Dan served 5-years in the Marine Corps. He started as the aviation ordinance and missile technician in VMA-214 Black Sheep Squadron, 3rd MAW at MCAS El Toro, Santa Ana, California. He went to the Navy’s “AO” Aviation Ordnance School for six months in Jacksonville, FL, for additional training. After one year at El Toro, the squadron commander approached Dan. The captain wanted to send two of us to the most elite independent duty in the Marine Corps called Embassy School in Washington, DC. He said less than 1% of the entire Marine Corps is eligible for the program. There are less than three hundred embassies worldwide.

The Marine Security Guard school was three months long and incredibly challenging mentally, physically, and academically. Statistically, less than half of all students make it through the school. We studied the mission and purpose of the school since the school was established in 1948 by Congress.