thedrifter
09-06-03, 05:55 AM
A True Sportsman
Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton
Story Identification Number: 200394194710
Story by John Raifsnider
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.(September 24, 2003) -- During his two-year stay at the School of Infantry's Marine Combat Training Battalion, Lieutenant Col. David Bethel participated in four of the record-setting six consecutive Commanding General's Cup semiannual championships garnered by SOI. Bethel was not only the MCT Battalion commander during that time, he was a key player and chief motivator during his parent command's drive into the C.G.'s Cup sports record books.
Bethel never scored a touchdown for SOI or hit a home run for their softball team, and certainly never scored a goal for SOI's soccer team - none of which his now 46-year-old knees would have allowed. But Bethel did play some hoops, ran and rode a bike in every event he could. He also worked to facilitate those who could play team sports with a vigor few commanders ever match.
Bethel has always believed that success on the sports fields and courts easily translates into winning on the battlefield. He urges commanders to test his premise by putting it into practice. Moreover, they should follow his lead by participating themselves if they can, he said.
"After having battled with you on the athletic field, all of a sudden, Marines feel more comfortable bringing (their) many daily challenges ... to you," said Bethel.
It is a lesson Bethel says he learned early in his Marine career from his first battalion commander.
"When I checked into 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, my first commander was Michael J. McGowan. Lieutenant Colonel McGowan was a Notre Dame graduate, a Silver Star winner in Vietnam and just a great, great guy," recalled Bethel.
"He was also a cheerleader kind of guy, and he knew what it took to put his battalion on the map. His unbridled enthusiasm was amazing - he believed it, it wasn't just an act.
"He felt (supporting battalion athletics) was the right thing to do. He knew his Marines were depending on him for his support and he knew it would help the command ... in making relationships with the enlisted Marines."
Bethel said sports helped shape the character of many of the Marines he admires most.
"I have had many role models like 'Iron Mike' (Mervosh) - great Marines that weren't afraid to mix it up on the basketball court, rugby pitch and football field. And then there was the 2nd Division Push Ball Championship. ... that's another story," Bethel said with a twinkle in his eyes.
Building relationships while participating with your Marines in sports is one thing; maintaining discipline and a pecking order on and off the court is another. Bethel says it is a matter of striking a balance.
"You have to instill in your people this thought process: Even while you are banging bodies under the basket for a rebound, your opponents and teammates have to remember that we are all still Marines and the rank structure remains. I have never asked for or expected anything special due to rank, and I have given no quarter either," said Bethel.
Bethel said the old adage "there's no rank on the athletic field" is a myth.
"Just because you're out there playing ball and having fun with your Marines, everyone's got to remember that rank doesn't go away when you step on the court.
"We're all relying on each other to be where we're supposed to be in order to make a play. We are depending on each other, but in the Marine Corps, the senior/subordinate relationship never goes away.
"Playing sports helps Marines learn to rely on each other. Does the Marine that gets punched in the face pull himself off the mat and continue to slug it out - That's the question. I want those kinds of Marines with me. The one's that haven't had it easy - that will stand up and be counted. Those that recognize the hard work it takes to be able to compete and win."
His experience with a commander's support for athletics and the relationship-building it fosters began during the 1980 basketball season. Bethel, a future All-Marine player and a graduate the previous year from the Naval Academy, was warming up with the Quantico team for a game in a cold, drafty high- school gym in Arlington, Va. Outside, snow and slush clogged the roads that led back to Quantico, nearly 30 miles away.
"It was 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning, the weather was terrible and it took us a long time to drive to the school for the game," Bethel recalled.
"I remember looking around during warmups and there wasn't a soul in the gym. A few minutes later, when we came out of the locker room to start the game, I looked up in the stands and there was the CO of TBS, Colonel E. T. Cook, sitting up there.
"Now that really impressed me. Here it was, a cold and snowy Saturday morning, and he had driven all that way through the snow and muck just to see his men play. He could have stayed home and had breakfast with his wife or done a dozen other things, but he chose to come see us play.
