MENTOR, Ohio - Seven Mentor High School graduates from the classes of 2000 and 2002, all friends and six of them former hockey teammates, have landed in the Marine Corps. Four are serving in the Persian Gulf.

Gunnery Sgt. Patrick Gerdeman, working out of the Mentor recruiting office in suburban Cleveland, had a role in signing the seven. "They were outgoing kids, smart kids, and they were looking for something different," Gerdeman said.

Mark Smykowski, Brian Halan and Matthew Neath went to Parris Island, S.C., for boot camp after graduating in 2000.

Smykowski's brother, Darren, and Matthew's brother, Nathan, and Joseph Lorek and Nicholas Psenicnik went into the Marines last July after graduation.

Mark Smykowski is training in Virginia Beach, Va.; Darren Smykowski, the Neath brothers and Lorek are in the Persian Gulf; Halan is stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C.; and Psenicnik is training in Florida to become an avionics technician.

Halan said they tried to talk the younger four out of joining, telling them they should go to college. "But they wouldn't listen," he said.

The Associated Press