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thedrifter
02-17-03, 08:14 AM
02/16/2003
II MEF head says nothing's the matter with kids today
By ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Since assuming command of the 43,000-person II Marine Expeditionary Force on Aug. 12, Maj. Gen. Henry P. “Pete” Osman has had six months to get used to his new position at the helm of the largest Marine Corps operating force on the East Coast.



Although the II MEF includes the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Force Service Support Group and a headquarters staff at Camp Lejeune, as well as the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing spread throughout air stations at Cherry Point, New River and Beaufort, S.C., much of what Osman believes comes from his formative years.



“My dad was a Navy Chief Petty Officer,” Osman explained “He didn’t run the house like a ship, but it provided values that are in line with what we now teach. I have a real strong belief and confidence in today’s youth. They have strengthened over the years.”



According to Osman, there have been dramatic changes in society since he was a child and today’’ youth is bombarded with mixed signals from the community, the media and broken homes.



“It’s tough being a youngster, but with the right leadership it’s reassuring that the youth of today responds as in other generations,” Osman said. “There are uncertainties and instabilities around the world on a daily basis and we have a lot of people going in different directions.”



In 1979 and 1980 aboard ship in the Indian Ocean, Osman watched the interaction between the sailors and Marines during an extended 10-month patrol with very little break in their routine during the Iran hostage crisis.



After such a grueling work schedule, one might expect that he would be tired of that sort of duty, but not Osman.



“I’m with the kind of people that I want to be around,” Osman said.



While working at the San Diego, Calif. recruit depot and at Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va., Osman again was involved with training the youth of the country.



“I watched young recruiters and drill instructors do the impossible, while other services had trouble meeting their goals, “Osman said. “We were dealing with college students and we had some fantastic young folks.”



According to Osman, two of his more notable tours were as a platoon commander in Vietnam at the beginning of his career in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and in Belgium at Supreme Headquarters of Allied Powers in Europe in the early 1990s.



“I arrived while the Iron Curtain was still in place and the experts said that we would never see it come down in our lifetime,” Osman said. “It was an amazing experience to watch folks live with such an ominous threat (diminished). There was a feeling of euphoria and it was an amazing experience for a Marine.”



But changes in the world were not limited to the former communist countries. New weapons systems and methods for moving troops in and around the battlefield mean that today’s war fighters need to be highly trained.



“There are a number of potential weapons systems on the horizon, with new capabilities and improvements to maximize expeditionary maneuver warfare,” Osman said.



“(We want to) hit them where they ain’t.”



In the past the Marines would establish huge beachheads building up incrementally with supplies, but now they can seize an objective by simply going around the enemy’s strong points and hitting them at their weaknesses, Osman said.



According to Osman, the newer priorities of maneuver warfare allow commanders to seize objectives with fewer casualties than in the past, bringing home more of this country’s youth safely.



In this faster, stronger and smarter military there is no shortage of things to do, but luckily Osman’s youthful Corps is filled with volunteers.



“As busy as we are with several recent missions, we literally see people coming off deployments volunteering to head right back out,” Osman said. “To me, leadership development is something that grows over the years. I’m growing every day and if you think that you’ve learned it all, you’ll get yourself in trouble.”



Osman said that every one of his military assignments has been different and this is his first time in N.C. Fortunately his wife, Laura, is also from a service family, so the Osmans tend to make their home wherever they are at the time and their 20-year-old daughter Julia is a junior at William and Mary University in Williamsburg, Va.



“We’re looking forward to visiting the Crystal Coast and the hospitality has been overwhelming,” Osman said. “It’s easy to see why a lot of Marines have multiple tours here. There’s a goodness here that they obviously makes them want to come back.”







Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.




Sempers,


Roger