Coral Springs, Fla., native a Marine Corps drill instructor on Parris Island, S.C.

Staff Sgt. Gabriel Soto II currently serves as a Marine Corps drill instructor with India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C. Soto joined the Marine Corps in May 2005 and became a drill instructor in January 2014. “I became a drill instructor so I could teach the basics and send out a better, more combat-ready product,” said Soto, a 30-year-old native of Coral Springs, Fla. About 600 Marine Corps drill instructors shape the approximately 19,000 recruits who come to Parris Island annually into basic United States Marines. Parris Island is home to entry-level enlisted training for approximately 49 percent of male recruits and 100 percent of female recruits in the Marine Corps. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Aaron Bolser)