The U.S. Armed Forces have a well-known legacy of families passing down a tradition of service, which has sustained the Marines over the course of its 251 years.
But as a Marine veteran and Marine father, Jacob McCloskey said during an interview at the Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot last month, that just before Memorial Day, service takes on a different look when a child faces the potential of harm.
"When you become a Marine or somebody in your family becomes a Marine, you start to actually pay attention to the news a little bit differently for the first time," he said. "The world's always been unstable. There's never been a time in American history in nearly 250 years that we have not had some kind of conflict. And obviously, Marines have been on the shores of all those countries and we've been there. So I fully knew."
McCloskey, the father, could speak from personal experience; he himself joined two years before the attacks of September 11.
"There's a good chance during my son's career, his enlistment, whether it's four years or it's 20 years, that he's gonna find himself in a conflict zone. And as a Marine, I have to understand that. It might be a little bit harder for me as a parent, but I have understood that that's his calling and that's his choice."
Having a loved one following the call to serve presented an obvious challenge for Victoria Scataglini, a licensed therapist from Newtown, Connecticut, the site of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
"A part of me that from the experience really got to be a pacifist and really against guns and against war," she said during an interview at Parris Island.
But her son, Nicholas, now a Marine intel specialist, had been talking about enlisting since his pre-teen years, she said.
"My former husband and I struggled with that because neither of us comes from a military family or were pro-military. So it was real line to walk to be able to know that my family's mission is to support my son and all of his dreams. And then the dream being so counter to my own belief system. But I'm a mom. And I'm proud, and he's my boy, and I will do anything to support him."
The current conflict environment wasn't lost on Ohio Marine mother, Maria Carkido, also interviewed at Parris Island.
"So coming in at this time with everything going on, it was kind of weird. He was in for a week, then Trump declares war, you know?"
But she emphasized her faith and confidence in her son's decision to serve.
"He is ready to do this. And I trust our president, I trust our military that ... things will progress and move forward. I don't really have any fear for Gionni [her son] if he has to go. If things happen, no fear."