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"Joining the Marine Corps never crossed my mind until my younger brother went to see our local recruiter," said Joe.

Joe said he was in his sophomore year at Central Michigan University when Andy was considering enlisting in the Marin Corps and Joe went to talk to the recruiter.

"We discussed the options for me and two weeks after that I was in boot camp in San Diego," he said.

He said growing up in Sebewaing with his patriotic family and his brother's desire to join the military were what steered him to join.

"Our grandfather was in the military and that had a little impact on me but the main reason for joining was my brother and the support from home."

He said knowing his brother was going to serve their country made him think about what he could do to help too.

"It's hard to explain but when I knew Andy was going I knew I had to go," he said. "Plus the staff at USA always pushed you to do things and to never quit...I guess I took that piece of information with me."

Bloomer hasn't spent time overseas but he's lived in San Diego, California, Quantico, Virginia and Pensacola, Fla.

Bloomer, a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps is currently attending flight school in Pensacola, Fla., and plans on continuing his career in the military.

Andy Bloomer, a Rifleman in the Infantry, said his reason for joining the Marine Corps came right after Sept. 11.

"I felt this was something I had to do," he said. "I had wanted to become a police officer or fire fighter and this seemed to be a way to get closer to the goal."

While Andy is on inactive reserve since August 2005 with the Marine Corps, he has followed his pursuit to be involved with fire fighting.

"I'm enrolling for the fall semester at Delta College for a major in Fire Science Technology."

Andy Bloomer began his military career at the same San Diego boot camp as his older brother; just at a different time.

His first duty was in Bahrain, just east of Saudi Arabia where he worked the security forces. From there he went to Norfolk, Va.,(his home base) then to Cuba. He spent some time in the State of Washington at Pugent Sound and his final tour of duty took him to Iraq for seven months.

While in Iraq, Bloomer and his security forces troop spent time looking for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), insurgents and weapons.

Andy Bloomer has no future plans to reenlist with the Marine Corps.