Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego -- The death of a father, a constant move from state to state and school to school would be enough to make any child question a sense of belonging or family security.
Fortunately, one recruit was able to find a sense of himself, belonging and security in the type of brotherhood the Marine Corps offers.
Private Axel L. Franco, Platoon 1034, Bravo Company, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, moved from Guatemala to California with his mother at the age of one after the death of his father.
Once Franco was old enough to attend elementary school, he and his mother began a tumultuous journey of moving from city to city until eventually ending up in Florida.
“My mother started traveling a lot to help her deal with the loss of my father,” said Franco, an 18-year-old Guatemalan native.
Upon arrival to Florida, the fourth grader and his mother stayed with a friend, who was a Marine veteran, who lived on a boat. For three years, Franco was a successful student who flourished in the American school. Once he finished seventh grade, his mother moved him back to Guatemala to live with his grandmother. However, due to his inability to speak Spanish, he failed eighth and ninth grade.
“I wanted to excel with school,” said Franco. “I did not want to be left behind with my education.”
Franco returned to Florida to live with his mother at the beginning of summer before his sophomore year. He spent the summer enrolled in classes catching up to his peers by the beginning of his sophomore year. With his sophomore year complete, he and his mother returned to California so he could finish his junior and senior year.
Franco began attending church with a friend and his family, who slowly showed him what being part of a family is all about. Eventually, they made his place in the family official by adopting him during his junior year.
“When everything was settled and I was placed into another family, I experienced for the first time what it was like to have brothers and sisters,” said Franco. “Although I’m thankful for them supporting me, still felt like something was missing.”
Once graduating high school, he realized he needed to make a career choice, but had little certainty regarding where to go or what to do.
“I thought about the Marine we lived with on the boat and the values he stood for,” said Franco. “You could tell he loved being a Marine and was always proud to talk about it.”
Franco began as an only child and was still seeking a brotherhood. When the veteran talked about the brotherhood in the Marine Corps, it gave rise to his interest in joining one of the world’s finest fighting forces.
Franco knew the Marine Corps would give him a pride of belonging and a place to call home, he explained.
“Now that I am at recruit training, I can see it in my platoon and in other platoons. The brotherhood I’ve been looking for is in all of us,” said Franco. “We train together, and we grow strong together. We are a family.”
Following recruit training, Franco will attend Marine Combat Training in Camp Pendleton, Calif., to purse his Marine Corps career as a radio operator. Franco will be serving in the Marine Corps as a reservist with plans to receive his interrupter credentials, and then plans to re-enlist and move to active duty.