Photo By Staff Sgt. Dana Beesley | U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Lily Banhegyesi, an intelligence surveillance...... read more read more
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This month, U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Lily Banhegyesi, a native of Long Island, New York, and the company gunnery sergeant for 1st Radio Battalion, became I Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group’s newest meritoriously promoted Marine.
An intelligence surveillance reconnaissance system engineer by trade, Banhegyesi and her Marines provide top secret communications capabilities to their commander via satellite, networks, and radio.
“We provide communications support so the intelligence community and linguists can do their job and collect information, which can involve fixing computers, setting up networks and creating accounts; it’s a sort of jack-of-all trades occupation, but at the secret level,” Banhegyesi said.
It was always Banhegyesi’s end goal to become company gunnery sergeant. After a successful tour as a drill instructor aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, she was placed in charge of all the administrative tasks and training requirements of over 200 Marines. After encouragement from her command and Marines, Banhegyesi decided to compete for the Marine Forces Pacific meritorious gunnery sergeant promotion board.
“I tried to excel where I could, including preparing myself for the board – volunteer work, whatever PMEs I could do to increase my competitiveness,” Banhegyesi said.
After four months of preparation and anticipation, Banhegyesi found out she was selected. She said that going against all potential gunnery sergeants in Marine Forces Pacific was daunting, and was told how competitive and difficult it was to win a board for this specific rank.
“I teared up when I saw my name on the list,” Banhegyesi said. “Everything I went through as a staff sergeant and moving on to the fleet and going through the whole process of working to relearn my job after three years of being outside of it…it showed me that all this hard work wasn’t for nothing. It means a lot to me that my leaders saw potential and saw me worthy of being a meritorious gunnery sergeant.”
Banhegyesi requested for her promotion to be held as a battalion formation to set the example for her Marines and previous recruits she had trained.
“I wanted my Marines could see that they this could be them one day,” Banhegyesi sai. “I wanted them to see a staff noncommissioned officer can do this too and be an example worthy of looking up to.”
| Date Taken: | 04.03.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.17.2023 11:37 |
| Story ID: | 442403 |
| Location: | CAMP PENDLETON, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Hometown: | LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 375 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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