Photo By Lance Cpl. Joaquin Carlos Dela Torre | The 20th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Carlos A. Ruiz, and his wife,...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Carlos A. Ruiz hosted a Single Parent Town Hall, Nov. 18, 2024, to address potential issues effecting the readiness and quality of life for single-parent service members.
“It was an important opportunity to hear from the single Marines around the base, and I think I learned more from it than they did,” said Sgt. Maj. Michael Brown, the base sergeant major of MCB Quantico who organized the town hall. “What I realized today is that we can focus on warfighting and we can focus on readiness all at the same time with making sure that some of our most vulnerable Marines – our single parents – are being taken care of.”
The town hall included people from a variety of units and programs, such as Manpower Management Division and Marine and Family Programs Division, who also briefed the Marines on their respective roles and held a Q&A session on how they could best improve quality of life.
“There were a lot of things that came up today that were institutional-level, and the senior enlisted leaders and commanders here learned a lot about the organization’s policies,” Ruiz explained. He was accompanied by his wife, Andrea Ruiz, who is a retired Marine and previous single parent in the Marine Corps.
He and his wife emphasized the importance of support systems for the “21st century family,” which includes single parents, dual-military and divorced parents. Specifically, Andrea Ruiz explained that the best way to ensure that Marines are performing their best and as efficiently as possible, while also keeping talent in the Marine Corps, is to take away any potential stressors that these families may have.
“I spent majority of my career as a single parent, and I had a lot of struggles that I personally went through,” Andrea said. “And I knew I was a better Marine when I was happier. I was more efficient; I was faster; I was stronger when I didn’t have to worry about child care or housing.”
When Sgt. Maj. Ruiz was asked where the idea came from, he simply grinned and pointed to his wife saying, “Mrs. Ruiz!”
He also genuinely explained that it could appear unusual that the SMMC is so invested in this topic, but he wants to reassure its Marines that the Corps is committed to taking care of them, and that “…you can be a great mother and father and a great Marine at the same time.”
“As my wife and I travel the Marine Corps, I would like to meet with more single parents and see if there’s a trend that maybe we’ll need congress to help us with,” he said. “If there’s a fight coming, we need every Marine and every family as ready as possible to be able to endure the pressures that the fight comes with.”
| Date Taken: | 11.18.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.06.2024 09:16 |
| Story ID: | 486720 |
| Location: | QUANTICO, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 111 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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