Caedmon Rux, 17, says that “he’s ready.”

In just four months, on July 17, he will be heading to the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, where his mental and physical abilities will be tested for 13 weeks. He will be expected to give it his all at all times. Rux, a senior at Sedona Red Rock High School, recently moved to Sedona from Texas. He had more than enough credits to graduate early and is taking advantage of that opportunity.

In January, Rux enlisted in the Marine Corps. He had begun working with his recruiter, Staff Sgt. James McCoy, a few months prior to his formal enlistment.

“I remember how excited he sounded on the phone, and how much he already knows about the Marine Corps and what he wants to do,” McCoy said. “I mean, this kid has the drive and he’s got the motivation to push himself.”

Rux says that he has wanted to join the military since he was 7 or 8 years old. “I wondered what was it like. It just seemed cool to me at the time, and then I learned more about it and started getting more interested in it,” he said. Rux also said that he loved history.

“It’s probably one of my favorite things to learn about, because it’s just like, what have we done as a society?” he commented. “I love war history. It’s probably one of my favorite things to learn.”

“When I was younger, I learned probably, every single fact about Pearl Harbor and World War II in the same day, and could memorize everything about it,” Rux said.

McCoy has been preparing Rux for what to expect during boot camp, discussing his diet, exercise regimen and available job opportunities and providing encouragement and support. Rux believes that enlisting in the Marines is his “dream come true,” and is looking forward to obtaining an education while training in one of three career fields.

“My first option was infantry, because, well, it’s infantry. Why not?” Rux said. “My second option was going to be a combat engineer, which I don’t remember if I qualified for. I think I did. But at the same time, it was kind of unfortunate because the jobs that came up whenever I was going to boot camp weren’t the ones that I wanted. And then the last option was security forces, which is what I’ve chosen so far.”

The Marines famously claim that “every Marine is a rifleman.”

Regardless of specialization, of whether a Marine is in the infantry, the air wing or a technical specialty, each is given the necessary training to perform the duties of an infantryman. Additionally, recruits are required to be able to run three miles in less than 24 minutes. Rux admits that he is not exactly where he needs to be physically.

“I’m usually up pretty early in the morning, and I’ll go to the gym before school,” Rux said. “Then I’ll go to school and on Thursdays, I drive up to Flagstaff and go do their [PT] training up there. And in the middle of all of that, I’m just stuffing my face with food because I’m skin and bones.”

“I’m not forcing him to go [to Flagstaff] to do those workouts because he lives so far away,” McCoy said. “But he wants to because he wants to make sure that he’s prepared, and he wants to be successful in boot camp. He wants to be one of those top recruits that makes us proud and makes himself proud, makes his family proud, and makes his friends proud.”

Rux said that he has spoken with 2021 Sedona Red Rock High School alumnus Jaiah Grondin, who joined the Marines after graduation, as well as a few other recruits.

“I got to talk with them, and I went for a run with them and regretted it instantly,” Rux said. “But yeah, it just jammed … they gave me some words of wisdom: If the drill instructor knows your name, run.”

Rux recalled that his biological father and his grandfather served in the military. His grandfather was a Marine in the Korean War and he believes his father served in Afghanistan and Iraq, where he received a Purple Heart.

“My dad’s been saying, “Whatever you do, do not quit. As much as you’re going to want to, just don’t. Because in the end, it’s definitely worth it. Same with my grandpa, he said the exact same thing, almost word for word.”

Rux says that both his father and grandfather are his heroes.

“They’ve both sacrificed and done so much for this country. And for me, they both take a lot of time to help me get a little bit more prepared and mentally ready — just kind of facts and logic about what I’m going into,” he said.

When asked what the United States of America means to him, Rux replied, “For me, it means freedom.”