LEWISTON - A week ago, Ulysses Milana boarded a plane bound for Marine boot camp at Parris Island, S.C. He was a 23-year-old soft-spoken husband from Lewiston ready to realize a life-long dream of serving his country.

Today, he's an inspiration.

Milana's story of weight loss - he shed more than 140 pounds to be able to serve - has become a sensation. He's receiving fan mail from around the globe. In Maine, his wife, Latoya, finds her phone flooded with offers for movies, documentaries and even a weight-loss product endorsement. Her husband's MySpace inbox overflows with nearly 200 messages and friend requests.

Since Milana is only allowed to contact family via regular mail during the grueling two months of boot camp, Latoya said her husband isn't even aware of the national stir his story caused since he left.

"He has no idea, really," Latoya Milana said, adding that she was awaiting a letter from Milana with his contact information. "We thought this was just going to be a local thing. We had no idea this would be like this."

Since Milana's story ran last Monday, Nov. 17, on the front page of the Sun Journal, staff at the paper and the family have received e-mails, phone calls and requests from everyone from fellow Marines to television producers wanting to touch base with the young man they say inspired them.

Latoya responded to each e-mail sent to her husband on his MySpace page. She points out that no two are alike and she wanted to reply personally to people who took time to thank Milana for his inspiration.

Given that Milana has no contact with the outside world at this point, Latoya wonders how he will react when he learns about the publicity he's gained, and about the movie offers.

She said her husband, whom she has known for eight years, is one of the most private people she knows.

She added that he's also one of the proudest people she knows and stressed that he lost the weight to realize his dream of joining the armed forces, not to gain fame and fortune.

"He likes to help people and he likes to inspire people, and I'm not even sure he realizes how much he did that," Latoya said. "I'm proud. I'm very, very proud that my husband was able to inspire so many people."