Photo By Sgt. Medina Ayala-Lo | Marine Corps Communication-Electronics School Marines retire the colors during the...... read more read more
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TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. - A Marine color guard stands statuesque on the grass of Lance Cpl. Torrey L. Gray Field. Two Marines approach the color guard and ceremoniously remove the casing from each flag. The flags unfold, one revealing bold stripes and bright stars, the other embellished with an Eagle, Globe and Anchor. The unveiling of the colors mark the beginning of a new era.
An activation ceremony for Communication Training Battalion was held at Lance Cpl. Torrey L. Gray Field, March 12, 2015.
“Within the last three years, it has all come to fruition,” said Lt. Col. Speros C. Koumparakis, commanding officer, CTB. “The entire Marine Corps needed to look at structure and places in which we could build efficiency.”
In the Marine Corps, communication is the third largest Military Occupational Specialty. For years, the training of commissioned and enlisted was conducted in separate locations. Officers were trained at a communications school at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., and enlisted Marines were trained at the Marine Corps Communication-Electronics School aboard the Combat Center. Although both schools provided training for the same occupational specialty, their missions were different. After nearly 60 years at Edson Hall in Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., the Communications School was deactivated on June 19, 2014, in a ceremony aptly named "End of an Era."
“Today we have activated the Communication Training Battalion, combining training of officer and enlisted under one commander,” said Col. Andrew Murray, former commanding officer, Marine Corps Communication-Electronics School. “The history of MCCES and the history of Communication School began in Quantico in 1942, with the establishment of the Signal School. In establishing the Communication Training Battalion this morning we have come full circle.”
For the ceremony, the unit was stood in formation on the field as an announcer explained the mission of the battalion. The pinnacle of the ceremony was the uncasing of the American and Marine Corps flags, which signified the beginning of the battalion’s history and lineage.
“One of things we talk about is how we can inspire junior Marines,” Koumparakis said. “It’s about taking a Marine who wants to do something great, and inspiring them to understand why they’re in the classroom and get them ready to go out to the fleet and help those commanders support communications across the full range of operations.”
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.18.2015 18:53 |
| Story ID: | 157436 |
| Location: | TWENTYNINE PALMS, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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