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thedrifter
02-09-09, 06:28 AM
Serving with distinction brings respect, recognition

2/5/2009 By Lance Cpl. Shannon E. McMillan , Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. —

Most Marines do not win six boards. Most Marines do not spend their liberty time working on Marine Corps Institute courses and most Marines do not come to work during the weekends to improve their Marine Corps Martial Arts Program techniques.

But Sgt. Dale W. Elder and Lance Cpl. David M. Crocco are not most Marines. Elder, communications work center supervisor, Ground Electronics Maintenance Division, Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, Marine Corps Air Station, has won six other boards and recently won the Marine Corps Installations West Noncommissioned Officer of the Quarter. This was Crocco’s, radar technician, GEMD, Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, MCAS, first board. He won the MCI West Marine of the Quarter.

“I have really high standards for myself and the Marines I lead,” said Elder, who currently holds a 294 physical fitness test score and has volunteered more than 100 hours to the Coyote Young Marines.

By leading his Marines by example, it shows them he is dedicated to their welfare, but it also shows he holds himself to the same high standards, he said.

“Sgt. Elder is one of the NCOs’ who has guided me to where I am now,” said Crocco. “He taught me that working hard is the key to success.”

Learning leadership skills from NCOs in his shop helped give Crocco the tools to succeed in his military career and help those under him, he said.

“I plan to hold the Marines I lead to the same standards I was held to,” Crocco said.

He thought it was an honor to win the board because it gave him the opportunity to keep the tradition in his shop. Two other Marines in his shop have won boards in the past, he explained.

“When a Marine comes back after winning a board,” said Sgt. Maj. Shelley D. Sergeant, sergeant major, MCAS, “their peers want to accomplish the same goal.”

Marines who are on boards, are there because of their command leadership, she said.

“Their command provides time to do MCI’s, MCMAP training and college courses,” Sergeant said. “I’ve seen Marines come during the weekend to do MCMAP training, just because it was provided to them.”

Marines who spend their liberty working on Marine Corps knowledge, are not average Marines, she said.

“It makes me proud to see the excitement on their faces, after they won,” she said. “It shows relief, when their hard work does pay off.”

Ellie