VISTA, Calif. -- Three Camp Pendleton-based members of the armed services Thursday admitted their roles in a series of armed robberies of Oceanside liquor stores that ended when one of the men was shot by a clerk.

Marine Lance Cpl. McKenzie Smith, 21, pleaded guilty to seven counts of robbery and two counts of attempted robbery.

Smith, who was shot and seriously wounded by a clerk during a holdup at a store on North Redondo Drive on June 23, agreed to a sentence of 10 years and four months in state prison.

Navy Hospital Corpsman Quintel Brooks, 19, pleaded guilty to four counts of robbery.

Deputy District Attorney Bryn Kirvin said Brooks, who agreed to a four-year prison term, carried a BB gun into four different stores with Smith on June 10.

Another Marine, Casey Bertrand, pleaded guilty to a count of attempted robbery. The prosecutor said the 19-year-old aided and abetted the robbery series by knowingly loaning the defendants his car.

The defendants never used "real firearms," but rather "real-looking BB guns," Kirvin said.

Even so, that doesn't affect how a victim will react to the sight of guns being pointed at him or her -- "they'll assume it's a real gun," she said.

Smith and Brooks had been scheduled to deploy to Iraq in November, according to the prosecutor.