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SHINDAND, Afghanistan – Amidst the sea of green and blue at this austere deployed location you’ll notice a solitary Marine.
“There were three Marines who were laying AM-2 matting,” said First Sgt. Nichelle Mason, 838th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group, senior enlisted advisor. “When their mission was complete, they left and then there was me.”
Serving as the Combined Air Power Transition Force’s senior enlisted advisor, Mason is doing something she hasn’t done in 22 years.
“This is my first joint billet,” she said. “I’ve worked with the Navy before, but the Marine Corps doesn’t consider the Navy a different unit because we co-exist everywhere, but when you’re dealing with the Army and the Air Force, there’s a huge difference.”
The tough mother of three who hails from a tough city and jumped feet first into a tough military branch is up to the task of being the top senior non-commissioned officer here.
“When the base was initially formed there were so few people here that there wasn’t a requirement for a senior enlisted advisor,” said the Los Angeles, Calif., native Mason.
The previous BOSI [base operations support integrater] felt he needed continuity with the influx of military personnel and requested someone who would serve as a liaison between the senior enlisted to ensure his intent was fulfilled throughout the enlisted side, as well as the officer side.
Since her arrival in April, she’s already made an impression on her fellow senior NCOs as a no-nonsense, matter-of-fact, hard-core senior NCO.
“There’s been no resistance from any of the senior NCOs and I honestly don’t think it has anything to do with me being a female—I think it has to do with me being a Marine,” she said as she pointed to her U.S. Marines name tag.
“There is a certain amount of respect for Marines throughout all the branches of service and in this light I’ve seen it even more so.”
She admits to preparing herself for the assignment by realizing she needed to come in with an open mind.
“It was an adjustment for me,” she grinned. “I feel the Marine Corps is a lot more stern, there’s not a lot of playing around, it’s black and white and that’s how we kind of live our life and there’s no waivering in that.”
“It’s our belief that if you don’t like the way I tell you to do something, then become who I am and you can make that decision,” she said matter-of-factly.
As the base senior enlisted advisor, Mason is responsible for many things, but one of the important issues is uniformity.
“It’s my job to ensure everyone is getting the same word and everyone is following the same general standards,” she said.
The first way she decided to get everyone on the same page was to work jointly with her fellow senior NCOs and they created the Shindand Uniform Policy Appearance, Conduct and Standards for U.S. Forces and DoD personnel—an 11-page document that specifies standards for every branch of service.
“There was nothing in place but the challenge was going through the regulations for four different military branches,” said Mason, deployed from the Det. 2, Bulk Fuel, Company A, Inspector Instructor Staff, Bakersfield, Calif.
“This guidance will work because we’re not trying to change a branch of service’s way of doing things,” she said. “I wouldn’t want anyone to tell me what I can do with my Marine Corps uniform if they don’t wear it.”
Another project she manages is the Adopt-A-Road program.
“I didn’t personally create it, the fire department adopted a road and I kinda took that lead,” she said. “We’re in Afghanistan and the Afghans believe you drink water, you throw the bottle down; we don’t believe in that, but we have to it clean up so it’s important to show them how we do it in America and with their help, it can work for them in Afghanistan.”
This is a huge morale boost for the base.
“It became a very big morale push,” she smiled. ‘Throughout the month, I go out and check the roads and I designate a unit as ‘Road of the Month’ weekly and we present them with a really nice certificate signed by the colonel to let them know they’ve done their part to keep Shindand beautiful and it’s appreciated.”
As a Marine, working with Army, Navy and Air Force, she decided to conduct the first force protection exercise since there aren’t operational security forces members assigned to Shindand.
“There was no plan in place,” she said. “No one knew who would cover DFP 1[Defensive Fighting Position] or even where it was, so when we were initially doing it, I said ‘Ok, we’ll get our weapons, we get on our gear and we’ll go outside the wire’ and everybody was like no, no, no 1st Sgt, we don’t go out, we stay inside.
“The Marine Corps’ thought process in the fight is totally different—our thought process is we go and we kill the enemy,” she laughed. “So that was a huge eye opener for me because all Marines, before anything, are a rifleman.”
Throughout her tour she feels grateful for being given the opportunity to serve alongside her brothers and sisters-in-arms, experiencing joint-service camaraderie first hand and enjoys knowing she’s making a positive contribution to the CAPTF mission.
“I believe camaraderie comes from any branch of service and I’ve seen it first-hand here,” she grinned. “It has been an awesome experience. One I don’t think a lot of Marines get, especially females, and I’m taking it all in stride. I think it’s going to make me a better leader to my Marines because I’ve had the opportunity to see the light in the very diverse branches of service and things that people do,” she smiled. “I’ve learned so much about the Army and the Air Force than I knew before coming here and I don’t think anyone has an idea about any branch of service until they’ve actually had to experience it and deal with it on a day-to-day basis like this.”
“I think this was a great opportunity,” said Col. Larry Bowers, 838th AEAG commander. “She had done great things since she’s been here and I’m proud to have her part of my team.”
“I’m extremely proud of the CAPTF effort here because everyone came for a mission and if you asked them what their mission was it was to mentor someone, but none of them are doing that right now because the Afghan Air Force isn’t here yet; however, they don’t have a problem with- Marine talk here-putting on their pack and saying ‘Ok, this is the mission today and whatever it is I’m going to do it and I’m going to make it happen because it’s the best thing for everyone,” she said with admiration. “If you have a group of people like that who will do that at a moment’s notice, you can’t ask for anything better.”
Mason is someone who talks the talk and walks the walk.
Through the Marine-sponsored, highly-recognized and embraced Toys for Tots program, she was recently recognized as the ‘Toys for Tots Regional 4 Coordinator of the Year.’
“This is a huge campaign—a huge program,” she said smiling big. “I was fortunate to be able to give 35,000 toys to 16,000 children.”.
Due to her deployment, she will not be able to make annual conference where she’ll be recognized as a regional winner, but she doesn’t mind because she’s doing what she needs to do.
After 22 years of dedicated service, Mason has great opportunities ahead.
She is eligible for sergeant major and if promoted, she’ll happily serve her remaining eight years.
Is she happy of the choice she made 22 years ago when she decided to defy her mother by contacting a Marine recruiter telling him that as the only one in her family to serve, she didn’t want to know anything about the Marine Corps that she just wanted to go?
“Twenty three years later of course I say ‘yes’…at the time I was in boot camp crying every day … no,” she laughed.
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2010 06:52 |
| Story ID: | 56380 |
| Location: | FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHINDAND, AF |
| Web Views: | 193 |
| Downloads: | 9 |
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