Sisters Ashley and Amber Valentine, along with sisters Maria, Vanessa and Melissa Placido Jaramillo just graduated together.
Five women, a part of two sets of sisters, completed Marine Corps training together this month. Sisters Ashley and Amber Valentine, along with sisters with Maria, Vanessa and Melissa Placido Jaramillo, just graduated from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) Parris Island in South Carolina.
“These five success stories of triumph and resilience may have come to Parris Island with different mindsets and from different backgrounds, but they will forever share the bond of becoming Marines side-by-side,” MCRD Parris Island wrote in a Facebook post.
Vanessa and Melissa Placido Jaramillo, both 22, and their younger sister Maria, 21, promised each other they would join the military together, and that they did. The three sisters, who were born in Panama and grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, will soon become American citizens.
“My parents are proud, because we are the first females (in our family) and first generation to join the United States Marine Corps or any military branch,” Maria Jaramillo told "Good Morning America."
Ashley Valentine, 19, and Amber Valentine, 22, have family in the military and joined to continue the family tradition.
“Three days before my grandpa passed away, I promised him that I was going to become a Marine,” Ashley Valentine said. “When he died, I made that my life’s mission to make him proud.”
The Valentine sisters say going through training together has only made their bond as sisters stronger.
“We’re always going to be there for each other at the end of the day,” Amber Valentine said.
“Not only are we blood sisters, we’re sisters in arms,” Ashley Valentine added.
The five women posed for photos together that MCRD Parris Island posted on their Facebook page.
"The Marine Corps is a family, the Placido Jaramillo sisters and the Valentine sisters were born by blood into a family, but now they become part of a new family," Sgt. Maj. Damian Rodriguez told GMA.
RELATED STORIES
