Sergeant Jorge Benitez Jr.

La Puente, CA

I'm Sergeant Benitez, currently a Recruiter with RS Orange, at RSS Lakewood, California. I have served in the Marine Corps for 6 years now and don’t regret a minute of it. The choice to be a Marine for me was easy to make because I had the inner desire, the burning of wanting to do more. I was a proud member of 7th Marine Regiment, when we were deployed to be part of the initial assault force to go into Iraq in 2003. The experience and friendships made there will last a lifetime. When I was redeployed to Iraq again in 2004, it was an easy "pump" because I had my brothers to my left and right. I served with the Regimental Commander and got to bear witness to the immediate changes and good things we as Marines were doing in our area of responsibilities, and I helped build the foundation of what Marines are doing out there today. I just wrapped up my tour with Headquarters and Service Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego where I proudly served as the Depot and Western Recruiting Region's Color Sergeant. My tour there was as rewarding as my tour with the grunts. I had the awesome support of my Commanding General and Sergeant Major to go out and represent not only the Depot and all Marines stationed there, but to also go out and represent all Marines around the Globe -- in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa -- and to show the local and regional community and families what it means to be Marine. While it is a tough duty, requiring sacrifice on our part and on the part of our families, it is in the end a feeling like no other. When you graduate from boot camp, you get the awesome feeling and drive of a spirit that comes and engulfs you. The spirit we call the Warrior Spirit. It is a mindset that has driven us for 232 years and it is what drives me and the Marines through out our Corps today. That is the burning desire. The desire to up keep what had been entrusted to us to keep from generations before us. We have our heroes today, like Cpl Jason L. Dunham, who I have the honor to say I worked with and saw in action before his untimely, unselfish end. That is what America is all about and that is why I serve today.