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Twentynine Palms, California
Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command and Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center
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Melissa Osborn works as a personal and professional development advosor at the Combat Center's Career Resoruces Office. In her off-time, Osborn competes in marathons.

Photo by Cpl. D. J. Wu

What I've learned: Melissa Osburn

17 Jan 2014 | Cpl. D.J. Wu Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms

It never crossed my mind that I would live in Twentynine Palms.

I’ve been here for three summers and those have been hot. This is my third winter here and I really don’t mind.

They just had a snow storm back where I’m from. We’re sunny and going up to 70 today, so I can’t really complain. This place is great if you like to be outside and run and don’t like the cold. I definitely don’t miss the humidity and mosquitoes back at Camp Lejeune.

My biggest hobby is running because my other hobby, so to speak of, is finishing my degree. I have four classes left! Otherwise, I try to explore the hills around here.

I want to run and explore more of the coast and I’ve yet to be in Big Bear.

Every week, I’ll look at the front page, but then I’ll jump straight to page 3. What I’ve learned is my favorite part of the newspaper. I used to save my favorites.

I really like how you get to know a lot of the people on base. It seems like a random selection and that’s why I like it.

I like the smart writing and I really like the multiple part stories.

I have four more classes left in my Masters of Business. So I’m a student myself. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

My experience makes the Transition Readiness Seminar more relatable. We do the same curriculum every week. We’ll tweak it here and there, but it’s the people that make it fun.

We love it when people come back. Every so often we’ll find one or two students who resist at the beginning of the week, but by the end they understand what the program is set up to do. The best way to thank us is to come back and say, “Hey, I want to take this further.”

I really do think that résumés are fun. They’re tricky but they can be fun. It’s really about marketing yourself. It’s your chance to portray yourself in whatever light you choose. It’s like one big puzzle and you have to put all the pieces together. It takes a while to get it right, but that’s part of the fun.

I really have a Swiss cheese of experience. When I started out, I worked at a pizza restaurant, then I went to accounting for a short while, then to purchasing and then at Camp Geiger dental clinic.

I also think that résumés help you see yourself differently. Most Marines think that they’re just a grunt or just an administration clerk, but when they take the time to see all of the skills that are behind that, they find out something new about themselves.

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms