Photo By Carlos Guerra | Lance Corporal J.M. Soto poses for a command portrait after he wins MARCORLOGCOM...... read more read more
Lance Corporal Jacob Soto has been busy recently. Not only was he named the Marine of the Quarter recently for Marine Depot Maintenance Command but as the youngest Marine assigned to FSD, he took part in the 241st Marine Corps Birthday cake cutting ceremony at Production Plant Barstow, Nov. 7.
The 20-year-old native of Concord, Calif., entered the Marine Corps enlisted ranks, although he was a member of the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps when he was in high school.
Soto said he decided on the Marine Corps after studying what the others had to offer and with guidance from his recruiter.
“The Marines showed me a different level of professionalism and discipline. I wanted to be the best so I chose the Marine Corps,” Soto said.
He said his family also had a history of serving in the military.
“My grandfather was in the Air Force, my father and mother were in the Army, and my uncle was a Marine Corps reservist,” Soto said.
He attributes his winning the MOQ recognition for the final quarter of 2016 because he is willing to join in.
“I put myself out there,” he said. “I helped our sister lab in (Marine Corps Base Camp) Pendleton get back on their quota.”
He believes his work as a calibrations technician is vital to getting many jobs done properly in the Corps.
“Without calibrations technicians you don’t have any way of keeping a higher level of maintenance” he said. “We also have to make sure that a piece of equipment that the Marine Corps get from the manufacturer
does what they say it can do.”
Soto took the test measurement and diagnostic equipment technician course at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss.
“It’s a long school,” he said. “I don’t expect many Marines would go
through an eight month long school.”
Especially with classes in subjects such as theory of semi-conductors, digital theory, or resonant frequency with alternating current.
“It gets challenging with the pace,” he explained. “You don’t really have too much time to try and settle in and learn it religiously.”
The lance corporal is not sitting on his laurels after the Marine of the Quarter win, and has been furthering his education during his off-duty hours.
“I’m going to Barstow Community College and getting my lower division courses out of the way at a lot cheaper price,” he said. “I have the Board of Governors) waiver so my tuition is paid for (by the state).”
Soto said he would want to be a role model for any young Marine.
“You don’t always notice if someone is looking up to you, but if someone were you’d want to be an example for them,” he said.
He urges all Marines to hang in there and keep trying.
“Don’t give up and remember that closed mouths don’t get fed.”
| Date Taken: | 11.10.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 11.21.2016 14:19 |
| Story ID: | 215393 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CA, US |
| Hometown: | CONCORD, ON, CA |
| Web Views: | 139 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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