Photo By Keith Hayes | Angelica Benavidez, Marine Corps Community Services Operations Officer, Marine Corps...... read more read more
The person piloting the Marine Corps Community Services Department at Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, California, has a wealth of experience navigating those stormy waters.
Angelica Benavidez was appointed to the role of MCCS Operations Officer in August 2019 when the former head of the department, Dr. Will Artis, took over a similar role at Fort Irwin, California.
“Operations Officer is a kind of unique position because we’re under (Marine Corps Base Camp) Pendleton after the merger of MCCS in 2015,” Benavidez explained. “My job is to oversee the operations in Barstow and coordinate between command, the local staff and Camp Pendleton to make sure we’re meeting the needs of the patrons in Barstow.”
Those needs are wide and varied, the native Barstownian pointed out, with MCCS touching almost every aspect of life aboard MCLB Barstow, including food and hospitality, tickets for events, the library, the Marine Corps Exchange, Leatherneck Bowling Lanes, the Marine Memorial Golf Course, the Child Development Center, education counselling, mental health counselling, drug abuse counselling, and many other pursuits.
As MCCS OpsO, Benavidez said the most challenging part of her job is communication, as it is with most every job aboard base.
“I make sure everyone is on the same page because we’re dealing with a lot of different people in a lot of different places, so there are a lot of moving parts,” she said. “I just make sure that communication stays fluid and everyone knows what’s going on for those that have a need to know in that specific situation.”
Prior to taking over the MCCS slot, Benavidez worked for the Behavioral Health Program.
“I worked with the Family Advocacy Program as a Prevention Education Specialist and Victim Advocate,” she said.
That work made her ideally suited to handle the challenge of Operations Officer of MCCS.
“I’ve been here for 15 years and in the position I was in with Behavioral Health I had to do a lot of coordinating already,” Benavidez said. “But when you step out of that role with one branch of that division, there’s a lot more that goes in to it, but I already had pretty decent relationships with a lot of the base and the Pendleton staff and that really helped.”
While there are those challenging aspects to Benavidez’s job, there is also rewards that come with the position.
“The best part of this job is having the opportunity to provide services on a different level and to work with everybody in a different capacity. It’s really fun to find out how everything works and making things happen,” Benavidez concluded.
| Date Taken: | 02.13.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.23.2020 16:27 |
| Story ID: | 368327 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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