Times Staff Report

PORTAGE | At his old school, Nathan Gonzalez was "weird."

When the 18-year-old once attended a Munster school, he had two friends and felt awkward. He "screwed around" and wasn't the best student, he admits.

The senior -- whose instructors praise him for succeeding in JROTC despite having Asperger's, a developmental disorder -- found normalcy in Portage High School's program.

"I fell in love with it," he said.

A week after he graduates, Gonzalez will be one of the newest arrivals at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Chicago. There, he'll learn the basics for his job as an intelligence specialist or, as he calls it, "that guy with the stickers."

He's likely to counsel military leaders in deciphering maps and other documents. As Gonzalez describes it, he'll stand by armed and ready to label the important intelligence.

With the smirk of someone picturing a boardroom of uniformed colleagues, Gonzalez said, "I'll talk to the big wigs."