By Warren Peace
III Marine Expeditionary Force Public Affairs
CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, Japan — They spent their days playing outside in the potato field behind their house or near the horse pasture down the street, returning home only to eat before tackling the wild again. It was a classic scene from rural America in Roosevelt, N.J., where he was born Feb. 13, 1958.
Since those carefree days, Robert E. Mastriano, husband and father of three, has climbed the ranks of the Marine Corps to become the sergeant major of Marine Corps Base Camp Butler on Okinawa. But, as Mastriano is the first to admit, the road was a bumpy one.
He says that while he can't be100 percent sure, he is "reportedly" the only sergeant major and enlisted Marine on active duty who is a former officer and commanding officer.
His journey began when he was still a boy. He often spent the day with his father, an enlisted Navy man. He and his brother Wayne had their noses pressed firmly against the window of their father's car, staring at the Marine security guards in dress blues, armed and well groomed at the gates of the naval station where their father worked. It was there he realized he wanted to be a Marine.
"These guys must be special – they guard the Navy," Mastriano said.
From that day on, he and his brother knew they would join the Marines.
"Sons, who tend to be close to their fathers, tend to follow their father's footsteps," he said.
Wayne, former Marine sergeant and current special agent with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, U.S. Department of State, said they didn't hesitate to join the Marine Corps after high school. "It was something we knew without any discussion."
Sgt. Maj. Mastriano enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve and went to Parris Island, S.C. in 1978 after two years of college.
"The only reason I went to college was to become a Marine Corps officer," he said.
But his eagerness to join the Corps took priority over completing college. He graduated boot camp and became a 105mm Howitzer battery cannoneer.
But he never lost sight of his goal. He was selected for officer candidate school in 1979 and graduated in 1980. Later, he became an infantry platoon commander with F Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
His first deployment with the battalion took him to Norway with the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, now known as the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The Marines united with Norwegian, British and German forces for an operation in the mountains of Norway near the Russian border.
This is where, he says, his young, ambitious nature got him into a bit of trouble.
He said officials in charge of the operation held his platoon back because they lacked confidence in the capabilities of his Marines in a cold environment. He didn't agree. He and his platoon had completed cold weather training in Alaska and learned how to ski on glaciers and how to use snowshoes in preparation for the operation. They were ready.
"The command overly protected us," he said. "I felt they were too cautious and were not letting the tiger out of the cage."
To prove his platoon's worth, 2nd Lt. Mastriano led his Marines on an unscheduled foot patrol toward a Norwegian Hawk missile radar site. He planned to take control of the American ally's site.
He chose the steepest part of the mountain as his avenue of approach to avoid detection by Norwegian ski patrols. Wearing snowshoes and outfitted in Korean War era equipment, Mastriano and his men quietly breached the security fence and seized and secured the objective.
"It was an overzealous act on my part," he says in retrospect.
No one was hurt during the maneuver except for minor bruising of the Norwegians' egos.
The act sent ripples of unease through officials in D.C. and Headquarters Marine Corps. They were concerned about the embarrassment it caused the Norwegian government.
"To my peers, I was considered a hero," he said with a slight chuckle in his voice. "To the regimental commander, I was a pretentious lieutenant that needed to be put in his place."
He remembers his executive officer saying, "There's no question that in war that would have gotten you a medal. Here, it gets you a letter of reprimand."
"That sealed the fate of my career as an officer," he said. However, he was not relieved of his rank. He eventually received a promotion to 1st lieutenant, and was assigned as the commanding officer of F Company and then Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment.
But three years after being commissioned, the Marine Corps started looking at its numbers. There was an overabundance of infantry officers. Eighty percent of the officers were reserve, and they had to compete for a permanent commission.
"They didn't need me with a letter of reprimand," he said.
But he wanted to stay in the Corps. He resigned his commission and became a staff sergeant, assuming the role of artillery fire direction control operations chief and assistant battalion operations chief in 11th Marines.
"It was not surprising that he chose to remain in the Marine Corps," Wayne said. "He saw challenges as opportunities. Starting over as an enlisted member of the Marine Corps provided him with a platform to take on those challenges."
As a gunnery sergeant with the 11th MEU, he participated in combat operations during the Gulf War and in a relief operation in the country of Bangladesh in the early '90s.
In 1992, he became a platoon sergeant with Joint Task Force 6 and worked with U.S. law enforcement agencies in a counter-narcotics operation. During his time with the task force, it was responsible for seizing more than $600,000 in illegal drugs.
After promotion to first sergeant and sergeant major, he returned to Norway with 14th Marines. This time, he avoided any international incidents."
"I learned my lesson," he said.
Twenty six years after playing king of the hill in Norway, he works out of an office in the MCB Camp Butler Headquarters building, perched atop another hill. His office is decorated with pictures of his family and military exploits. Resembling a small museum, his office and most of the furniture in it is adorned with endless war artifacts. Some relics even line the floor.
During his career, Mastriano has received the Legion of Merit Medal and Meritorious Service Medal.
"I forget how I got it," he says about the service medal and "It's not important," about the other. The way he sees it, "the only award that matters is the Combat Action Ribbon. It's a qualifier."
Mastriano is proud of his ribbon and the enemy kills he says it represents. He says he earned it during the last artillery fire mission of Desert Storm. Mastriano, then a gunnery sergeant, directed his 24 155mm Howitzers to unload 72 95-pound rounds on an enemy fortification. He says the 6,700 pounds of ordnance killed all the enemies and totally destroyed the fortification.
However, his combat experience hasn't shaped him into the typical impassioned, predictable sergeantmajor one might expect. He doesn't wear a high-and tight and avoids unnecessary military jargon. And he doesn't agree with those who believe their motivation can be measured by how loud they yell.
"The ones that always say 'oohrah!' and yell are the guys in the rear that spent too much time on the drill field. It's false motivation," he said.
His furrowed face is roofed by salt and pepper hair that was once dark brown. His 6-foot-3- inch frame moves with confidence and still closely resembles the well-built man that exists in pictures on his wall.
He leans back and crosses his legs when engaged in conversation and refers to the early years of his career as "when I was in." Maybe he feels like he is no longer part of the operating forces as a sergeant major of a base unit, or maybe he's just coming to terms with the end of something.
At 50 years old, he still has his combat boots on, if only for a little longer. His retirement is scheduled for early June, something he says has been scheduled twice before and then delayed at the request of the sergeant major of the Marine Corps.
With retirement approaching, he reflected on the mark he is leaving on the Marine Corps.
Mastriano says two Marine Corps Gazette articles he authored in 2005 and 2007 about the need for a sergeant major professional military education course prompted the commandant of the Marine Corps to create a committee, of which Mastriano was a member, to develop such a course. Installations throughout the Corps began implementing the course in March.
"His success as an enlisted Marine serves as an example that no matter how bad things seem in the short term, if you have the character and drive to go forward, there is no limit to your success in the long run," Wayne said.
Mastriano has experienced changes in the Marine Corps most have only heard about. He doesn't believe, as other "old salts" contend, that the Marine Corps is getting softer, but he does believe it is getting smarter.
"Marines are better trained, better equipped, and have better skill sets compared to when I was in," he said.
Mastriano believes the Corps' senior leaders are on the right track, equipping and preparing the Marine Corps for the future global environment and getting them ready for contingencies in a wide variety of conditions.
As the Marine Corps continues to adapt, he will have to adapt to civilian life after three decades of service. He plans to continue living and working in Okinawa, quite possibly being the only retired sergeant major who has never been a non-commissioned officer.