Tinez88

I was born in Puebla Mexico in a beat up small town with no cars and only dirt roads. I came to the United States when i was about nine years old and have loved it here ever since. I was always fascinated by watching Police Officers arrest bad guys and do whats right. Of course i was the first generation of my family to live here in the united states so my family expceted me to do something productive with my life.
When i was in highschool it was around when September 11 happened. I started seeing people in the war and soldiers fighting. I had no idea that the Marines Existed and i specially didnt know how proud and how great they were.
Until one day while after highschool i was talking to an Army recruiter and asking him what i could do to join since i was not a resident nor a citizen. After having my hopes of ever joining the military shot down by the army recruiter, i walked outside and saw a big Marines billboard poster on the street. It was like a sign from god. I looked over my shoulder and saw the door for the Marine recruiter wide open.
I walked in and the SSgt, greeted me and we started to talk. I told him how i was not born here and how i was an illegal immigrant. And first of all he tought me what the Marines were and how much pride and honor Marines have. Of course from this day on i was hooked on being a Marine ever since.
But first things first, I was an illegal immigrant and couldnt join until i became a resident but he said it wouldnt hurt to be ready and be prepared when the day came.
I was over weight and had to weigh 170 pounds before i could go anywhere. So i worked out and tried to loose weight since i was weighing in at 190 lbs.
While i was in the process of loosing weight My recruiter never gave up on me and he saw that i had heart i sometimes led runs with the other pooles and tired to show my weakness.
Everynight i would praid to god that my paper work for my residency would come through that i could enlist to fight for this country. I was so grateful for this country and i still am grateful for all the opportunities and help it has given me. I was more than willing to fight and die for this country even though i was not born here, i am more than willing to give my life for it.
Finally after months of waiting i got my green card and that same day it came in the mail i ran over to my recruiter with card in hand showing him and telling him to sign me up!
The problem was i was still over weight and i was really bad at the asvab test. i had less than a month too loose all that weight. So for a whole month i worked out till i was sore, i studied till my head hurt. Nothing could stop me from being a Marine.

finally the day came for me to DEP in. I was a pound over weight but the guy doing the weigh ins saw my face when i was over one pound. I was ready to punch the scale when he said that i had passed. When i took the asvab i got a higher score than anticipated.

Bootcamp came by and during the middle of bootcamp i was known as the chubby recruit. One day we were doing the rope climbing and he asked for a volunteer. Of course no one wanted to, so i quickly got up and volunteered. I grabbed the rope and started to climb. My drill instructors were impressed. They didnt know such a short and fat recruit could climb the rope so fast. Then my Senior Drill Instructor looks at my surprised collegues and says MARTINEZ HAS HEART! I have seen him run the PFT and not give up, and now his fat ass is climbing a rope. This recruit has the most heart out of all of you all. Those words are going to stick with me for the rest of my life.
From that day on i was known as the Motivator of the platoon. I was and still am the Marine with the most heart and dedication. Well im pretty much like any other dedicated Marine. I almost got PFC but someone got it, my SDI later on told me how i should have gotten it but it was too late. In MCT i became a squad leader, One of the shortest and smallest squad leader. But never took **** from no one.

My point of me writting this was to show that some people join and take the Marine Corps for granted. People join with out any trouble and then become ****bags and give other Marines bad names. I had so much trouble and so many obstacles before joining, that i would a damn fool to take what i have for granted. I dont know why Cpls, and Sgts tell me to give it a year or two in the fleet and then we will see how motivated i am.
I have been in the Fleet for 6 months so far and im still the motivated Marine i was in bootcamp.
Proud to be
A PFC in the USMC
OOhrah
PFC Martinez
Semper Fi.