Photo By Staff Sgt. Sarah Ralph | Future Marine Christian Ponce, a poolee with Recruiting Sub-Station Santa Ana,...... read more read more
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The Delayed Entry Program is one of the most useful programs the Marine Corps has to prepare future Marines. It provides a vast amount of time for poolees, or prospective Marine recruits, to develop themselves for the rigors of Marine Corps recruit training, and provides the opportunity for them to get ahead of their peers before they’re even Marines.
"The Pool Program for a Recruiting Station has two purposes: to prepare our Future Marines for Recruit Training and to provide referrals for the Recruiting Station,” says Sergeant Major Daniel Beighley, the SgtMaj for Recruiting Station Orange County. “These referrals are necessary to identify qualified applicants for potential service in our Marine Corps. As a future Marine, your first mission is to identify potential leads for your Recruiter in order to continue filling our ranks with our Nation's best and brightest. There are various incentives for poolees who provide referrals who end up joining the Marine Corps. Ask your recruiter for details. Each poolee should strive to earn a Meritorious Promotion to private first class (E-2) prior to shipping. This will start you out ahead of your peers and catapult you on a trajectory towards continued success."
Future Marine Christian Ponce, a poolee with Recruiting Sub-Station Santa Ana, Recruiting Station Orange County, wants to be a United States Marine for the challenge and becoming something greater than himself. Currently, Ponce is a senior at Tustin High School in Tustin, California and plans to attend recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in June.
Ponce will be heading to the Depot with two referrals under his belt, meaning he will be receiving a meritorious promotion, pinning on the rank of private first class upon graduating recruit training. Christian’s two friends, Andrew De Haro and Marcello Chilhilia, both became a part of the Delayed Entry Program to become Marines. All three young men have been friends since middle school and attend the same high school. De Haro and Ponce will be shipping together and will be able to experience recruit training within the same platoon.
“I knew they’d had an interest in potentially becoming a United States Marine. I was just the link that brought them into the station,” says Ponce. “We share some of the similar motivations with joining like financial security and desiring to push ourselves physically and mentally.”
Ponce is excited to see what the future holds for him in the Marine Corps. He is looking forward to the challenges that he will face and the opportunity to see more than just his hometown.
| Date Taken: | 02.17.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.19.2021 13:21 |
| Story ID: | 389358 |
| Location: | ORANGE COUNTY, CA, US |
| Hometown: | SANTA ANA, CA, US |
| Hometown: | TUSTIN, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 106 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, One Step Ahead: Future Marine Receives Meritorious Promotion, by SSgt Sarah Ralph, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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