New Marine joins Marine Corps family

Photo By Sgt. Angelica Annastas | Private Sylviano R. Gonzalez, Golf Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, stands next to his squad bay at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, April 25. Following recruit training, Gonzalez will report to the School of Infantry at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., to become an infantryman. Annually, more than 17,000 males recruited from the Western Recruiting Region are trained at MCRD San Diego. Golf Company is scheduled to graduate April 29.  

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES

04.25.2016

Story by Lance Cpl. Angelica Annastas 

Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego     

“You have to learn to stay humble and push through no matter what,” said Pvt. Sylviano R. Gonzalez, Golf Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, who grew up in Vancouver, Wash., with two younger sisters.
Gonzalez started to realize that sometimes unexpected things are sure to come everyone’s way, and it’s the act of getting through it all that makes a personal difference.
“It just didn’t work out between my parents, and so they eventually got a divorce,” said Gonzalez. “As we started to get older, we started living with my dad more.”
Gonzalez and his siblings eventually moved in with his dad, their stepmom and her three kids.
“I felt a little abandoned by my [biological] mom after all of that,” said Gonzalez. “I found myself pushing my stepmom away sometimes, too. I just wanted the love and care from my real mom instead of from her.”
Although the transition was a little rocky at first, Gonzalez eventually opened up and started to like the new change.
“It turned out to be great,” said Gonzalez. “It felt like what a family should be like. We went to church a lot and we helped other people whenever we could.”
By the time he reached high school, Gonzalez fell upon some unfortunate circumstances and he and his sisters were required to be placed in foster homes. It was still a difficult time for him. He knew he had to stay uplifted through the changes in his life.
“When you’re with a family that takes good care of you, it’s not the same transitioning to another family like that,” said Gonzalez. “I didn’t adapt well at all. I felt more confined living with my new foster parents. I just went to school and then came home. It felt like I was just going through the motions.”
When Gonzalez turned 18, his aunt started fighting for custody of him and his other two siblings.
“She was able to get me back first, but it took three to six months to get the other two back,” said Gonzalez. “It felt good to be back with my own family again. I was able to spend time with cousins the same age as me, too. It was nice.”
Being back with his siblings was exactly what Gonzalez was wishing for, and he was glad he got it.
When he was 20 years old, he found out from his younger siblings that his biological mom was dying from a brain tumor.
“The three of us went to Missouri and we got to spend a little time with her before her passing,” said Gonzalez. “I was able to forgive her.”
After all the years away from her, Gonzalez got the chance to see his mother again, as he always wanted.
“I didn’t really ask her anything while I was there, but I needed that with her,” said Gonzalez.
After the death of his mother, Gonzalez took a year to get his life together.
“I wanted to make my family proud somehow and prove that I wasn’t a nobody,” said Gonzalez. “I wanted to join the Marine Corps ever since my freshman year in high school, but it wasn’t until after everything had happened that I finally decided to join.”
Gonzalez secured his spot in Golf Company and started his journey to become a United States Marine when he turned 21.
Although recruit training was difficult for him, especially the first couple of weeks, he used his perseverance and completed recruit training.
Gonzalez plans to stay in the Marine Corps for a while because he feels it gives him what he needs. He believes hard work, discipline and determination is required to reach all goals in life.
“There isn’t an end unless you’re looking for one, so you have to keep going,” said Gonzalez.
Following recruit training, Gonzalez will report to the School of Infantry at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., to become an infantryman. Golf Company is scheduled to graduate April 29.

• Date Taken: 04.25.2016
• Date Posted: 04.27.2016 16:44
• Story ID: 196684
• Location: MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, CA, US