thedrifter
11-22-08, 06:22 AM
Former Marine brings new take to family readiness
11/21/2008 By Cpl. Aaron Rooks , 2nd Marine Logistics Group
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — First Sgt. Jose L. Padilla Jr., never expected that April 2008 would his final month of service in the U.S. Marine Corps. He had reached his limit of service, but not the rank of sergeant major as required by the Corps, which left him unable to continue his then 25 years of honorable service.
Padilla had come to love the Corps. His military service took him many places in life he never thought possible: Japan, Hawaii, the East Coast, the West Coast and even back home to Puerto Rico. But what he came to love most was both the leadership and the camaraderie synonymous with Marines, which turned out to be something he hated to leave behind.
“I wanted to be sergeant major of the Marine Corps,” Padilla said. “That was my goal for a long time, but I don’t have any regrets. What’s done is done, and you can’t change anything, so why regret it?”
The 43-year-old Guanica, Puerto Rico native didn’t want to walk away from the Corps and much like the 24 years prior, he couldn’t. Instead, he took on a new role, one that allowed him to retire and still impact the lives of Marines and sailors and their role in the Global War on Terrorism.
Padilla serves as the family readiness officer for Combat Logistics Regiment 27, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, and has done so since his Aug. 30 retirement. His daily job reaches the Marines and sailors across the entire logistics regiment and extends farther to their families across the globe, helping show that the Corps is moving closer to meet the 34th commandant’s 2006 planning guidance.
“Just as every Marine makes a commitment to the Corps when they earn the title Marine, the Corps makes an enduring commitment to every Marine – and an enduring commitment to their family.”
Padilla said CLR-27’s personal and family readiness program’s purpose is to provide resource information and training, in addition to support services to enhance a Marine’s readiness. He added that the Marine Corps’ goal is to keep Marines and sailors deployable and mission-ready.
“The Marine Corps recognizes the impact our families - the one we are born into, the one we marry and the one we serve with - have on a Marine or sailor’s ability to complete assigned missions and is now making the investments necessary to maintain a profitable relationship for both the institution and its people,” Padilla said. “My focus is to help individuals and their families improve and succeed in life,” he added. “If I can do that, I can help get the mission done.”
Padilla has no problem when it comes to accomplishing this personal and professional goal because of his background and experience as a family man and a Marine. He knows what it’s like to make constant moves from duty station to duty station; he knows what it’s like to deploy to theaters like Iraq; and he knows what it’s like to raise a family while serving his country.
Pfc. Emily O’Neil, a 19-year-old food service specialist with Food Service Company, CLR-27, 2nd MLG, is one of the many individuals that Padilla has had an impact on in his short time serving as the FRO.
“I’m a lot more comfortable knowing that there are people like Mr. Padilla there to help me and my family,” Rochester Hills, Mich., native said. “There’s a lot of classes available, and not just for me, but also for my child’s father. I don’t think other Marines would be as well off without family support like this.”
Padilla has taken his passion for Marines and sailors and turned it into success in his first few months on the job. He said he currently dedicates about 75 percent of his time to administrative issues right now, but as 2nd MLG moves closer to its upcoming deployment to Iraq, he will quickly begin to focus 75 percent of his time to actually speaking and interacting with the families.
“I’m going to be busy,” Padilla said. “Right now I’m administratively busy, but it will change into people-busy. I’m going to get a lot more phone calls from families, and I will be doing a lot more meet and greets.”
Most Marines can assume that Padilla has been to a lot of places and knows his way around the Corps simply by knowing his background as a former first sergeant. What very few of them know is how far he has come to get to where is now.
Padilla loved everything about the U.S. military while growing up. His family had a strong military background with the U.S. Army, which had a lot to do with why he constantly read and studied the actions of U.S. service members during battles of World War II.
He said he always had a burning desire to join the Army as a way to fulfill his passion, go somewhere in life and be like his grandfather, the late Benjamin Padilla-Ramirez. He said he would visit Army recruiters as a freshman and sophomore at Guanica’s Franklin D. Roosevelt High School and request more information about joining, only to be turned away every time because he was too young.
“I always said I’d be like my grandfather,” Padilla said. “I planned to join the Army because I wanted to be an airborne ranger and a soldier like him.”
