Ed Maysonet
Series Honorman
Ed Maysonet
Pfc.
1998
Pvt. Ed Maysonet
San Diego, CA, 1998
I found a recruiting office, took the tests and passed. I was going to be a Marine; I was 30 years old.
It was 1985 and I was a kid of 17 in Puerto Rico. I was watching TV with my cousin, who was from New York, and a Marine commercial came on. I didn’t understand the commercial, as I didn’t speak English, but I turned to my cousin and said, “One day I will be a U.S. Marine.”
For six years I took the recruitment test many times, but I failed as I didn’t speak English and had high blood pressure. I bought an English learning book to study. I would call people in the U.S. to listen to them talk. I finally passed the physical test when a doctor changed the cuff size and my blood pressure was normal. My former pastor from Puerto Rico was living in Harlingen, Texas, and he invited my family to Texas. We left everything in PR and came to Texas. I found a recruiting office, took the tests and passed. I was going to be a Marine; I was 30 years old.
In 1998, I went to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, in San Diego, California, for the 12-week boot camp. Everyone was speaking English. The first night I didn’t know what was happening; the Drill Instructors were all gruff. I didn’t know what they were saying so I just followed what others were doing. It was tough, but in my mind I knew I could do this thing.
My best day in the Marines was when my Drill Instructor congratulated me and gave me the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor and called me Marine for the first time.
After MCRD, I went to Infantry School. I broke my knee and they wanted to put me in the mail room. I told them I came here to be a Marine and to fight. They gave me the choice of getting out or delivering mail. I got out and came home to Texas.
I have been a Pastor of Latin Outreach Church since 2003. I have all of these things, a house and cars, because of the Marine Corps. Those core values I learned—honor, courage, commitment—are in me. In America if you have the courage, you can do it. That small time I was in the Marines is the basis of what I do now.
I am also the Head Nurse in the Cardiology Clinic at BAMC. I see the discipline of the other services. It is not Marine discipline and the way the enlisted talk to the officers—wow, you do this in the Marine Corps and you will get in trouble big time.
I tell people if I can do it you can do it, and with God, you can do it better, because God is going to help you. {04-19-2014 • New Braunfels, TX}