TROY, Mich. - As Royce Andre Vasser III and Charlemagne Cougar Peake sit together in a Marine Corps Recruiting Station Detroit office, it becomes quite eerie to see their similarity in looks and mannerisms. The two brothers enlisted into the Delayed Entry Program just months apart and will soon be making service to their country a family business.
Vasser called a Marine Corps recruiting station in late winter of 2012. The Marine to return his garbled phone message was Sgt. Moises Cartegena, a Houston native and Marine Corps recruiter at Permanent Contact Station Westland, Mich.
“Our answering machine doesn’t work,” said Cartegena. “When I checked the machine all I got was a number, so I called.”
Cartegena called once with no answer. He called a second time and Vasser picked up.
Vasser had spoken with a Marine Corps recruiter in 2010, but his mother, who was against the idea of joining the Marines, persuaded him otherwise. Vasser had not given up hope in joining the military, and in 2011 he linked up with several Navy recruiters.
Vasser never completed the process to enlist in the Navy. In the end this may have been lucky for him considering the “Marines were always (his) first choice.”
“I like the idea of joining the Marines,” Vasser said. “I think it’s interesting and fun, and I enjoy trying new things.”
When asked if his family was supportive, he cracked a smile and shot a look at his brother. They begin to laugh together with several head shakes.
“It was no shocker that I wanted to join the military,” Vasser said.
Peake responded with a different story.
“For me especially, my dad was really surprised that I was joining the Marines,” Peake said.
He talks about his choices on the journey toward enlistment as he followed suit and tailed his brother’s footsteps.
“In my life, my choices have always been made for me,” Peake said with resentment, as he recalled moving from Detroit City High School to Inkster High School midway through high school.
Peake cracked a smile as Cartegena began to recount his interview with Vasser’s brother.
“I actually remember when he made the decision,” said Cartegena. “He said, ‘Stop talking, this is my decision. Yes, I want to join the Marines.’”
Within weeks, Peake was in the Marine Corps Delayed Entry Program with his brother Vasser.
Their family, skeptical at first about them joining the Marines, tried to sway their decision toward the Air Force, but once their family met with Cartegena and other members of the delayed entry program they relaxed.
“At first I know one son wanted to join the Marines, but when the second one wanted to join, I was very worried,” said Lashara Peake-Lewis, the boys’ mother. “They are my only two sons.”
Although Peake-Lewis was not thrilled her only two sons were joining the Marine Corps, her outlook and those of their family members soon changed.
“I am happy and very proud of them,” said Peake-Lewis. “I look forward to seeing what kind of careers they’ll have and how far they are going to excel.”
When asked how they felt about being in the Marine Delayed Entry Program they both looked at each other and in unison replied “fun.”
“Sgt. Cart has really been a blessing to us, honestly,” said Peake. “ I don’t know where I’d be if my brother had not met Sgt. Cart,” he said, ignoring his brother’s jabs as he gets sentimental. “The recruiters have been really helpful and Sgt. Cart is a great person.”
Cartegena said it was an emotional roller coaster with scheduling and organizing boot camp dates for these brothers to become Marines.
“For Vasser and Peake, as brothers in the DEP, I hope that one day they’ll come across each other’s paths as Marines,” he said.
Vasser is slated to leave for recruit training aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., in November 2013. Peake is slated to attend recruit training in December 2013.
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2013 11:21 |
| Story ID: | 113828 |
| Location: | TROY, MICHIGAN, US |
| Hometown: | DETROIT, MICHIGAN, US |
| Hometown: | HOUSTON, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 160 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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