"I've never forgotten that, and what it meant to me to see him up there in the stands that morning."
Bethel says his former CO's actions that snowy winter day have influenced his own motives for encouraging his Marines to play sports and to be at every sporting event in which his Marines participate. That's why he continues to make every effort to support his Marines' athletic endeavors.
"I guess you could say that his being there did do something to make me stop and think about how sports and leadership could work well together," said Bethel. "Since then, I've tried to be at every sporting event that my Marines were involved in. It is difficult to get away sometimes because our job is to be Marines first. Athletics always come second to being a Marine. I've been fortunate, though, to work for some pretty good people who have allowed me to get out and be with my Marines. As an instructor at the Naval Academy back in the 80s, the Marine officers were expected to support the Midshipmen on the athletic field. That was an easy one for me."
His scarred, middle-age knees can't take the pounding they used to, so Bethel has forgone basketball and turned to biking as his primary means of staying fit. Even as he was packing up and preparing to leave MCT Battalion and Camp Pendleton for his current assignment at Headquarters Marine Corps, Bethel managed to squeeze in one last ride through the hills surrounding SOI.
Typical of Bethel's style of leadership, among the five riders with him that day were his subordinates and his peers.
"It doesn't mean much to the Marines and officers under me if I don't do the same thing that I encourage them to do," said Bethel.
"Out here at MCT Battalion, we're telling Marines what to do all the time. We're teaching them skills that will allow them to fight, survive and win in combat. The Marines whom I have had the privilege of serving these past two years have truly shaped the future of our Corps.
"But Marines learn just as much, if not more, by watching their superiors," he said. "They learn by example."
After years of playing hoops, David Bethel's knees could no longer take the pounding, so he switched to biking and running to earn CG's Cup points for his unit.
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20039419521/$file/bethel%20low.jpg
After years of playing hoops, David Bethel's knees could no longer take the pounding, so he switched to biking and running to earn CG's Cup points for his unit.
Photo by: John Raifsnider
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton
Story Identification Number: 200394194710
Story by John Raifsnider
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.(September 24, 2003) -- During his two-year stay at the School of Infantry's Marine Combat Training Battalion, Lieutenant Col. David Bethel participated in four of the record-setting six consecutive Commanding General's Cup semiannual championships garnered by SOI. Bethel was not only the MCT Battalion commander during that time, he was a key player and chief motivator during his parent command's drive into the C.G.'s Cup sports record books.
Bethel never scored a touchdown for SOI or hit a home run for their softball team, and certainly never scored a goal for SOI's soccer team - none of which his now 46-year-old knees would have allowed. But Bethel did play some hoops, ran and rode a bike in every event he could. He also worked to facilitate those who could play team sports with a vigor few commanders ever match.
Bethel has always believed that success on the sports fields and courts easily translates into winning on the battlefield. He urges commanders to test his premise by putting it into practice. Moreover, they should follow his lead by participating themselves if they can, he said.
"After having battled with you on the athletic field, all of a sudden, Marines feel more comfortable bringing (their) many daily challenges ... to you," said Bethel.
It is a lesson Bethel says he learned early in his Marine career from his first battalion commander.
"When I checked into 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, my first commander was Michael J. McGowan. Lieutenant Colonel McGowan was a Notre Dame graduate, a Silver Star winner in Vietnam and just a great, great guy," recalled Bethel.
"He was also a cheerleader kind of guy, and he knew what it took to put his battalion on the map. His unbridled enthusiasm was amazing - he believed it, it wasn't just an act.
"He felt (supporting battalion athletics) was the right thing to do. He knew his Marines were depending on him for his support and he knew it would help the command ... in making relationships with the enlisted Marines."
Bethel said sports helped shape the character of many of the Marines he admires most.
"I have had many role models like 'Iron Mike' (Mervosh) - great Marines that weren't afraid to mix it up on the basketball court, rugby pitch and football field. And then there was the 2nd Division Push Ball Championship. ... that's another story," Bethel said with a twinkle in his eyes.
