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In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Naval Appropriations Act, which established the Marine Corps Reserve. Since then the Marine Corps Reserve has grown significantly. Reservists are capable of taking outside civilian experiences and use them to better serve the Marine Corps. Furthermore, their reserve training and experience gives them the opportunities and training to better serve their civilian occupations and their communities.
Sgt. Christopher Latvenas, a New Jersey-native completed recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, December 2012. Born in Washington Township, New Jersey, he graduated from Williamstown High School. Latvenas went on to his military occupational specialty training at Dam Neck Navy Base, Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he earned the MOS of intelligence specialist. After the course, he received orders to Combat Logistics Battalion 31, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. He was an active duty Marine for five years before switching to the reserves.
“I still wanted to be in the Marine Corps,” said Latvenas. “I still wanted to deploy but my wife wanted to stay in New Jersey.”
During 2020, Latvenas deployed with a Georgia Liaison Team where he served as a foreign intelligence advisor liaison to the Georgian military. Some of his responsibilities were to help plan operations and work with language translators. During this time he spent four months in the Republic of Georgia, four months in Afghanistan, and a month in Kuwait.
“I got to advise Georgian forces for their intelligence section,” said Latvenas. “That was exciting getting to meet a foreign force having to mitigate through language barriers and use interpreters to help them plan their operations.”
Latvenas uses his skills from the Marine Corps to relate to more people and better analyze them.
Latvenas works as a civilian contractor with the Camden Police Department in New Jersey. In June of 2021, he started his career as a criminal intelligence analyst. His skills translated well from his Marine Corps job to his civilian one.
“My skills and experience from the Marine Corps have helped me in my civilian job by having the experience to be one of their lead guys,” said Latvenas. “My civilian job helps keep me up-to-date in the intelligence field by requiring me to continue to do research and analysis.”
Latvenas is an example of how talent management, across Marine Forces Reserve, mutually benefits Marine Corps' capabilities, as well as the civilian sector opportunities, by complementing and nurturing specific skillsets through in-depth training, practical execution, and evolving innovations.
| Date Taken: | 02.01.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.05.2022 17:43 |
| Story ID: | 413808 |
| Location: | NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, US |
| Hometown: | CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, US |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Untold Stories | New Jersey-Native uses his Marine Corps experience to serve his community, by LCpl Mitchell Collyer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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