The Name Is Marine Pvt. Pedersen

Garrett Pedersen, a 2018 Kimball High School graduate, has a newly achieved goal he aimed to achieve for many years. As of last week, he is officially a Marine, Pvt. Pedersen.

"Honestly, I have always wanted to become a Marine since I was 15," he said. "The roughest and toughest branch of the military. I told myself I wanted to be a Marine."

He was accepted in August 2018 and headed out to San Diego, Calif., just a few short months later on Oct. 15 for Basic Training/Bootcamp. Garrett completed his training on last Friday, Jan. 11.

"It is hard to put Garrett's accomplishments into words! We are extremely proud of him, and it's a feeling that people don't understand until they have actually been through it," said Garrett's mother, Stephanie Pedersen.

"We are proud to be the parents of a U.S. Marine and are extremely proud of him for wanting to serve his country so we can continue to have the freedoms that we have," she added.

During the full 13 weeks of Basic Training, the days were long for Stephanie waiting hear from Garrett.

"It's been a long journey and a long 13 weeks," she said. "It's tough when you don't get to talk to your child on the phone for that long. Luckily, we were able to receive mail from him, going to the mail box every day hoping to get a letter in the mail. Many times we just had to remind ourselves that no news was good news!"

Along with the letters home, the Petersens were part of a Facebook group for families of the Marines. Stephanie said that helped to visit with others who were going through the same thing. She added that they were able to ask questions to the admin if there were any.

"We got to San Diego on Wednesday afternoon and were able to attend a dinner that night for families and had the chance to meet and visit his senior drill instructor," she said. "Thursday, we were able to watch them practice for graduation, which was a little difficult since we were so close to him, but yet unable to give him a big hug or even talk to him.

"But that afternoon the Marines were released to family for a few hours, and that was an awesome feeling when we actually got to hug him for the first time in 13 weeks."

During that time, the family was able to walk around base with Garrett and have lunch.

"Then, of course, the hard part was having to tell him goodbye and not seeing him again until the next day," Stephanie said.

Even with the heartfelt goodbyes, the next day rolled around. It was Friday, graduation day.

"Friday, we were able to watch the colors being presented and then watching the graduation was amazing to see," she said. "There were six platoons that graduated, each having 80-90 future Marines in them. That was quite a sight!"

Garrett made the trip home last Saturday and will be home in Kimball for a few more days before he heads out again Monday.

"I go to MCT for a month, the MOS school for roughly two months, then I will hit the fleet," he said.

While at training, Garrett's company was Delta Company and he was in Platoon 1061. They were also Honor Platoon.

The trip to witness his accomplishment was made by many parents, aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. They all made the trip to California this past week.

"I am proud of myself," Garrett said, "for taking this next step in my future."