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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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Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, 16th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps speaks to Marines and sailors of the Combat Center during his visit to the base Dec. 10.

Photo by Lance Cpl. Monica C. Erickson

Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps visits Combat Center

10 Dec 2007 | Lance Cpl. Monica C. Erickson Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms

The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps commended and thanked the Marines and sailors of the Combat Center for their dedication to the Corps and their hard work.

 Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent, 16th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, said this on his visit to the base Monday when he spoke in front of the majority of the Combat Center’s units at Lance Cpl. Torrey L. Gray Field.

 “I thank you very much for what you do for our country and our corps,” said Kent as he stood in front of hundreds of active duty Marines and sailors.

 He continued by thanking all the corpsmen and chaplains that are attached to Marine units.

 “I have never seen a corpsman hesitate, especially when they hear ‘corpsman up!’” said Kent, a native of Memphis, Tenn.

 Kent talked about how the Marine Corps is growing significantly and the importance of keeping every career path open when a Marine is able to reenlist or get out.

 He also got the Marines to crack some smiles and chuckles by sharing a comical story about his first visit to the White House.

 “You know how I knew the president would see us?” said Kent. “We were there,

 and the president loves Marines.”

 Kent then spoke about the war in Iraq, and the positive changes he has seen since his last visit.

 He brought up his nephew, a Marine who recently returned from his second

 deployment.

 “I asked him, ‘what is the difference from this deployment to your last one?’” said Kent. “He said there was no one to kill, he is over there kissing babies.”

 As he finished his speech, he thanked all the Marines for what they do for the Marine Corps.

 “He was very down to earth,” said Lance Cpl. Kristie Scinto, Headquearts Battalion mailroom clerk. “He gave us a lot of information all the Marines here were curious about.”

 As the sergeant major spoke to all the Marines and sailors, his wife, Elizabeth Kent toured the base and visited with the Armed Services YMCA and other family oriented organizations around the Combat Center with Filomena Spiese, spouse of Combat Center’s commanding general, and Daisy Johnson, spouse of the base sergeant major.

 In the afternoon, the sergeant major visited the Marine Corps Communications-Electronic School, the largest formal school in the Marine Corps.

 There he was invited to go on a formation run with the students and staff of the school.

 The sergeant Major led hundreds of Marines through the Combat Center’s streets and ridgelines for a good physical training session.

 The Marines showed pride and spirit, sparked by the Marine Corps’ senior enlisted Marine, by raising and swinging their guidons in the air and shouting out Marine

 Corps cadences as they ran.

 After the run, Kent gathered the Marines in a school circle and addressed their individual importance to the Marine Corps, explaining they are the future of the Corps and every single one of them is needed.

 “His visit to our base was awesome,” said Scinto. “I thought he really informed us, and inspired us to do our best for the Marine Corps.”

 Although the sergeant major’s trip only lasted a few hours, his visit brought the Marines and sailors aboard the Combat Center a lift of motivation and an abundance of knowledge about the future of the Corps.


Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms