In 1995, Eli Martinez enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. As a Private First Class, he
was immediately sent to basic training at the USMC Recruit Depot, Paris Island, South
Carolina. Eli says the ethos of the Marine Corps is "Every Marine is a rifleman" and that is
what he was trained for. After 3 months of basic training followed by 4 weeks of Marine
Combat Training, he began training for his assigned MOS which was Finance Technician.

He was assigned to his first duty station at Camp Pendleton, California. In 1998, he received
orders to the 3rd Force Service Support Groug in Okinawa, Japan. His group served as the
primary combat logistics and service support command for the Asia-Pacific region. At this
time, Eli had attained the rank of Corporal, but it wasn't easy. He had been selected for
meritorious promotion competing with five other top performing Marines for a single NCO
billet. To his credit, Eli was selected. This achievement was very special to him.

In May of 1999, then Sergeant Martinez was honorably discharged from the USMC, having
received numerous Medals and Commendations. He continued in the inactive Ready
Reserves for 4 years with a 1 year "stop loss" extension following the 9 -11 attacks.

He joined Hoag in 2017 as a recruiter and is currently the manager of Learning and
Development. He and his wife live in Irvine. He feels his time in the Marine Corps played a
major role in allowing him to realize his potential.

The Hoag Classic is pleased to honor Sergeant Eli Martinez, USMC retired, for his service not
only to our country, but to the citizens of Newport Beach and Orange County thru his Service
to Hoag Hospital.