Then and Now: Working Toward a Greater Good with Veteran Mario...

Then and Now: Working Toward a Greater Good with Veteran Mario Romero

This post is in honor of #VeteransDay in the United States, which is observed on November 11.

Becoming an elite commando wasn’t an especially realistic goal for Mario Romero (@marioromero186). The New Jersey native had 20/400 vision, an arrhythmia of the heart and weighed 135 pounds (61 kilograms) — but he was undaunted. “I refused to give up,” he recalls. “I trained even harder.” Ultimately, the then small-but-determined recruit survived the grueling training it takes to become a US Navy SEAL, then served three deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After nine years in the military, the now 34-year-old embarked on a new pursuit: a mathematics degree at Columbia University in New York City. Now, he has a new goal of one day working at NASA. “It all started with books,” he says, remembering the historical images of World War II that inspired him to enlist. “If I could contribute towards a greater good, I was going to.”

by via Instagram Blog