Photo By Lance Cpl. Andrea Cleopatra Dickerson | Young Marine Gunnery Sgt. Alexander M. Messmer shows recruits the proper way to wear...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. - As the sun sets, visibility gets low, but one thing is clear. Even from a mile away you can hear the sounds of children shouting, “Aye, Young Marine gunnery sergeant!”
He stands tall, and has an air of confidence about him that projects when he walks swiftly through rows of recruits in his squared-away cammies.
Young Marine Gunnery Sgt. Alexander M. Messmer, 15, is the Cherry Point Young Marines battalion sergeant major. Messmer said he has been preparing for this position since an early age.
“When I was three or four, I started coming here to watch my brothers because my mother was the adjutant,” said Messmer. “Back then I said to myself, ‘Wow, I want to be a Young Marine just like them.’”
“When Alex first started coming, he would stand behind the platoon and do everything that the other kids were doing,” said his mother, Paula V. Cusson, the Cherry Point chapter’s adjutant. “By the time he turned eight and could enter the program, he already knew his general orders, the Young Marine hymn, and everything else the other kids were learning.”
One of Messmer’s older brothers held the position of regimental sergeant major while he was in the program.
“I come from a long line of Young Marines, and military,” he said. “Not only is my mom the adjutant, my dad retired from the Marine Corps as a gunnery sergeant.”
Tucked away behind the MCCS sales lot on base, a small white brick building is home to the Cherry Point organization that fosters the pride of several kids.
Outside the building, the Young Marines hold recruit training during the fall and spring.
Messmer has many responsibilities, including overseeing the recruit training that is held on Friday evenings.
“The Young Marine program here is for kids from the age of all the way up until they turn 18,” said Messmer. “We teach them how to be better leaders.
“I came through recruit training just like they did, and when I turned 13 or 14, I started running the unit.”
During recruit training, Messmer gives the recruits periods of instruction on basic drill movements, Young Marine history and Marine Corps history.
During training, it is not uncommon to hear the recruits yell, “Cock and drive!” when given a facing movement command to signify what they do with their feet. If recruits perform the wrong facing movement, they can count on Messmer to call the command until they get it right.
When he is not conducting training with the recruits, Messmer can be found in the classroom mentoring the Young Marines or out in the community volunteering.
“I’m not afraid to go out into the community to talk to people and tell them what the Young Marines program is all about,” he said.
“He does no less than 75 hours of community service each year. He has eight two-hour shifts ringing bells for the Salvation Army this year,” Cusson said.
He helps families of deployed service members, mowing their lawns and helping them with housework, Cusson added.
Messmer also volunteers at his church and assists the elderly.
“He has learned quite a few skills like dry-walling while volunteering,” she said.
Messmer is scheduled to become the regimental sergeant major Jan. 1, 2012.
In addition to that, he will be promoted to master sergeant this week during the recruits’ graduation ceremony Dec. 10.
| Date Taken: | 12.02.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 12.09.2011 14:57 |
| Story ID: | 81140 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 368 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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