I left home when I was 19 years old. My mom was pregnant with her third child, and my sister was a senior in high school. My father has been out of picture since I was a child. I had graduated from high school but didn’t try to go to college. Instead, I began working. After a summer of selling office supplies, … Read more
“SHOTS ARE READY!…One for you!… Do you have one?….DOES EVERYONE HAVE A SHOT?!?!” This was the start of a party I threw in East LA before I headed out for my first deployment to Afghanistan as a Navy augmentee to an “Airborne Information, Surveillance and Reconnaissance” unit. I was nervous about not knowing what was … Read more
The blistering dry heat of the Arabian afternoon hit me as I opened the maintenance shop door. I trudged across the sunbaked pavement to the KC-10 Extender refueling jets lined up on the far end of the runway. “Airman Young!” a loud, no-nonsense New Jersey voice bellowed, cutting through the hot desert silence. It was … Read more
Leaving Sigonella Airbase, Sicily, in my rented Fiat sub-compact I turned right on Strada Statale 192, toward Catania. As I was driving down the highway, I thought back to the events from that morning: I arrived at 0700 to muster for what was supposed to be my flight back to the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. … Read more
In October of 2012, I was an international college student facing deportation for failing two classes. Twenty two years old, living in my parents’ loft, aimless in academics, and frustrated in competitive Brazilian-Jiu jitsu. When the U.S. Army advertised through the LA Times that they had the need for Filipinos who spoke the Tagalog language, … Read more
Just after a month of being downrange in Balad, Iraq, in 2006, where I was a Combat Flight Medic, I received a wounded Marine via Medivac. I immediately noticed his praying hands, which were wrapped with a rosary and resting on his left pectoral. Upon further inspection, I saw that his body was riddled with … Read more
“That’s probably a good idea,” the judge said to me when I handed him the letter from the Army recruiter asking for leniency so that I could enlist. “Your enlistment in the military would benefit the community,” he continued. At the time, I thought that was a really cool thing to hear in a courtroom. … Read more
I didn’t have much contact with those not serving in the Marine Corps while on my deployment, but one person who remains in my memory is the man from the honey truck. The honey truck was the name given to the large truck that showed up a few times a week, in order to pump … Read more
The dim headlights of my pickup strained against the darkness of the moonless night, but they did little to illuminate the dirt road ahead. The needle on the speedometer moved higher and higher, and with every bump and rattle beneath the wheels, I felt a jolt of adrenaline surge through my body. I didn’t know … Read more
I grew up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District, which is known for its vibrant culture and delicious restaurants. But in the evening, it becomes another place, plagued with gangs, drugs, prostitution, and robberies. In my late teens, I ran with the wrong set of people, members of the … Read more