Photo By Sgt. Micha Pierce | U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Thomas Korabik Jr., sergeant major of Headquarters and...... read more read more
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As a 17 year old high school graduate in 1999, Thomas J. Korabik had initially planned to attend college and play football, but first wanted to do something more with his life. Seeing a bunch of his friends joining the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program, preparing to become soldiers, Korabik was intrigued, but not completely sold.
“No that’s not for me,” Korabik said. “I wanted something that was going to give me a path, to enlighten me, and the Marine Corps stood out.”
From that moment, Korabik started preparing for recruit training. After acquiring a signature from his parents due to his young age, he was sent to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California, to become a United States Marine for the infantry mortarman military occupational specialty (MOS).
According to Korabik, even though the Marine Corps was his armed forces branch of choice, he never envisioned himself re-enlisting, much less reaching the rank of sergeant major. With one last deployment opportunity coming in November 2002, Cpl. Korabik decided to extend his contract to be able to make the deployment. In the midst of supporting operations in the Republic of Kosovo, Korabik re-enlisted, he realized he was not ready to give up leading Marines and shortly after his unit helped lead the charge into Iraq.
“Something there clicked,” Korabik reminisced. “Knowing that what the Marines in my squad did or didn’t do was dependent on my ability to lead them, coach them, and mentor my Marines. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I love it every day.”
Korabik just recently took the command position of sergeant major for Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina on March 15, 2019. Not only is this Korabik’s first assignment as a Sergeant Major, but this is also his first assignment with a non-infantry unit. According to Korabik, it is completely different than anything he has done before and he is learning every day what happens behind the scenes outside of the infantry life.
While Korabik is still learning all of the MOS’s and missions, he has a lot of goals for the Marines who are under his charge on the air station. One of them is to get Marines to take their careers more seriously by pushing themselves to become PME (Professional Military Education) complete. Korabik also preaches on following the rules, procrastinating less and another very important ideal to instill in the Marines, “Be a good human.”
Now that he is sergeant major, Korabik plans to make changes within the squadron to raise morale and has already done so by working to make squadron events even more accessible to the families of Marines.
With support from his family to pursue a career in the Marine Corps, and through his own ambitions, we asked how the Marine Corps has impacted his life and Korabik stated, “The Marine Corps is my life.” All of these goals and aspirations for the Marines at MCAS Cherry Point come from Korabik’s personal goals to be the best example for other Marines that he can.
| Date Taken: | 05.24.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 06.03.2019 08:49 |
| Story ID: | 323956 |
| Location: | MCAS CHERRY POINT, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 168 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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