The latest Pickup Lines segment features retired U.S. Marines Maj. Gen. Juan Ayala, the Director of Military & Veterans Affairs for the City of San Antonio.

Growing up as the oldest of nine in the border communities of Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, Ayala said he learned to be resilient at a young age.

Ayala now laughs about flunking first grade, but the setback didn’t slow him down. It shaped his future.

“I wanted to travel. I wanted to see the world,” Ayala said. “So, around the fifth grade, I made a decision in my young mind that I was going to join the military.”

There was no history of military service in his family. In fact, Ayala’s parents, who were born and raised in Mexico, had a very different, more wary view of the armed forces.

“When I told my dad I wanted to join, he

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