JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — For some, joining the military is a life-changing decision.
“I’m a war refugee from El Salvador and I was in the Marine Corps for nine-and-a-half years,” Miguel Guerra said.
“For the Marine Corps to get somebody from the streets of New York City and make them. It made me, it made me a man,” Nelson Valentin said.
“I had to fight for my place. Yes, I did feel like I had to fight to be heard and seen,” Diana Irizarry said.
“Trying to find something that not just something I can have a career out of but, something to be proud of,” Leo Alves said.
“My dad started talking to me like he knew something was going on. You know? Instead, it was immigrants guys come here to the United States and be part of a gang,” Sergio Garcia said. “Why won’t you join the military if you really want to go fight? Why won’t you join the Marine Corps? Join the Army?”
Garcia came to America from Honduras in 1964. He said growing up in New York City forced him to join a gang. “You know, I join a gang to survive because that was the only way that I can have a little freedom,” he said.
He said one day his father told him “Do something constructive so you can show this country that we came down here not to freeload from the country. He stated, you know, join the military instead of getting yourself killed. That speech right there, that word from him, you know, I was wanted maybe by 60 or so, took me and it propelled me to join the military.”
In another part of the same city, a young Valentin also wanted to escape the dangers of the city and make a better life for himself. “I grew up in the Marine Corps. I grew up around Marines and at different levels. So, at every step of my career, I was growing Hispanic,” Valentin said. “We’ve been serving in the military since the 1800s. You know, we we have 1.3 million veterans now that have served some form of capacity in the armed forces. You know, and I’m part of that small percentage. So it makes me proud to be be part of that, to be able to bring a little bit of my heritage.”
Giving back to their families was a common theme for them. “You know what? I see my mom doing this. I can do something. I can. I can do anything. If my mom was able to go to a country and not speak the language, why can’t I join the military?,” Irizarry said. “I could do this. I can. I can do that. I did it. Enlistment per enlistment. It wasn’t ‘I’m going to do 25 years,’ It was more like an every time I got to that point, I thought, well, what what am I going to do for the military and what am I going to do for myself?”
They also wanted to give back to America. “After high school, I decided to join so I can stay out of trouble and at the same time pay back for everything that they did for us,” Guerra said.
“I feel like that’s why a lot of people join. A lot of the people that I’ve met that Latinos that join. So if people get to see a more the fact that we’re trying to give back to our country, that’s giving us so much,” Alves said.
It was a chance to change their life for a country that gave so much to them and a love for the military they never thought they would have. “I love to serve the country that help us when we need help the most,” Guerra said.
“And I see myself now as a champion, actually I do,” Irizarry said. “And there’s a lot of female Latinas that I admire, and I believe they’re champions, too.”
“America has given me everything that I have in my adult life,” Alves said. “So in a way of paying back the country for everything it’s done for me, I’m doing my service for the country.”
“The opportunity that this country gave me when I immigrated to this country is one of the greatest things that happened to me as a person,” Garcia said.
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Publish date : 2024-09-25 14:19:00
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