1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,000 2 00:00:06,660 --> 00:00:09,900 I'm an infantry officer in 0302 and I 3 00:00:09,900 --> 00:00:12,300 come from Gilbert . Arizona grew up 4 00:00:12,300 --> 00:00:14,790 with a single mom . I didn't really see 5 00:00:14,790 --> 00:00:16,901 my dad . They got divorced when I was 6 00:00:16,901 --> 00:00:18,957 about two years old . Money was very 7 00:00:18,957 --> 00:00:21,012 tight and the military looked like a 8 00:00:21,012 --> 00:00:23,012 great leveler . I joined the Marine 9 00:00:23,012 --> 00:00:25,390 Corps in March of 1998 . And so I came 10 00:00:25,390 --> 00:00:28,510 in at about 21 years old and joined 11 00:00:28,510 --> 00:00:29,120 them . 12 00:00:33,460 --> 00:00:35,627 The hardest obstacle I had to overcome 13 00:00:35,627 --> 00:00:37,516 during my time as a marine and my 14 00:00:37,516 --> 00:00:40,610 military career was I had a aortic 15 00:00:40,610 --> 00:00:44,380 aneurysm in 2018 . 16 00:00:44,390 --> 00:00:47,280 So I had a bad heart valve 17 00:00:47,290 --> 00:00:50,290 and coming out of that surgery , it 18 00:00:50,290 --> 00:00:54,020 left me , left me fractured , uh , can 19 00:00:54,020 --> 00:00:56,020 no longer like something in my core 20 00:00:56,020 --> 00:00:58,630 kind of changed and I felt this , uh , 21 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,370 this sense of loss and this kind of 22 00:01:01,370 --> 00:01:03,740 impending doom that would just kind of 23 00:01:03,740 --> 00:01:05,740 washed over me and it stuck with me 24 00:01:05,740 --> 00:01:06,740 ever since . 25 00:01:10,790 --> 00:01:13,930 So a hobby that I have is I love 26 00:01:13,930 --> 00:01:17,640 boxing , I love , love 27 00:01:17,650 --> 00:01:20,250 working on cars . So I think there is a 28 00:01:20,260 --> 00:01:22,550 big connection between my hobbies and 29 00:01:22,550 --> 00:01:25,620 overcoming having open heart surgery . 30 00:01:25,630 --> 00:01:29,350 It's given me something to do . It's 31 00:01:29,350 --> 00:01:31,461 giving me something that's allowed me 32 00:01:31,461 --> 00:01:33,780 to get out of myself and getting back 33 00:01:33,780 --> 00:01:37,040 to that servant type mentality . And I 34 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,151 think that's helped me out a lot with 35 00:01:39,151 --> 00:01:41,373 my junior marines in the Marine Corps . 36 00:01:44,730 --> 00:01:47,890 I think that serving other people and 37 00:01:47,890 --> 00:01:50,140 watching them grow and learn really 38 00:01:50,140 --> 00:01:52,510 puts life into perspective for me and I 39 00:01:52,510 --> 00:01:54,621 think that's what makes those hobbies 40 00:01:54,621 --> 00:01:56,843 worthwhile . And so I genuinely do feel 41 00:01:56,843 --> 00:01:58,899 blessed and feel very lucky that I'm 42 00:01:58,899 --> 00:02:01,066 here at this command , because it does 43 00:02:01,066 --> 00:02:03,232 give me some of that dedicated time to 44 00:02:03,232 --> 00:02:05,177 be able to engage with the marines 45 00:02:05,177 --> 00:02:05,520 through my hobbies .