First Marine Division Association awards JROTC graduate with $500 bonus

Eliel Gallego is the first graduate of the Desert Hot Springs High School JROTC program and just completed the United States Marine Corps Recruit Training on Jan. 17.

The First Marine Division Association, a veteran organization, decided to award any Desert Hot Springs graduate that has completed the Marine Corps boot camp with a $500 bonus.

Gallego received the bonus and his units Mitchell Paige challenge coin Monday morning in front of current JROTC students at Desert Hot Springs High School.

He said he wants the future class to know how important and prominent they will change during boot camp. Gallego described the transformation as going from a human being to a Marine, and he summed up the experience in one phrase.

"There's no better feeling than being a Marine," he said.

Gallego is grateful to the veterans who make up the First Marine Division Association for caring about the Marine Corps and their focus on encouraging people to enlist to "follow in their footsteps."

Along with Marine Corps boot camp graduates, if students from the Desert Hot Springs program join another branch of the military, the association will award them with a $200 bonus after boot camp completion.