Photo By Sgt. Heather Golden | Cpl. Christian Jensen, a military policeman augmented to Security Platoon, Support...... read more read more
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When Sgt. Maj. John Ploskonka, the former sergeant major of 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, passed around an eagle, globe and anchor emblem, asking his Marines to touch the metal — to leave their mark — the last place Cpl. Christian Jensen said he expected it to end up was with him after he was voted the unit's "gung ho" Marine.
Over the course of his career Ploskonka, who is now at the Wounded Warrior Regiment in Quantico, Va., has made a tradition of presenting his unit's most motivated Marine with a particular emblem that has history with the command.
From the day he checks in at each new duty station, Ploskonka, from Jacksonville, N.C., gets as many of his Marines as he can to touch dress blue cover emblem, to hold it even for just a second. He tells them this symbolically transfers a little bit of each Marine into that emblem.
Toward the end of his time at a unit, he asks the unit's Marines to vote for the top motivator, the one they feel deserves to keep this ultra-personal symbol of the unit with them forever. Everybody except for himself, from the commanding officer to the newest private, is eligible to win. Jensen was recognized as the battalion's choice during Ploskonka's relief and appointment ceremony Jan. 8.
Jensen, an augment to the battalion's security platoon from Military Police Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 37, 3rd MLG, III MEF, has been with 9th ESB since August. In that short amount of time, he made an impression.
"He's one of those guys everyone can look up to," said 2nd Lt. Kimberly Julka, the commander for security platoon, Support Company, 9th ESB. "He has a great attitude, good work ethic, and takes the initiative. He goes above and beyond."
Jensen does not see anything special about the way he conducts day-to-day business and said he prefers to spend even his free time training Marines.
The majority of the Marines he has been working with are currently participating in Mojave Viper in California in preparation for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.
"I'm just doing my job, really," said Jensen, from Half Moon Bay, Calif. "I [had] no time for hobbies, just getting the Marines ready. I think that's how Marines should be."
His willingness to teach does not stop with the junior Marines he is responsible for. He extends a helping hand to anyone who needs it.
"He's out there, willing to teach me things," said Julka, from Fond du Lac, Wis. "He's not afraid to step in. I'm very proud of him.
"I am by far the luckiest second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. All my [non-commissioned officers] are outstanding," she said.
When the voting began, Jensen never once suspected he'd be at the top of many people's motivator lists, topping even the commanding officer and other Marines who permanently belong to the battalion.
"I voted for one of my sergeants," Jensen explained. "I honestly thought it was going to be a popularity thing, so I was surprised."
He knows he can be tough to work for. Jensen says his job as a corporal is not to make friends, but to make sure his Marines have what they need to stay alive and get their jobs done.
"I am intense 100 percent of the time," he said. "I am the same way across the board. It goes back to being an NCO twenty-four, seven."
Nicknamed "firecracker" by a previous unit, Jensen attributed his own leadership education to one of his first NCOs, then-Cpl. Kevin Byrnes.
"He is probably the reason I am the way I am," Jensen said. "He knew how to get Marines ready for deployment the right way. He took extra time for training if we needed it."
Another experience that cemented his resolve to always give everything he has happened during a deployment to Iraq.
He lost three of his best friends — Cpl. Matthew Dillon, Lance Cpl. Budd Cote and Lance Cpl. C.J. Miller.
"All three, my best friends. We all lived together. It was hard," Jensen remembered. If he had "sulked off and even thought to quit" today, they would have died in vain, he said.
To this day, he still wears a bracelet engraved with all their names to remind him to take each day for every opportunity it holds and take the steps to make sure he does everything he can to not lose anybody else.
"Bottom line — I want everybody to come home," Jensen said. "I could never live with it if one of my guys died because of something I didn't teach them."
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 03.23.2010 20:59 |
| Story ID: | 47113 |
| Location: | CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 389 |
| Downloads: | 207 |
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