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By DeCA Corporate Communications
FORT LEE, Va. – Over the past 24 years, Marine Master Gunnery Sgt. Anthony D. Polk has punched just about every deployment ticket imaginable on land and sea.
Now as the Defense Commissary Agency’s new senior enlisted advisor for overseas operations, he encourages eligible patrons to punch their tickets when it comes to using the benefit they’ve earned.
“As staff non-commissioned officers, we are taught to take care of our people, and now as a member of Team DeCA that mindset is central to my role as a senior enlisted advisor for our overseas stores,” Polk said. “Delivering the benefit overseas is DeCA’s No. 1 priority because commissaries are our patrons’ safe, secure and cost-effective place to buy groceries while stationed abroad.”
Polk assumed duties as DeCA’s senior enlisted advisor for overseas operations Aug. 8 after serving the last two years as logistics chief for the 3rd Marine Division G-4 at Camp Courtney, Okinawa, Japan. He replaced Army Sgt. Maj. Matthew Baller who is preparing to retire in January 2023.
“We welcome Master Gunnery Sgt. Polk to Team DeCA, and we’re confident that his leadership and passion for taking care of troops will serve us well,” said Ronald K. Hurt, acting executive director of the agency’s Store Operations Group. “Through his interaction with our senior military leaders and patrons in Europe and the Pacific, we will learn how we are doing and how we can improve our delivery of the benefit.”
Working out of his office at DeCA Europe headquarters on Kapaun Air Station, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Polk is responsible for advising Hurt on all matters of service members’ needs related to the commissary benefit. He also serves as the agency’s overseas liaison to senior leaders of the armed services supported by the 57 overseas commissaries in DeCA’s Europe and Pacific areas.
Polk entered the Marine Corps in 1998 and attended boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina. He subsequently attended Logistics School at Camp Johnson, North Carolina, where he graduated as an embarkation specialist.
In 2003, Polk deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and again to Iraq in 2004 for Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2012, he deployed again, this time to Afghanistan as the staff non-commissioned officer-in-charge of the 5th Kandak Afghanistan Army advisory team.
Throughout his career, Polk has held a variety of leadership and expertise broadening assignments in the continental United States and overseas.
In 2013, Polk received orders to USS Peleliu in Norfolk, Virginia, to serve as the combat cargo assistant. He left the Peleliu in 2014 to serve nine months aboard USS Somerset. He later served with the Naval Amphibious Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (TF 61/5), where he served as senior enlisted advisor and operations chief for the Logistics Directorate.
In 2016, Polk received orders to Okinawa, Japan, to serve as the logistics chief for the 12th Marine Regiment. Two years later, he was assigned to Combat Logistics Regiment 37 to serve as operations chief. In 2020, Polk became chief of logistics for the 3rd Marine Division G-4 in Okinawa, Japan.
“As a Marine who has been stationed around the world throughout my military career, having that connection to home is so important to my family’s quality of life,” Polk said. “When I have deployed, especially when I was based in Okinawa, Japan, I had zero worries that my family would have access to the groceries they needed at a significant savings and in a safe environment.
“Ultimately, as our patrons’ liaison, I want to ensure we do our best to deliver the commissary benefit they deserve because they’ve earned it.”
-DeCA-
About DeCA: The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Commissaries provide a military benefit, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars annually on their purchases compared to similar products at commercial retailers. The discounted prices include a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones. A core military family support element, and a valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America’s military and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.
| Date Taken: | 08.23.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.23.2022 14:14 |
| Story ID: | 427870 |
| Location: | FORT LEE, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 130 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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