same as his father's, a former Marine himself, who'd pleaded that he at least join the Army, get the better signing-up money and join the Rangers.
Not good enough, said Keith Lopez. It is the Marines or nothing.
And not some soft job in the rear. He wants to go infantry - reconnaissance, if he is lucky.
His father, grandfather, uncles and cousins all served in the military, he explained. It is simply his turn.
And yes, he said, he is somewhat surprised by the resistance almost everyone he knows has given him.
"Everyone in my family and all of my friends are telling me I'm crazy, that there is a war on," Keith Lopez said.
He knows they do not want to see him get hurt, he said.
"Even my dad, who served with the Marines in Beirut, was trying to talk me out of it, telling me all these horrible stories about the Marine infantry. He thought he was scaring me out of it, but I thought his stories were pretty cool."
He was an OK student, he said, graduating from Regis High with just shy of a "B" average. It was good enough for a full scholarship to Metro on a soccer scholarship.
He had, though, been thinking of the Marines since September. He said he was never cut out for school.
"It is an honor to be a Marine," Keith Lopez said. "They're the best. The way I look at it, this is a patriotic thing for me. I want to fight for my country. It makes me feel good to do this."
For Christina Asebedo, the more she thinks of it, the more she is coming to peace with her cousin's decision.
"I really do believe what he is doing is an honorable thing," she said. "I just don't want him to get hurt. He tells me it is just a job, one that has to be done. I guess I just don't want my cousin to do it."
Keith Lopez was told to come back one more time, on Monday, that a decision on his tattoo should come back favorably.
"It went pretty well," he said hours after finally raising his hand. "My mom was there. My dad, he was at work, but he tells me he's cool now with my decision."
He is due to report for basic training at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif., on May 5.
Christina Asebedo says she will be at the airport to see her cousin off.
"I will be scared to death for him, but I will wish him well," she said.
"What else can I do?"
johnsonw@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2763
Ellie