I served from 1978 to 1982 as a U.S. Marine.
My older brother, Jimmy served in the U.S. Marine Corps and spent 13 months in Vietnam. He never spoke of his experiences. I remember when I was young and he came home. I was a teenager then. We slept in the same room and he had lots of nightmares. It scared me because he didn’t know where he was. I didn’t understand and was afraid he might do something to me.
I was 17 years old when I enlisted. My father had to sign for me. I needed to leave home because of my abusive father and wanted to follow in my brother’s footsteps. We are not really close today as he lives in Georgia and I live in Colorado.
This picture is of when I was training at Fort Bragg working with the 82nd Airborne. We used live fire with artillery for 3 weeks twice a year. The U.S. Marines had to show the Army how it was done. The most difficult aspect was the jungle training that I did in Panama. My MOS was 2531 radio operator. I trained at Camp LeJeune and went to Panama, France, Scotland, Norway, England, and stationed at 29 Palms. The loyalty and friendship we had for each other has always stayed with me. My unit was very close to one another.
When I left the military, I started a painting company and owned a restaurant. Later, I worked in law enforcement. As a kid I always wanted to become a police officer. It was one of my dreams and owning a restaurant. I fulfilled my dreams.
I am very proud to have served this great Country. It made me a man that could stand up under any pressures and to carry it with me my entire life.
I volunteer at Paws for Life shelter and saw the need for helping dogs that needed a forever home. They also make a great pet. It seems they really appreciate having a home. I have two rescue dogs, Brooke and Nokoma. Brooke shown here with me was actually a foster dog that we were trying to train and we end up adopting her. It took us about 2 years for Brooke to become friendly.
She was really beaten up.
~ Anthony Ciulla, USMC Veteran
COMES A Soldier’s Whisper is proud to collect our veteran stories that are not in the text books but need to be known and passed down for generations to come.
Stories collected by Jenny Lasala
www.JennyLasala.com