He finally proved his worthiness at the age of 17 when he took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery for the first time and earned the second highest score in the entire school. A Marine recruiter came to the school right after the scores were released specifically looking for Padilla.
“He asked me if I wanted to be a Marine, and I responded ‘what’s a Marine?” Padilla said. “I never assumed that there was a U.S. Marine Corps and a U.S. Army separate from each other.”
Padilla said the recruiter, now retired 1st Sgt. Diego Bernardi, escorted him to the local recruiting office that same day. Here he had Padilla watch a video about what Marines do, showcasing things such as beach landings and jumping from helicopters.
“That’s what the rangers do!” Padilla said after watching the movie.
Bernardi simply responded by saying, “Yeah, the Army and the rangers did that in Normandy, but the Marines did that in Tarawa and Guadalcanal.”
Padilla was hooked from that point on and never looked back.
His first four years in the Corps as an avionics technician were very similar to many first-term Marines of today. He had no desire to stay in after the first few years, but at the same time, he had no idea what he wanted to do, or what he would do to make ends meet if he got out. He maintained this mindset until he attended the Sergeants Course in 1988, which was then known as the Noncommissioned Officers Course. Here he found the desire and drive to stick around and have a lasting impact on the Corps.
“My transformation didn’t come in boot camp like a lot of Marines, it came at NCO leadership school,” Padilla said. “My first five years in the Marine Corps, I was a boy wearing a Marine’s uniform. My last 20 years in the Marine Corps, I was a Marine no matter what I wore. When you truly understand the Corps’ values and leadership traits, it’s an epiphany. When a Marine gets that and has that moment, you will be amazed to see the change in that Marine and how they perform.”
Padilla maintained this attitude for the remainder of his time in the Corps. Though he was forced to step away from his former role as a staff noncommissioned officer of Marines, he still maintains and uses his ability to motivate and influence others to guide them in the right direction.
“Family readiness is the job for me,” Padilla proclaimed. “No job is better than to impact and help the lives of Marines and sailors. It fits all the reasons why I stayed. My purpose is to be here and help Marines, much as I knew in 1988.”
Ellie
11/21/2008 By Cpl. Aaron Rooks , 2nd Marine Logistics Group
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — First Sgt. Jose L. Padilla Jr., never expected that April 2008 would his final month of service in the U.S. Marine Corps. He had reached his limit of service, but not the rank of sergeant major as required by the Corps, which left him unable to continue his then 25 years of honorable service.
Padilla had come to love the Corps. His military service took him many places in life he never thought possible: Japan, Hawaii, the East Coast, the West Coast and even back home to Puerto Rico. But what he came to love most was both the leadership and the camaraderie synonymous with Marines, which turned out to be something he hated to leave behind.
“I wanted to be sergeant major of the Marine Corps,” Padilla said. “That was my goal for a long time, but I don’t have any regrets. What’s done is done, and you can’t change anything, so why regret it?”
The 43-year-old Guanica, Puerto Rico native didn’t want to walk away from the Corps and much like the 24 years prior, he couldn’t. Instead, he took on a new role, one that allowed him to retire and still impact the lives of Marines and sailors and their role in the Global War on Terrorism.
Padilla serves as the family readiness officer for Combat Logistics Regiment 27, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, and has done so since his Aug. 30 retirement. His daily job reaches the Marines and sailors across the entire logistics regiment and extends farther to their families across the globe, helping show that the Corps is moving closer to meet the 34th commandant’s 2006 planning guidance.
“Just as every Marine makes a commitment to the Corps when they earn the title Marine, the Corps makes an enduring commitment to every Marine – and an enduring commitment to their family.”
Padilla said CLR-27’s personal and family readiness program’s purpose is to provide resource information and training, in addition to support services to enhance a Marine’s readiness. He added that the Marine Corps’ goal is to keep Marines and sailors deployable and mission-ready.
“The Marine Corps recognizes the impact our families - the one we are born into, the one we marry and the one we serve with - have on a Marine or sailor’s ability to complete assigned missions and is now making the investments necessary to maintain a profitable relationship for both the institution and its people,” Padilla said. “My focus is to help individuals and their families improve and succeed in life,” he added. “If I can do that, I can help get the mission done.”
