Photo By Sgt. Carlos Cruz Jr. | Cpl. Thomas Morrow, an administrative specialist with Marine Corps Recruiting Station...... read more read more
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Growing up in a lower-class neighborhood, an area where crime and drug use was common, Cpl. Thomas M. Morrow knew he had to pursue a better life for himself and his family.
Deciding what to do with your life after high school is not something that comes easy to everyone. Morrow, a 21-year-old born and raised in Pensacola, Fla., decided his next step was joining the U.S. Marine Corps.
Morrow spent much of his life in a small neighborhood called Wedgewood Rolling Hills. It was an area of poverty with limited job opportunities. And, it was the place he called home with his mother, brother and six sisters.
“Joining the Marine Corps was always my plan for after high school,” said Morrow. “A lot of the people in the area I grew up in didn’t pursue a career after high school, they just worked minimum wage jobs, but that wasn’t for me.”
Throughout high school, Morrow participated in the Navy Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC).
Morrow said the program helped him attain the Marine Corps’ values: honor, courage and commitment, prior to joining.
“I joined the Marine Corps to become something better, someone better, and to set the example and be a great role model for my little brother,” said Morrow. “My little brother was only 8-years-old when I joined and my father was never around, he’s in prison, so I have always tried my best to be like a father figure to him, someone for him to aspire to be like.”
Morrow and his younger brother have a 10-year age difference and is striving for success in order to show his little brother that it is far from impossible.
Morrow plans on pursuing a degree in the criminal justice field and then joining a Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team in the police force following his 4-year contract.
Although Morrow does not plan on continuing his career in the Marine Corps, he said he would encourage others to join because “it really sets you up for success.”
“The Marine Corps has given me more discipline and I am able to make wiser decisions that will help set me up for success in the future,” said Morrow. “It has helped me become the type of man I wish I had in my life growing up.”
| Date Taken: | 07.09.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.16.2018 10:00 |
| Story ID: | 283572 |
| Location: | NEW CUMBERLAND, PA, US |
| Hometown: | PENSACOLA, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 120 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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