Blake Hall
(Photo Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Laura Gauna/released)
It is 12 year-old Nathan Aldaco’s dream to become a U.S. Marine. Unfortunately, a rare congenital heart defect makes that dream all but impossible to achieve.
But that didn’t stop the 7th Engineer Support Battalion at Camp Pendleton and the Make-A-Wish Foundation from making Nathan’s dreams come true for a day.
Nathan and his parents submitted a list of wishes to the children’s charity. The list included training with Marines, , attending a medal ceremony and wearing authentic camouflage gear. The Make-A-Wish Foundation contacted Camp Pendleton to fulfill all of these wishes in a single swoop.
At Camp Pendleton, Nathan was outfitted in his very own combat gear, including a hard hat. He ate MREs alongside an explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team, who taught him how to drive the bomb-defusing robots they train with everyday. The young boy watched as those same Marines detonated bombs.
“It’s a true honor to do this for Nathan,” said 1st Lt. Ernesto Gaudio said in a Marine Corps release. “We wanted to make him feel like he was a part of the Marine family. We are in service to the United States of America and Nathan is a citizen of the United States. We were just making his wish come true.”
Nathan’s day ended with an award ceremony, where he received the Master EOD badge. Normally, this badge is only given to Marines after 10-15 years of service. When the newly-minted honorary U.S. Marine saluted the auditorium, there wasn’t a single dry eye.
“I got emotional at the end but, hey, we are human beings,” Gaudio said. “We are Marines but we are human.”