
It was November 1999, I was standing in the recruiters office letting him know that my mind was made up. I was going to be a Marine. He was breaking the news to me that I had to wait until I graduated before they could do anything. I remember that feeling like it was yesterday. It was a short 13 months later, December 12th 2000, that the white government van pulled up in front of my mom’s house.
I walked out of my mom’s house with nothing more than the clothe on my back, toothbrush and ID. I remember standing in line getting ready to catch the shuttle to the airport, thinking “Well, it’s now or never Tony.”
That’s the day I became a recruit, the title I held proudly for three months. For three months they broke me down and built me back up. They instilled in me the values and principles that all Marines live by and that I, to this day, adhere to.