Building relationships while participating with your Marines in sports is one thing; maintaining discipline and a pecking order on and off the court is another. Bethel says it is a matter of striking a balance.
"You have to instill in your people this thought process: Even while you are banging bodies under the basket for a rebound, your opponents and teammates have to remember that we are all still Marines and the rank structure remains. I have never asked for or expected anything special due to rank, and I have given no quarter either," said Bethel.
Bethel said the old adage "there's no rank on the athletic field" is a myth.
"Just because you're out there playing ball and having fun with your Marines, everyone's got to remember that rank doesn't go away when you step on the court.
"We're all relying on each other to be where we're supposed to be in order to make a play. We are depending on each other, but in the Marine Corps, the senior/subordinate relationship never goes away.
"Playing sports helps Marines learn to rely on each other. Does the Marine that gets punched in the face pull himself off the mat and continue to slug it out - That's the question. I want those kinds of Marines with me. The one's that haven't had it easy - that will stand up and be counted. Those that recognize the hard work it takes to be able to compete and win."
His experience with a commander's support for athletics and the relationship-building it fosters began during the 1980 basketball season. Bethel, a future All-Marine player and a graduate the previous year from the Naval Academy, was warming up with the Quantico team for a game in a cold, drafty high- school gym in Arlington, Va. Outside, snow and slush clogged the roads that led back to Quantico, nearly 30 miles away.
"It was 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning, the weather was terrible and it took us a long time to drive to the school for the game," Bethel recalled.
"I remember looking around during warmups and there wasn't a soul in the gym. A few minutes later, when we came out of the locker room to start the game, I looked up in the stands and there was the CO of TBS, Colonel E. T. Cook, sitting up there.
"Now that really impressed me. Here it was, a cold and snowy Saturday morning, and he had driven all that way through the snow and muck just to see his men play. He could have stayed home and had breakfast with his wife or done a dozen other things, but he chose to come see us play.
"I've never forgotten that, and what it meant to me to see him up there in the stands that morning."
Bethel says his former CO's actions that snowy winter day have influenced his own motives for encouraging his Marines to play sports and to be at every sporting event in which his Marines participate. That's why he continues to make every effort to support his Marines' athletic endeavors.
"I guess you could say that his being there did do something to make me stop and think about how sports and leadership could work well together," said Bethel. "Since then, I've tried to be at every sporting event that my Marines were involved in. It is difficult to get away sometimes because our job is to be Marines first. Athletics always come second to being a Marine. I've been fortunate, though, to work for some pretty good people who have allowed me to get out and be with my Marines. As an instructor at the Naval Academy back in the 80s, the Marine officers were expected to support the Midshipmen on the athletic field. That was an easy one for me."
His scarred, middle-age knees can't take the pounding they used to, so Bethel has forgone basketball and turned to biking as his primary means of staying fit. Even as he was packing up and preparing to leave MCT Battalion and Camp Pendleton for his current assignment at Headquarters Marine Corps, Bethel managed to squeeze in one last ride through the hills surrounding SOI.
Typical of Bethel's style of leadership, among the five riders with him that day were his subordinates and his peers.
"It doesn't mean much to the Marines and officers under me if I don't do the same thing that I encourage them to do," said Bethel.
"Out here at MCT Battalion, we're telling Marines what to do all the time. We're teaching them skills that will allow them to fight, survive and win in combat. The Marines whom I have had the privilege of serving these past two years have truly shaped the future of our Corps.
"But Marines learn just as much, if not more, by watching their superiors," he said. "They learn by example."
After years of playing hoops, David Bethel's knees could no longer take the pounding, so he switched to biking and running to earn CG's Cup points for his unit.
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20039419521/$file/bethel%20low.jpg
After years of playing hoops, David Bethel's knees could no longer take the pounding, so he switched to biking and running to earn CG's Cup points for his unit.
Photo by: John Raifsnider
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: