The first in his family to serve

Kennedy graduate enlists as a reservist in the Marines

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A mother escorted her two children through a South Merrick neighborhood on the eve of Veterans Day, stopping at houses that displayed military homecoming signs to give residents personalized thank-you notes. In one of the homes, Brendan Hondena, a 2017 Kennedy High School graduate, had just returned from a 13-week Marine recruit training program in Parris Island, S.C.

Hondena half-smiled as he showed the Herald the cards and notes. Last year, he became the first member of his family to enlist in the U.S. military, joining the Marine Corps as a reservist.

Asked what inspired him, Hondena said, “It’s just what I wanted to do. Anytime, any day, you could ask me. I just wanted to be a Marine.”

When Brendan was 8, he knew he wanted to be a soldier, and by age 10, he was determined to join the Marines, according to his mother, Pamela. “He loved history,” she said. “And he was really into watching war documentaries.”

Wanting to help her son pursue his passion, she enrolled him in the Civil Air Patrol’s youth cadet program when he was 12. There he learned leadership skills and search-and-rescue techniques, and completed a variety of military obstacles.

In high school, Hondena wanted to gain more military experience, but could not find a program in Bellmore or Merrick. So his parents sent him to a summer boot camp in Alabama called the Extreme Military Challenge.

“I kind of did all of these things to dissuade him from joining,” Pamela said. “But it only affirmed his [passion]. He seems to thrive in that environment.”

Brendan enlisted during his senior year. Because he was 17, he needed his mother’s permission to sign the paperwork. “It took a lot of convincing,” he said, adding that, along with his teachers, she wanted him to go to college first and focus on his military path afterward.

In hindsight, he said that he regrets enlisting as a reservist. “You like hearing that, Mom?” he laughed. A reservist serves roughly once a month or when necessary, and is otherwise a civilian. Hondena said he would rather be on active duty so he could be more fully committed to the Marines.

Training in South Carolina, Hondena said, was mentally challenging — he feared disappointing his recruiters and being dropped from the program. Also, he said, 13 weeks dragged on a lot longer than he had anticipated. He sometimes felt homesick or jaded during his incentive training, an exercise routine meant to build strength and discipline. But he was not dissuaded from pursuing his dream.

Asked how the experience compared with the depiction of war in movies or the documentaries he used to enjoy, Hondena said that he couldn’t tell, because he hadn’t seen a new movie in three months. He also hadn’t read a book, listened to music or tuned into the news. Trainees learned of current events only when their sergeants relayed the information to them. That was how he learned about North Korea’s threats against the U.S., the mass shooting in Las Vegas and Hurricane Irma.

He didn’t mind the break from the media, however. He questioned his decision to be a reservist only after he came home.

“Our sergeants said we’d see a change, and I didn’t believe them,” he said. “But ever since I got back, things have felt a little weird.” This was Hondena’s first taste of reintegration — the process of returning to one’s pre-deployment routine.

Becoming a full-time marine may still be a possibility for him when he finishes his training, and can choose to remain a reservist, to enlist as an active-duty Marine or, as his mother prefers, attending college and putting his military pursuits on hold.

Hondena left on Monday for combat training at Camp Geiger in North Carolina. Next month he will attend Military Occupation School at a Marine base in Twentynine Palms, Calif., where he will be trained as a radio operator. In March he will complete his training and begin working as a reservist, serving for one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer.

“Its gonna be an experience,” Hondena said. “I can’t wait for the camaraderie. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most.”