Mele Ah Ling is the first Samoan female recruit from the Marine Permanent Contact Station in American Samoa to report to boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, CA.
Historically, this was an all-male only training depot. It just opened to females and integrated training in March 2021. Prior to that, all female recruits trained at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina.
Mele Ah Ling of Malaeimi village, and a 2022 graduate of Tafuna High School, left for Boot Camp on November 7, 2022. She is expected to graduate first week of February, 2023.
Staff Sergeant Helenia Porter, the only recruiter on PCS American Samoa, was responsible for finding Ah Ling and helping her through the process of enlisting into the Corps.
“I met Ah Ling through one of her friends who is still training and waiting to go to boot camp,” Porter said. “As Marines, we are all about physical, and mental health and fitness.”
Ah Ling’s reason to join the Corps was that she wanted a challenge and to be a part of something bigger than herself, according to Porter.
“Words can’t even express how proud I am as Mele’s sister,” said Ah Ling’s sister, Roselyn Ah Ling. “We’re so proud of her and the young woman she’s become because she’s starting to do big things.”
The 12th Marine Corps District is comprised of eight regional Recruiting Stations and one Prior-Service Recruiting Station, whose coverage spans across the western United States to include Alaska and the Pacific Islands.
All the best Mele!
