Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton -- “I’d feel exhausted and negative, and then a minute later think, ‘I’m almost there and it’ll be worth it,’” said Bismarck, N. D., native, Pfc. Joe T. Hertz, Hotel Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion. The decision to join was easy for Hertz after learning about the Corps at a young age.
The 20-year old was exposed to the Marine Corps by his uncle, who served as a sergeant major. After seeing and hearing what his uncle got to do, he knew he would someday follow in his footsteps and join the military.
While attending high school, Hertz was very active in sports, which were a significant part of his life. His primary sport he played and exceled at was football.
“We were state champions twice while I was on the team,” said Hertz.
Upon completing high school, Hertz enrolled in college to stay productive while still unsure of which future branch of service to join.
Hertz went looking for the recruiters after just one semester of college, but was set back medically after discovering he had a heart murmur.
“I had to go through an EKG and several other medical appointments to get it waivered,” said Hertz.
After months of appointments, he was sworn in and left for Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego to start his journey to become a United States Marine.
Although homesickness is common during the beginning stages of recruit training, Hertz found overwhelming support from loved ones, which helped make the process seem as though it was a blur.
“I got letters almost every day from my mom, dad and sister,” said Hertz. “They motivated me to keep going, and I wanted to make them all proud.”
Along with his family, the new Marine was motivated by the actions of people back home that hadn’t really given back to their country.
“I can’t deny my generation has a lot of lazy people,” said Hertz, “I have a lot of friends I graduated with who had a day-to-day process that really irritated me. I looked around and thought, ‘dang, who’s going to go out and serve their country?’”
The physical demands of recruit training were challenging for Hertz, but the mental challenges proved to be harder.
Hertz scored a perfect 300 points on his Combat Fitness Test, 285 points on the Physical Fitness Test, and expert on his rifle qualification with 320 points.
During the crucible, the final event of recruit training, he was appointed as squad leader for the second time. Being a squad leader meant Hertz had to be selfless and make sacrifices to help his platoon.
“In order to stay on track and be squared away, I could only write home on Sundays,” said Hertz. “It was hard making sure others were taken care of first, but it felt good helping the other recruits, too.”
Hertz’s response for completing recruit training was “somebody has to do it”.
“I think about the Marines serving overseas and the ones who died, and I want to honor what they’ve done,” said Hertz. “I know that some of them were like me at one point, they went to high school for four years and played sports, and then decided they wanted to serve their country.”
Being a Marine is something that has always been on his mind, and after 13 weeks of training, Hertz earned the title and found a new sense of belonging as a Marine.
“Boot camp was hard, but saying you made it through as a squad leader is an incredible feeling,” said Hertz. “I love that you can serve for four years or twenty years and the title will never be taken away.”
Following recruit training, Hertz will report to the School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and then to his military occupation specialty school to become an automotive organizational mechanic.