MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- “One of best things you get to do as a flag officer is to recognize the superior people you work with,” Lt. Gen. Richard Mills told a packed Davis Center auditorium on Jan. 9.
The occasion was Marine Corps Combat Development Command’s first civilian awards ceremony since the command’s Manpower Division split from the Marine Corps Base Quantico Manpower Division in October. The event recognized MCCDC’s civilians of the year and fourth quarter, as well as several employees’ length of federal service.
Mills, MCCDC’s commanding general, noted that uniformed military members are often recognized for their performance, but he said the Marine Corps’ non-active duty employees “are civilians only in the clothes they wear. We know they’re Marines at heart.”
The most highly honored employee at the event was Civilian of the Year Erik Doyle, deputy director for operations of MCCDC Plans and Operations.
Doyle’s contributions to his organization not only “had an immeasurable positive impact” but also “extended far beyond his position description,” said Cpl. Ashley Wilkins of the Staff Secretary’s Office, reading from Doyle’s citation.
A big reason he surpassed his job description was the fact that the deputy director was called on to step up as the department director during several months of last year, guiding the department through a number of major endeavors and also ensuring that Plans and Operations continued to carry out its recurring tasks, such as coordinating discussions on the impact of sequestration or supporting visits by foreign dignitaries.
During this time, Doyle also took on a number of additional tasks, drafting a Marine Corps order, taking the lead on rewriting the Marine Corps Manual and coordinating the department’s contributions to three of the year’s four Marine Corps Executive Off-Site gatherings, as well as organizing activities like a hike at Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park and personally crafting farewell gifts for departing personnel.
Shannon Green, Mills’ lead advisor on congressional engagement, was honored as Civilian of the Quarter for the end of 2012, during which she shaped Marine Corps Combat Development and Integration’s presentations to Congress on a number of subjects.
Green took the lead in preparing a report to Congress on the Corps’ plan to replace its signature Amphibious Assault Vehicle, created the service’s response to a congressional investigation of the Marine Corps cyber community and prepared MCCDC leadership for numerous high-profile engagements with various legislative groups and members of Congress.
The first runner-up for Civilian of the Year was Kevin Jones, a Capability Portfolio manager for the Command and Control Integration Division. During 2012, Jones provided support for 29 C2ID programs, totaling more than $2 billion.
Jones was especially instrumental in helping MCCDC cope with a dire budgetary environment, evaluating tradeoffs in capability at different funding levels, building C2ID’s programming proposals for 2014 and helping to free up several hundred million dollars to fund Marine Corps priorities. He worked with Marine Corps Systems Command to find the most critical uses for what un-obligated funds were available and also was instrumental in securing $180 million in Overseas Contingency Operations money that will pay for communications equipment for forces in Afghanistan.
For his work on five studies during 2012, Robert Grillo, senior operations research analyst for the Analysis Branch of MCCDC’s Operations Analysis Division, was named second runner-up for Civilian of the Year.
As the study lead for the Optimizing Marine Corps Administrative Analysis Team Location Study, Grillo drafted a paper explaining how the MCAAT Marines could save significant travel costs. He also volunteered to lead the first formal analysis of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, helping Training and Education Command and the Martial Arts Center of Excellence standardize the program.
Leadership noted that Grillo’s efforts and contributions were consistently of a level normally expected of a more senior, experienced analyst.
Mills said MCCDC’s civilian workforce would continue to rise to new challenges as the Marine Corps faces further budget cuts and refocuses toward the Pacific. To the family members in the auditorium, he said, “Your folks are heroes. What they’re doing every day is winning a war.”
— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com