thedrifter
03-02-08, 07:07 AM
Colonel wraps up 30-year Marines career
Published Sat, Mar 1, 2008 12:00 AM
By DAN HILLIARD
dhilliard@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5531
Retiring Marine Col. Eddie Ray has worn many hats during his 30-year service career -- football coach, artilleryman, information technology director, Navy Cross recipient -- but an instinct for leadership unites them all, he said.
"It's gotten to the point where I feel I don't need to be an expert, per se, in anything," Ray said. "I just need the motivation to make people better."
Ray, who is serving his second tour at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, will trade his dress blues for business attire at the end of April.
He isn't sure yet where he's going to work, but he plans to stay in his adopted home of South Carolina.
A Los Angeles native, Ray, 53, joined the Marine Corps after graduating from the University of Washington in Seattle.
From 1986 to 1990, he was stationed on Parris Island as a recruit training officer and company commander for the Weapons and Field Training Battalion.
Ray then was deployed to Kuwait in 1991 for Operation Desert Storm, where Ray, greatly outnumbered by an Iraqi mechanized division, led repeated attacks on the division through dense smoke billowing from burning oil wells.
The counterattack resulted in the destruction of 50 Iraqi troop transports and the capture of 250 Iraqi soldiers. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his efforts.
Since then, he has been stationed at seven Marine Corps or Navy installations, including a stint with Headquarters Marine Corps, where he helped form the Corps' Special Operations Command from 2004 to 2006.
Since returning to Parris Island in 2006, Ray has served as the director of telecommunications and information technology.
By the time he leaves the Marine Corps, Ray hopes to position the depot's information technology to evolve over time, he said.
"What's fundamentally important here is what I do behind the scenes," he said. "The changes with regards to technology are huge. I mean, they had hand-cranked mimeograph machines when I joined. So what I try to do is manage and lead, as opposed to supervise. My job is to develop a vision and motivate people to carry it out."
Ray's strategy for success always has been to explore and exploit overlooked details, according to his longtime friend Col. David Brown, Beaufort County Sheriff Office's chief of staff.
During his first tour of Parris Island, Ray was looking for a way to buy matching football uniforms for the Raiders, a team he formed at the Weapons and Field Training Battalion.
He followed a dump truck full of spent shells to a local scrap yard and found out that the depot received only $25,000 a year for the brass shells because they were mixed with spent steel, forcing the yard to classify them as a relatively low-worth metal.
Ray asked the depot's drill instructors to have recruits keep their spent shells separate from other metal waste and to sort them by caliber for scrapping.
In the next year, the depot was paid more than $400,000 for recycled metal and Ray received the money to buy his football players matching black and silver uniforms.
His team had two non-consecutive undefeated seasons against five teams at surrounding bases before Ray left Parris Island.
"What was most impressive to me was his leadership of his Marines," said Brown. "He was always looking for a bigger and better way to get things done. I think the Marine Corps is losing a good Marine, but he'll do just as well in the civilian world."
Ray said there is no secret or blueprint for success beyond recognizing and excelling at your spot on a team.
"What I've learned is something fundamentally important - know what you need to know, and expect other people to know what they need to know. If you're a leader, be a good leader. If you're a blocker on the line, be a good blocker. It'll all come together on its own. The hardest part is always getting people to pick up the brass."
Civilian life will take some getting used to, but Ray said he looks forward to seeing how well his Corps skills and values translate to a job in the private sector.
"I walk around here, and I see people saluting me. You sometimes say, 'Hey, maybe I am a colonel.' But what I try to keep in perspective is when I take this uniform off, I won't be a colonel anymore. I'll just be me."
Ellie
Published Sat, Mar 1, 2008 12:00 AM
By DAN HILLIARD
dhilliard@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5531
Retiring Marine Col. Eddie Ray has worn many hats during his 30-year service career -- football coach, artilleryman, information technology director, Navy Cross recipient -- but an instinct for leadership unites them all, he said.
"It's gotten to the point where I feel I don't need to be an expert, per se, in anything," Ray said. "I just need the motivation to make people better."
Ray, who is serving his second tour at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, will trade his dress blues for business attire at the end of April.
He isn't sure yet where he's going to work, but he plans to stay in his adopted home of South Carolina.
A Los Angeles native, Ray, 53, joined the Marine Corps after graduating from the University of Washington in Seattle.
From 1986 to 1990, he was stationed on Parris Island as a recruit training officer and company commander for the Weapons and Field Training Battalion.
Ray then was deployed to Kuwait in 1991 for Operation Desert Storm, where Ray, greatly outnumbered by an Iraqi mechanized division, led repeated attacks on the division through dense smoke billowing from burning oil wells.
The counterattack resulted in the destruction of 50 Iraqi troop transports and the capture of 250 Iraqi soldiers. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his efforts.
Since then, he has been stationed at seven Marine Corps or Navy installations, including a stint with Headquarters Marine Corps, where he helped form the Corps' Special Operations Command from 2004 to 2006.
Since returning to Parris Island in 2006, Ray has served as the director of telecommunications and information technology.
By the time he leaves the Marine Corps, Ray hopes to position the depot's information technology to evolve over time, he said.
"What's fundamentally important here is what I do behind the scenes," he said. "The changes with regards to technology are huge. I mean, they had hand-cranked mimeograph machines when I joined. So what I try to do is manage and lead, as opposed to supervise. My job is to develop a vision and motivate people to carry it out."
Ray's strategy for success always has been to explore and exploit overlooked details, according to his longtime friend Col. David Brown, Beaufort County Sheriff Office's chief of staff.
During his first tour of Parris Island, Ray was looking for a way to buy matching football uniforms for the Raiders, a team he formed at the Weapons and Field Training Battalion.
He followed a dump truck full of spent shells to a local scrap yard and found out that the depot received only $25,000 a year for the brass shells because they were mixed with spent steel, forcing the yard to classify them as a relatively low-worth metal.
Ray asked the depot's drill instructors to have recruits keep their spent shells separate from other metal waste and to sort them by caliber for scrapping.
In the next year, the depot was paid more than $400,000 for recycled metal and Ray received the money to buy his football players matching black and silver uniforms.
His team had two non-consecutive undefeated seasons against five teams at surrounding bases before Ray left Parris Island.
"What was most impressive to me was his leadership of his Marines," said Brown. "He was always looking for a bigger and better way to get things done. I think the Marine Corps is losing a good Marine, but he'll do just as well in the civilian world."
Ray said there is no secret or blueprint for success beyond recognizing and excelling at your spot on a team.
"What I've learned is something fundamentally important - know what you need to know, and expect other people to know what they need to know. If you're a leader, be a good leader. If you're a blocker on the line, be a good blocker. It'll all come together on its own. The hardest part is always getting people to pick up the brass."
Civilian life will take some getting used to, but Ray said he looks forward to seeing how well his Corps skills and values translate to a job in the private sector.
"I walk around here, and I see people saluting me. You sometimes say, 'Hey, maybe I am a colonel.' But what I try to keep in perspective is when I take this uniform off, I won't be a colonel anymore. I'll just be me."
Ellie