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Ranger school . It's one of the

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toughest courses . The military has to

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offer a true test of one's physical and

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mental toughness . But for specialist

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Zion El Toro , it was a dream come true .

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I want to , I wanted to go to r school

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before even joining the army . So we

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wanted to know how it feels to achieve

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a lifelong goal , which brings me here

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to the town of Cabo Rojo to speak with

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special Toro and his father to learn a

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little bit more about their story .

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Specialist Toro shared with us his

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inspiration for joining the military .

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My , my motivation , my whole life , my

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whole life has been my dad . I've seen

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him since I was a little kid dressed in

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uniform . And once I turned 17 ,

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he , he was still a recruiter . I was

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his last recruit uh recruitment . The

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whole recruiting process is not as easy

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as it seems , but uh we got it

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done . Uh But that's something he

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always wanted to do something we always

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looked forward uh to doing since he was

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a kid . But Zion's journey to become a

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ranger began at a young age . It all

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started since he was a kid . He was ,

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he was raised , being outdoors , he was

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raised doing sports and , and all that

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helped out before we uh send him to

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training . Uh his cousin helped train

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him up . We did r marches with him , uh

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worked out , but most of the training

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like physical training he did on his

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own . He's very committed and very

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strict with his diet and , and

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everything he does for a specialist

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Toro serving is part of a long family

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tradition . Our mentor is our

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grandfather . Uh He was , he was the

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one that guided us and still does at

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this time . Even though he passed away ,

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he's still my mentor because I always

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try to follow his footsteps .

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Everything started just like my dad

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said , everything started . Um My great

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grandpa II , I see him as uh I admire

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him , same as I admire my dad . Uh I

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have my , my brother is also in the

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Marine Corps . So I was born , I was

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born for this upon completion of Ranger

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school , scone received the Command

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Sergeant major Michael Kelso award for

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enlisted leadership . A rare feat for a

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junior enlisted soldier . I could at

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first , I couldn't believe it . I heard

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my name the day before before gra

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graduating and then I heard my name ,

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all right , the Leadership awards and

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then I heard my names Toro and I was

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like getting a leadership award . I

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felt so happy . I was super grateful

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for everything uh is is a great

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award because uh there's a lot of

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people that go to Ranger school that

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have already deployed several times ,

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have a lot of experience in the

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military . You know , that was my first

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impression . I was , I was proud and ,

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and second knowing that , you know ,

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it's , it's from the Puerto Rico

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National Guard . We're talking about

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our soldiers here from the island

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representing in one of the toughest uh

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school that , that army offers . So ,

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you know , specials . Toro did

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something that , that very few and ,

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and maybe nobody else does . So , I

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mean , that , that makes the whole

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entire uh army look at the National

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Guard and say , hey , what , what are

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they doing ? What , what are they doing

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to produce these type of soldiers that

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come right out of basic training uh and

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come here and , and get the enlisted

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undergraduate award at Ranger School .

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If you have a dream , follow it . Give

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a always give the best that you can

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never quit , stay disciplined ,

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especially for young people like me

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reporting for the Puerto Rico National

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Guard Public Affairs Office . I'm Jose

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Rivera .