Lance Corporal Corey Hoff – Kiss Country Salutes

We want to thank everyone who has served our great country! We appreciate the sacrifices made by service personnel and their families. Tell us about your service member. Send in your story and a photo and we will share it with all of Kiss Country.

This week's salute was submitted by Christina Bello. Christina would like to salute her fiance, U.S. Marine Corey Hoff:

My name is Christina Bello, and I am proud to honor MY FAVORITE service member, my fiancé, and my BEST friend, LCpl Corey Hoff. He is 25 years old, stands 6 feet/6 inches tall, and every single ounce of him is proud say that he serves in the United States Marine Corps. He is a reservist, so his unit is based here in Bossier City, but they are on an overseas deployment until September. Corey’s grandfather, who is no longer with us today, served in the Air Force, his father was once a U.S. Marine, and his brother-in-law is also currently serving in the Marine Corps. Since he was a young boy, he knew that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his honorable grandfather and father, so joining the military has always been at least a thought in his head. Corey and I met 3 years ago while he was on a baseball scholarship to LSU-Alexandria, where I also attended school. The weekend we met just happened to be the day before he was moving back to his hometown, Bossier City, because he had finished with school. I have lived in Alexandria my entire life, but after one whole year of dating long-distance, something about him made me ‘okay’ with venturing out of my comfort zone, and my choice to relocate my life for him to Shreveport/Bossier was the best decision I have ever made, and will ever make. In the first year of dating, he had never mentioned about wanting to join the Corps, until one day he looked at me and asked what I thought about his considerations. My first thought was “I moved here for you, and now you want to leave me…?” After being skeptical and scared about it all at first, I told him that whatever his decision may be, I would be there to support his every move. Since December 2010 he has been home a total of 2 ½ months. While home on leave for 9 days this past Christmas, he surprised me by proposing on New Year’s Eve, then left 2 days later to complete the rest of his deployment. It has not been an “easy” journey, so to speak, but if it means having him in my life, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Approximately two more months until he will come home, and words cannot express how happy I will be when that day finally comes. Our wedding is set for next summer, and I have put off many wedding plans so that we could do it as a team when he gets back. Thank you, Kiss Country, for honoring those who serve, and recognizing that what they do truly is a sacrifice to them, their families, and many more! Oohrah! :)

Thank you for sharing your story with us Christina, for giving us a peek into the life of someone who is currently serving to protect us, people he has never met. We VERY MUCH APPRECIATE Corey, his sacrifices, and the sacrifices made by everyone in his family--including you! We hope you have an absolutely beautiful wedding and many, many years of happiness and love!

Please tell us about your service member, we'd love to share it with all of Kiss Country.