U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Morris McDaniel Sharber relinquished command of 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company to Lt. Col. Thomas Giraldi during a ceremony at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, June 15.
As part of a longstanding tradition in the Marine Corps, a change of command ceremony represents the transfer of responsibility, authority, and accountability from one leader to another.
“I’ve been blessed to hold a lot of titles in my life including father, son, Marine, and officer, but there are not many titles that I’ve held in as high of a regard as NOMAD-6,” said Sharber, the outgoing commanding officer and a native of Fayetteville, North Carolina. “Being the commanding officer of 1st ANGLICO was my dream job and I thought it was outside of the realm of possible. I didn’t think it would happen, but I was blessed with the opportunity and am truly honored and humbled to have been a part of this command.”
1st ANGLICO specializes in combined arms, fire support, and communications capabilities in order to partner and enable any assigned unit across the range of military operations. 1st ANGLICO is manned, trained, and equipped to deliver devastating lethal and non-lethal effects across the battlefield.
“In my two years, we worked on operationalizing ANGLICO and evolving it into the future,” said Sharber. “When I got here, we were doing a lot of the same things we were doing when I left ANGLICO in 2010 and there was a need to shift towards Force Design 2030. I find that the thing that I am most proud of is how we’ve done that over the course of the last two years.”
According to Sharber, during his time in command, the unit really dove into how to make the Marines more lethal as well as more flexible.
1st ANGLICO’s mission is to provide Marine Air Ground Task Force Commanders a liaison capability to plan, coordinate, employ, and conduct terminal control of fires in support of joint, coalition, or allied forces.
“I want to continue to progress the operational capabilities of the command,” said Giraldi, the incoming commanding officer and a native of Woodbridge, Virginia. “Because of the foundation Lt. Col. Sharber set, I am able to look up and out. I don’t have to focus on as much of the minutia and small details because there are a lot of good processes and procedures in place.”
According to Sharber, the Marines are on a very good course and speed and they have a path and direction.
“He is in a good position to be able to look up and out and pull those guys into the direction that the MIG, the MEF and his vision are taking,” said Sharber. “I’m excited to see what he does with the company, they are ready for his leadership.”
According to Giraldi, he never thought that in his 16.5-year career that he would be given the opportunity to command 1st ANGLICO.
“I was here as a captain, about 9 to 10 years ago, and as I left this place I told myself this is as good as its ever going to get,” said Giraldi. “I thought, if I ever have the opportunity to take O-5 command, this is the command that I would want. I was fortunate enough to get selected for command, but then even more fortunate enough to be selected for 1st ANGLICO. I am incredibly lucky.”
Date Taken: | 06.15.2023 |
Date Posted: | 06.15.2023 17:35 |
Story ID: | 447336 |
Location: | CAMP PENDLETON, CALIFORNIA, US |
Hometown: | FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
Hometown: | WOODBRIDGE, NEW JERSEY, US |
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