FORA.tv Speaker - Jim Castellanos

His military service began at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, on August 13, 2001. Following boot camp, he started Marine combat training at the Camp Pendleton School of Infantry and subsequently trained as an aviation ordnance systems technician at the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Pensacola, Florida. He then trained at the Naval Air Maintenance Training Marine Unit in Cherry Point, North Carolina, specializing in helicopter weapons systems. Upon completing his training, he arrived at my permanent duty station, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 775, a UH-1 Huey and AH-1 Cobra helicopter squadron at Camp Pendleton, California. Since he was enlisted as a Marine reservist, he was immediately discharged from active duty and put on reserve status, which enabled him to begin academic studies at the University of La Verne in California. He completed only one semester before being activated from the reserves and deploying to Al Asad, Iraq, for a seven-month combat tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.