Leadership

Sergeant (E-5) - Squad Leader

Small-unit leadership in garrison and combat, with direct responsibility for personnel, readiness, training, technical execution, and hazardous equipment.

• Led a squad of twelve Marines that met or exceeded every assigned mission objective during critical and decisive engagements in the Iraq War, including the battles of An Nasiriyah, Al Kut, and the Fall of Baghdad. The unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy.
• Directed squad operations through three fire team leaders, providing technical guidance, maintaining readiness, and ensuring each team was prepared for mission directives.
• Managed squad personnel and valuable or hazardous equipment and assets.
• Held direct responsibility for the physical and mental wellbeing of my Marines in garrison and while deployed in combat environments.
• Conducted training across engineering and infantry skillsets, including demolitions, breaching, explosives, construction, bridging, patrolling, and crisis management.
• Rapidly retrained Marines assigned to the squad from non-engineering military occupational specialties in the days leading up to the Iraq invasion, building the engineering skills and team cohesion needed for them to perform effectively in combat operations.

Military Occupational Specialty (MOS)

1371 Combat Engineer - Journeyman

As a Marine Corps combat engineer, my role combined construction and field engineering with direct support to combat operations. That included carpentry, fortification, obstacle breaching, fixed and floating bridge construction, and bunker construction. The specialty also required extensive training in explosives for structural demolition and urban breaching, as well as landmine warfare. Combat engineers are also trained as infantrymen, and at times we were embedded directly with infantry units to support their missions and fight alongside them when required.

Core technical responsibilities included:

• Carpentry and construction work, including framing, installing structures and fixtures, fabricating and installing wooden concrete forms, and constructing and using rigging devices.
• Preparation and installation of priming and firing systems for demolitions and explosives.
• Determining the placement and quantity of explosive charges required for effective demolition.
• Configuration and application of shaped and counter charges for demolitions requiring precision cutting and controlled debris placement.
• Installation and disarmament of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines.
• Construction of fixed and floating bridges for wet- and dry-gap crossings.
• Boat operation supporting bridge construction and nautical patrols; earned a Bridge Erection Boat (BEB) operator license.