I Made the Paper!

Josh Rice and Shawn Marron, who sat next to each other as saxophone players in the Vista Murrieta High School jazz band, will not have to give up playing together now that they've graduated from high school.

The two musicians have been selected to become members of the 1st Marine Division Band at Camp Pendleton.

Rice said he was told they are the first Southwest County high school graduates to be selected for the ensemble.

The 18-year-olds will join the band in about 10 months after they complete Marine and music training.

Avid musicians and friends since meeting in eighth grade, it wasn't the band that drew them into the Marines. Both teens said they would have enlisted anyway.

"I was going to go straight infantry. I wanted to be a Marine," Marron said. "Music is just a plus."

They were each in middle school when they first considered the Marines as a career.

"(I wanted to join) because of the veterans and what they stood for and what they protect," Marron said.

"I was inspired by different people in my life, like my grandfather," Rice said. "I just wanted to be like them." Once he was accepted by the Marines, auditioning for the band seemed natural, Rice said. "Military is something I wanted to do and music is something I want to do, so why not do both?" he said.

Both joined the Marines last year through the Delayed Entry Program ---- which allowed them to enlist before their senior year in high school ---- and have been training weekly at the recruiting center in Temecula.

Rice leaves for boot camp at Camp Pendleton on July 19. Marron follows next month.

They will undergo 13 weeks of boot camp, 29 days of Marine Combat Training and six months at the school of music in Virginia before joining the band, one of 12 Marine Corps bands located around the United States and Japan.

The 50-member 1st Marine Division Band is booked for more than 400 concerts and performances each year, playing all styles of music including classical ---- which Rice favors ---- and Marron's favorite, jazz.

When Rice was accepted into the Marine band in 2009, he filled the only saxophonist opening. So, hoping to join his friend, Marron started playing the bassoon. But, another saxophonist spot opened up and Marron auditioned and was accepted in March.

Being musicians does not mean the men will not be sent into battle. The band is a deployable unit, with about a dozen troops currently serving in Afghanistan, Rice said.

Marron said he hopes being in the band does not prevent him from serving overseas. "That's why I joined the Marines, so I can go over there and make a difference," he said.

Link: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/murrieta/article_3a48c23f-0e76-5691-aea0-3a6fdaeddb4f.html