Local students join Marine Corps in the face of danger

In the face of dangers like ISIS and Al Qaeda, four local junior ROTC cadets have taken the oath to serve their country.

Desert Hot Springs High School students Matthew Dye, Enrique Ortiz, Isaac Albarran, and Filiberto Moreno were recognized by the city of Desert Hot Springs Tuesday night for joining the United States Marine Corps. They are all members of the school’s Junior ROTC program.

“I thought about all of those people who can’t fight so I wanted to fight for those who couldn’t,” said Dye.

These young men believe the Junior ROTC program is going to help them make the transition from student to soldier.

“I was a very obese kid and I was a bit of a trouble maker and it put discipline in me and made my body a lot better,” said Ortiz.

Some of these future Marines come from parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico. The families were working and unable to attend the ceremony.

“I want to be first generation in the military and I want to make a difference with my family and do something with my life,” said Albarran.

“At first my parents said no and they were very scared,” said Ortiz. “They said I was going to work with my dad as a mechanic. I told him there is a reason that you came into this country and I want to make a better life for myself,” said Ortiz.

With instability in the Middle East and even this week a U.S. Navy Seal being gunned down by ISIS, these young men and their families know that dangers of the job.

“I trust the Marine Corps and the training that they will give me and I feel that I will be prepared if I was ever in a combat situation,” said Moreno.

For 13 years more than 40 Desert Hot Springs Junior ROTC cadets have joined the military, the vast majority of them choosing to go with the Marine Corps.

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