Photo By kevin walston | Lt. Gen. William Beydler, MARCENT CC, recognized Sgt. Justin C. Anderson, infantry...... read more read more
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BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – The Marine Corps Forces Central Command commander took time out of his busy schedule today to spend time with Marines assigned to Task Force Buffalo’s Georgian Deployment Program Resolute Support Mission Rotation (ROTO) 2 here.
During his visit, Lt. Gen. William D. Beydler, who assumed his current position on Oct. 27, had lunch with Marines, held a Marine troop engagement question and answer session, received a GLT operations briefing, and had an office call with Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Bannister, U.S. Forces Afghanistan Deputy Commanding General-Support to gauge his thoughts on future Marine missions and current mission accomplishment.
The ROTO 2 is the largest Marine active duty unit in Afghanistan. The unit is responsible for base security and conducting Coalition-led patrols within the Bagram Ground Defense Area with Soldiers from the Republic of Georgia. Prior to coming to BAF, the Marines deployed to Georgia and conducted five months of pre-deployment training with the Georgians.
Beydler, a command pilot with nearly 4,000 hours in tactical jet aircraft, stressed that although he understands his Marines have been busy over the past 15 months, they shouldn’t expect that pace to decrease in the near future and could increase depending upon mission requirements.
With the presidential announcement maintaining current force levels, Beydler said the Marines, who’ve maintained a rotational mindset of knowing in advance from six months to a year when they’d deploy, shouldn’t expect a change in that mission set and he applauded them for their efforts.
“It’s not a glamorous job, and I really appreciate you doing what’s required…don’t know where we’ll end up, but be ready,” he said. “Continue to do your business because what we’re good at is employment.”
Since 9/11, Beydler said the Marines have deployed on short notice and have done a great job of maintaining their readiness. But he stressed that he wants them to continue to police themselves when it comes to maintaining Marine Corps standards to ensure readiness, and to hold each other accountable.
“I saw a Washington Post article about a scout sniper stationed in this country who gained 38 seconds of notoriety because of a video,” he said. “He’ll forever be known for that, rather than the hard work he’d done, or the deployments he’d successfully completed.”
Beydler challenged the Marines to focus on Marine core values, readiness and standards as they execute their mission and in coming to visit them, it’s an opportunity for him to see how he can help them do just that.
“I want to understand the problems you face so I can go to Gen. Austin and Gen. Campbell with those needs,” he explained. “Continue the hard work you do, and we’ll continue to do good planning and optimize the force.”
During the visit, Beydler also recognized Sgt. Justin C. Anderson, infantry adviser to the Georgian Liaison Team, for his outstanding mission accomplishment and personal achievements.
| Date Taken: | 12.07.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 12.07.2015 22:50 |
| Story ID: | 183781 |
| Location: | BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 265 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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