Quantico, VA -- Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) is proud to highlight members of its workforce family in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 – Oct. 15. Corporal Rodolfo Estrada is glad that MCSC is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.
“It really helps me remember where I came from and how far the Hispanic community has come,” Estrada said. “I am proud to say that I am a Mexican-American in the Marine Corps working at Marine Corps Systems Command.”
Estrada, an Administrative Specialist in the Staff Secretary’s Administrative Office, thinks celebrating one’s heritage is great for morale.
“Everyone needs a pick me up every now and then,” Estrada said, “especially in such a stressful work environment like the one we have the privilege of coming to every day.”
He sees other benefits as well.
“Knowing is half the battle,” he said. “The more MCSC personnel know about one another, the more we become a whole as people and a Command, and the stronger, better and more efficient we will be in the future.”
Corporal Estrada was born and raised in Florida. His grandparents immigrated to the United States from Monterey, Mexico, with his mother and her siblings about three years before he was born.
“They originally came over to get jobs to earn money and go back to buy a ranch,” Estrada said. “But they liked it so much they became legal citizens.”
Estrada’s father moved to this country from Guerrero, Mexico, to earn money to support his single mother back home.
“I would have to say that I am most proud of the history that I have as a Mexican-American,” the Corporal said. “I am one of few people in my section at MCSC and in the country who can speak, read and write two different languages fluently. I think that is pretty cool.”
Estrada believes that MCSC is one of the most well rounded commands in the Marine Corps.
“As one of my high-school teachers used to say, the U.S is a melting pot of people of all origins from all over the world,” Estrada said. “MCSC is exactly that…. we have administrative personal, logistics personal, lawyers, supply personnel and a bunch more. Without diversity both in race and jobs, I don’t think MCSC would be the great Command it is.”