Darren Barnet

Senior Government major from Smyrna, Ga., Jared Toso is enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps upon graduating from Berry College in May 2013.  Since the age of eight, Toso has had dreams of joining the Marines and he has stayed true to those dreams to this day.

Toso has been fascinated with the life of a soldier nearly all of his life. He has researched a variety of books and even documentaries on Marine lifestyle that caught his attention many years ago and has kept it ever since.

Toso’s fascination with the marines can be seen in his bedroom, which is filled with Marine branded merchandise including a large blanket on his bed, multiple water bottles and coffee cups, key chains, personalized dog tags, calendars, and a variety of books on classical and modern warfare. Toso educates himself and stays up to date with current affairs everyday, especially when it comes to dealing with anything that is Marine related.

Solid physical fitness is a very crucial requirement to be accepted into the Marines and Toso works at this everyday. Every morning, Toso wakes up to his normal workout routine. He starts out with a three-mile run, follows with a set of pull-ups, and finishes off with a set of marine style crunches.

Toso tests the limits of his body everyday in order to improve his personal fitness test results or PFT, which is the measure of fitness to become a marine. In order to get a perfect score on the PFT, Toso explained that you must run 3 miles in under 18 minutes, complete 20 pull-ups in one session, and complete 100 crunches in under two minutes. The perfect score for the PFT is a 300 and Toso explained that he is currently attempting to break his personal record of 270.

During the first semester of the year, Toso directed a PFT training circuit every Thursday for anyone interested in enlisting in the Marines. Open to both males and females, Toso would keep a log of personal records for each participant in the circuit. He would send out emails to each participant each week with their scores and how much they needed to improve in order to qualify for the Marines.

Toso lives a very structured yet simplistic lifestyle, much like that of a marine. You will not find a vast quantity of stylish clothing or decorative items throughout his room. His closet is filled mainly with Marine tee-shirts, blue jeans, and military boots which describes Toso’s daily attire. Toso explained his simplistic wardrobe as evidence of him being financially strained, however, he also acknowledged that this sort of minimalistic lifestyle he lives will hopefully result in a smooth adjustment upon entering the Marine Corps.

Speaking of adjusting to Marine life, Toso cuts and grooms his own hair to Marine approved standards. He keeps his hair very close-cut and groomed so he will already be accustomed to that aspect of Marine life.

Initally, Toso came to Berry with the intention of earning a Bachelors degree and immediately becoming an officer upon graduation. Toso attended a mock officer candidate school or OCS, during his junior year where he was able to experience firsthand what life would be like while becoming an officer.

Unfortunately, plans have changed for Toso due to physical health problems that have prevented him from achieving perfect PFT scores, which he explained as, “Essential if you even want to be looked at as a candidate in the officer corps.”

Toso has suffered from an injured IT ban in his left leg as well as severe shin splints that have prevented him from being able to run the required three miles in under 18 minutes. Therefore, Toso explained that instead of trying to become an officer right away, he will enlist as a private and attempt to utilize his college degree to climb the ranks as fast as he can.

Toso explained that he struggles to find any sort of reward in the world of academia and that he is very excited to join the Marines and finally be able to do what he has wanted to do for so long.

“Academia is just frustrating me. I’ve been spinning my gears and I just wanna get out and do what I want to do with my life” explained Toso.

After graduating from Berry on May 11, 2013, Toso will spend a short month at home earning money at his Chic-Fil-A job before enlisting in the Marines and following the path that he has always dreamed of.