Cerritos College
Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

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Cerritos player is ready to serve

DRIVING THE BALL - Ralph Puga of the Cerritos College men´s water polo team advances the ball during practice. Puga is a member of the Army Reserves.  Photo by Elizabeth Parra/TM
DRIVING THE BALL – Ralph Puga of the Cerritos College men´s water polo team advances the ball during practice. Puga is a member of the Army Reserves. Photo by Elizabeth Parra/TM

Ralph Puga is waiting for the call from his country.

Puga, a member of the Cerritos College men’s water polo team, is a member of the Army reserves.

He says he is ready to go to war, and the team is willing to support him when he goes.

“My military unit is the 693rd Quartermaster company,” he said.

“Right now I am waiting for my sergeant to tell me when the unit is going to war.”

He enrolled in the junior recruit officer training course in high school, and has been in the army reserves for two years.

Puga said that one guy does not make the team, and that the team will have a great season with or without him. “I want the team to take every game one at a time.”

He said that he wants the team to keep playing hard and not to quit, and he also wants the team to be concerned with his well being. “I’m just excited about going to war.”

Charlie Eldridge, a teammate at Cerritos, said that Puga’s priorities are his priorities. “He has to deal with the decision of being in the army. If he has to go to war that is his responsibility.”

He added that if he has to go to war, then he has to go to war. “I am not going to get mad at Ralph if he has to go to war, because that is his decision.”

Eldridge said that he wants Puga to worry to about his duties in the army. “We just have to go by the old song, one player does not make a team.

“We could use him, but he has other things to do. We are going to support him if he has to go to war.”

Puga said that this will be his second time going to a foreign country, but he doesn’t yet know where he will be stationed. The first time he helped the U.S. Military in Germany.

He said that he made the decision to go to the army by himself, because he wanted to make a great future out of his life in the army.

“What I enjoy the most about being in the army is making a difference in my life.”

Teammate Marcus Alvarez said that Puga has always wanted to be in the army and that he is fulfilling a commitment to the army. “The team is always going to be here.

“We will be alright if he has to go to war, and we will support him.”

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Cerritos player is ready to serve