Photo By Cpl. Clayton Vonderahe | Gunnery Sgt. Jack Terrell is a native of Tylertown, Miss., and joined the Marine Corps...... read more read more
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FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELARAM II, Nimroz province, Afghanistan - “'Full Metal Jacket' … picture Gunnery Sgt. Ermey, times 20,” said Lance Cpl. Redrick Dean, a field wireman with Headquarters Company, Regimental Combat Team 8.
Dean was attempting to describe the company gunnery sergeant for HQ Co., Gunnery Sgt. Jack Terrell, 38. A weathered, southern-style man, he joined the Marine Corps nearly 18 years ago and found a place to call home.
His steely blue eyes coupled with his tall, lean stature, pierce even the toughest of characters. Terrell, a Tylertown, Miss. native, tends to shout orders with an unmistakable ‘good ole boy’ Mississippi accent.
In contrast, he is also known to take individual Marines aside, soften his rugged exterior, and work through whatever problems the Marine is facing with the care and concern of a father.
This duality of character is stereotypical of Marines. It demands respect and obedience while maintaining an atmosphere of security and trust.
“It’s a bitter sweet kind of thing; you have to be Marine Corps material to really understand,” Dean explained.
His leathery skin and his rough hewn granite expressions seem to be unbreakable, only to be lifted by a smile or a light joke. His no nonsense, roughrider exterior does little to lend credit to his care and concern for the Marines surrounding him.
“Sometimes Marines need a big-brother-type figure,” explains Terrell, a 1993 Salem High School graduate. “We are a war-fighting organization; we are in the business of destroying things, but we are always here for each other; to support [Marines] and their families when they need it.”
Terrell is currently deployed to Nimroz province, Afghanistan, serving a year deployment. When the company’s original company gunnery sergeant left to another billet, Terrell was pulled from the communications section to fill the gap.
As a company gunnery sergeant, Terrell is directly responsible for interacting with and ensuring the welfare of Marines within the company. He oversees many of the company’s operations and functions. This includes many “working parties,” or groups of Marines performing necessary work, around the base.
“If I have Marines out there filling [Hesco barriers] or sand bags and I go out there and start doing it with them, they’re going to respect me more down the road,” Terrell said through a southern drawl. “They will be more willing next time because they’re going to think ‘Gunny helped me do this, he’s not just gonna go back to his office and sit back in the cool air and enjoy life, he’s gonna be out here with me, knee deep in the sand pit, fillin’ bags.’”
Terrell has developed a ‘tough love’ mentality, with literal meaning to both words. No Marine in his charge will dispute the lack of hesitation he displays in correcting a problem or a problemed Marine. The more difficult aspect to see is why the tough love is necessary and the purposes behind his callous behavior.
“Being a Marine leader, you gotta yell sometimes but once you’re done yelling you gotta turn around and bring him back up. It is like taking a negative and turning it into a positive,” Terrell explains. “I would rather stress them here and them be able to take it, than be in a situation where they become stressed so bad that they can’t figure it out and Marines start dying.
“Stress is a good thing, as long as you do it for a positive reason. It is really all up to the Marines though. Marines make me who I am … Marines make me a bad guy and Marines make me a good guy. If Marines do what Marines are supposed to do, then I am a good guy. If a Marine is not doing what he is supposed to do then that’s when you have to go forward and say ‘hey Devil Dog, why do you do the things you do? Were you not informed, or you just don’t care,’”
Leadership in the Marine Corps is on every level, regardless of rank. It is the responsibility of each level of leadership to shape and influence those in their command for the next level. Terrell strives to develop the next generation to embrace the time- honored traditions of the Marine Corps, just as his leadership helped him develop his demeanor years ago.
“If I could sum it up in two words; traditional but tolerant,” said Sgt. Dacre Harris, a Marine with the Personal Security Detachment, HQ Co. “He’s tolerant with the changes that are going on, with the new Marines coming in and old Marines leaving. You don’t see that a lot with ‘Old Corps’ Marines.”
Harris also relates Terrell to the television personality Gunny Ermey, “just not so Hollywood.”
“The mindset and the personality of the Marines that you would consider ‘Old Corps’… gunny carries himself that way,” Harris said. “When gunny has to get into somebody, it’s usually for a good reason. He’s one of those Marines that if you know your job and you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing then gunny won’t bother you; so, if he’s ripping into somebody it’s for a good reason.”
“If you touch one Marine today, then later on that Marine touches two Marines, and those two Marines touch four Marines, then it’s like an explosion,” Terrell exclaimed. “It’s like a leadership virus and it’s going to spread throughout the Corps and keep growing and growing and growing. I am going to leave them with a leadership virus… leave them infected.”
| Date Taken: | 09.01.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 09.01.2011 05:35 |
| Story ID: | 76284 |
| Location: | FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELARAM II, NIMROZ PROVINCE,, AF |
| Web Views: | 1,225 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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