Marine promoted to gunnery sergeant after beating lymphatic cancer

After deciding to stick with the service while fighting cancer, a U.S. Marine staff sergeant was promoted to gunnery sergeant after defeating lymphatic cancer.

Alejandro Abrego, an assistant supply chief with 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, became a gunnery sergeant in a Friday promotion ceremony alongside his wife and infant son, according to a release.

As the son of two immigrant parents, Abrego became the first member in his family to enlist in the military — joining the Marine Corps upon graduating high school. Abrego noted that at that time, he wanted wanted to set an example for his younger siblings.

He joined as a 3043 Supply Chain and Materiel Management Specialist and reenlisted to work in embassies in Morocco, Haiti and South Africa as a Marine Security Guard.

Abrego moved to Pennsylvania for Inspector-Instructor duty after his role as a MSG.

He was in Pennsylvania when he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, and he spent the next several years undergoing cycles of chemotherapy and operations in an “aggressive attempt” to battle the cancer.

The Corps offered Abrego medical retirement during the early stages of his treatment, the release states, but he chose to stay, saying “That’s not what Marines do, we are supposed to fight.”

“I just felt like it wasn’t my time to stop,” Abrego said in the release.

“I didn’t want to be that guy that got the easy way out because he got cancer,” he continued.

Abrego began reentering the Fleet Marine Force after his decision to stay in the Corps, and worked on making himself competitive for the gunnery sergeant rank promotion.

“If you only saw Staff Sgt. Abrego in action, you would have no idea what obstacles he overcame to get here,” Maj. Edwin B. Powers, a supply officer with 2nd MEB, said in the release.

“You would just know that he’s a stellar Marine. He does not know how to give anything less than his best,” Powers concluded.