Photo By Sgt. Bernadette Pacheco | Lt. Col. Quinci Martin poses at a statewide pool function at RS Frederick.... read more read more
NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa. - Lt. Col. Quinci Martin has a two decade-long successful Marine Corps career to her name. From a lengthy list of professional experience, to numerous academic achievements and cross-cultural military experiences, Martin has an accomplished career many hope for. She is currently the operations officer of the 4th Marine Corps District.
Martin commissioned into the Marine Corps in 2003 after graduating from the United States Naval Academy. Although she always planned on joining the armed forces due to growing up in a military family, joining the Navy had been her initial intent. The Marines at the academy are what swayed her decision.
“You have these examples of leadership in front of you in both the officer and enlisted side,” Martin said. “And there was just such a distinct difference. In the way Marine officers and Marine enlisted carried themselves. And that’s not to say it was better, it was just different. And I knew it would be a challenge, but the way the Marine Corps values are implemented and enacted upon really resonated with me.”
Martin attended supply school as a ground supply officer and reported to her first duty station in Okinawa, Japan in 2004. Some notable achievements throughout her career have been deploying to Afghanistan, serving with Joint Special Operations Task Force in Germany, attending Naval Postgraduate School, studying Russian at the Defense Language Institute, serving as the chief of the Nuclear Operations Division in Russia, and participating in Operation Allies Welcome at Marine Corps Base Quantico, one of eight sites across the country and the only Marine Corps site to receive evacuated Afghans from Afghanistan.
As the operations officer, no one day is the same for Martin. Some days she's on the road working with commanders on how to better support the recruiting stations. Other days she is at the 4th Marine Corps District headquarters, working through the Assistant for Enlisted Recruiting and his team. Additionally, Prior Serving Recruiting, the Assistant for Officer Procurement, the training team, and Marketing and Communications all fall under district operations. Martin ensures coordination of all these efforts.
Despite an extensive resume, she considers making an impact on Marines to be her biggest accomplishment in the Marine Corps.
“You don’t know it when it’s happening,” Martin said. “But it’s when the Marines you’ve been blessed to lead and work with reach out to you later and tell you that you made a difference in their life. They seem like such small moments, but that is to me is the biggest accomplishment. In knowing in at least one life I’ve made a difference, a positive difference.”
However, being in the Marine Corps hasn’t come without its challenges.
“The Marine Corps prides confidence and bias for action in its young leaders, officer and enlisted,” she said. “But when you’re younger, you don’t always have the judgement. You still have to think through as well as you can and respond and act, and that’s important. So for me it’s been developing the judgement for over two decades to make sure that if and when I’m acting quickly, that it’s in the right direction.”
Martin's advice for those who want to follow in her footsteps is to simply take the leap.
“We as human beings, as Americans, as a society, are our own worst enemies," Martin said. "We are so afraid of failure that we don’t try. You miss 100% of the swings you don’t take. And you should regret very few things in life. But man, if you want to do something, go after it. Give it everything.”
| Date Taken: | 08.19.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.26.2022 10:41 |
| Story ID: | 427620 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 258 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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