Padilla has no problem when it comes to accomplishing this personal and professional goal because of his background and experience as a family man and a Marine. He knows what it’s like to make constant moves from duty station to duty station; he knows what it’s like to deploy to theaters like Iraq; and he knows what it’s like to raise a family while serving his country.
Pfc. Emily O’Neil, a 19-year-old food service specialist with Food Service Company, CLR-27, 2nd MLG, is one of the many individuals that Padilla has had an impact on in his short time serving as the FRO.
“I’m a lot more comfortable knowing that there are people like Mr. Padilla there to help me and my family,” Rochester Hills, Mich., native said. “There’s a lot of classes available, and not just for me, but also for my child’s father. I don’t think other Marines would be as well off without family support like this.”
Padilla has taken his passion for Marines and sailors and turned it into success in his first few months on the job. He said he currently dedicates about 75 percent of his time to administrative issues right now, but as 2nd MLG moves closer to its upcoming deployment to Iraq, he will quickly begin to focus 75 percent of his time to actually speaking and interacting with the families.
“I’m going to be busy,” Padilla said. “Right now I’m administratively busy, but it will change into people-busy. I’m going to get a lot more phone calls from families, and I will be doing a lot more meet and greets.”
Most Marines can assume that Padilla has been to a lot of places and knows his way around the Corps simply by knowing his background as a former first sergeant. What very few of them know is how far he has come to get to where is now.
Padilla loved everything about the U.S. military while growing up. His family had a strong military background with the U.S. Army, which had a lot to do with why he constantly read and studied the actions of U.S. service members during battles of World War II.
He said he always had a burning desire to join the Army as a way to fulfill his passion, go somewhere in life and be like his grandfather, the late Benjamin Padilla-Ramirez. He said he would visit Army recruiters as a freshman and sophomore at Guanica’s Franklin D. Roosevelt High School and request more information about joining, only to be turned away every time because he was too young.
“I always said I’d be like my grandfather,” Padilla said. “I planned to join the Army because I wanted to be an airborne ranger and a soldier like him.”
He finally proved his worthiness at the age of 17 when he took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery for the first time and earned the second highest score in the entire school. A Marine recruiter came to the school right after the scores were released specifically looking for Padilla.
“He asked me if I wanted to be a Marine, and I responded ‘what’s a Marine?” Padilla said. “I never assumed that there was a U.S. Marine Corps and a U.S. Army separate from each other.”
Padilla said the recruiter, now retired 1st Sgt. Diego Bernardi, escorted him to the local recruiting office that same day. Here he had Padilla watch a video about what Marines do, showcasing things such as beach landings and jumping from helicopters.
“That’s what the rangers do!” Padilla said after watching the movie.
Bernardi simply responded by saying, “Yeah, the Army and the rangers did that in Normandy, but the Marines did that in Tarawa and Guadalcanal.”
Padilla was hooked from that point on and never looked back.
His first four years in the Corps as an avionics technician were very similar to many first-term Marines of today. He had no desire to stay in after the first few years, but at the same time, he had no idea what he wanted to do, or what he would do to make ends meet if he got out. He maintained this mindset until he attended the Sergeants Course in 1988, which was then known as the Noncommissioned Officers Course. Here he found the desire and drive to stick around and have a lasting impact on the Corps.
“My transformation didn’t come in boot camp like a lot of Marines, it came at NCO leadership school,” Padilla said. “My first five years in the Marine Corps, I was a boy wearing a Marine’s uniform. My last 20 years in the Marine Corps, I was a Marine no matter what I wore. When you truly understand the Corps’ values and leadership traits, it’s an epiphany. When a Marine gets that and has that moment, you will be amazed to see the change in that Marine and how they perform.”
Padilla maintained this attitude for the remainder of his time in the Corps. Though he was forced to step away from his former role as a staff noncommissioned officer of Marines, he still maintains and uses his ability to motivate and influence others to guide them in the right direction.
“Family readiness is the job for me,” Padilla proclaimed. “No job is better than to impact and help the lives of Marines and sailors. It fits all the reasons why I stayed. My purpose is to be here and help Marines, much as I knew in 1988.”
Ellie