Joining the Marine Corps
As a high school senior, I didn’t pay much attention. I didn’t watch the news a lot, but I knew what was going on, obviously. I graduated from high school, went to one year of Mount SAC [San Antonio Community] Junior College. My major was police science. I thought I would go be something in law enforcement, and the following summer after a year of Mount SAC I was visiting with an old high school friend, and I thought I would join the army. And he says, ‘Well, you don’t want to do that—join the Marine Corps!’ and I said, ‘Well, that sounds look a good idea!’ [laughs].
So the young and dumb nineteen year-old I was, I went to the recruiter in Pomona and I walked into the recruiting office. The recruiting officer was there, and I said, ‘I’d like to have some information regarding the Marine Corps.’ He was a sergeant with hash marks from here to there [points from upper arm to lower arm], and he pulled out the drawer and pulled out a piece of paper—a form—and he put it on the table and he said, ‘Sign here, son.’ And that’s how I got in the marine corps [smiles].