Photo By Lorne Neff | Army Brig. Gen. Marion Garcia, deputy commander, JTF-Guantanamo, is promoted by Rear...... read more read more
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NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - Col. Marion Garcia makes history at Joint Task Force Guantanamo as she is promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
When she came back to Joint Task Force Guantanamo, Marion Garcia wanted to make something clear.
She’s been here before, she knows how long and hard Troopers assigned here work, and as the JTF-GTMO deputy commander, she was ready to listen to Troopers’ needs.
Placing her soldiers needs before her own has always been her mantra. She lives and works for her troops, making sure they are taken care of and the mission is a success, oftentimes paying little attention to her own accomplishments.
On Aug. 30, with little pomp and circumstance, just in a down-to-business sort of way, Garcia made JTF-GTMO history when she was pinned the first female brigadier general to support the Task Force.
“It’s still a little surreal,” she said. “What a responsibility.”
But when you ask her about her historical debut as JTF-GTMO’s first female brigadier general, Garcia will quickly tell you she’s no different than any other soldier who has worked hard to get where she is.
“In the MP corps, I don’t think of myself as a woman in the Army. I don’t think of myself as a Hispanic woman in the Army,” she said, “although I am.
“But the opportunities are beyond that. I think that we have such important work to do, that we look at ‘how we are going to work together -- how we will get the job done,’” she said.
“‘I just feel like part of the team,” she said.
That attitude, and her experiences in the Military Police Corps has defined her as a person and leader. After graduating from West Point, Garcia commissioned into the Army and as a junior officer, she traveled the world with each new set of orders.
In the early 90s, she experienced back-to-back deployments, first in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, then Operation New Hope in Somalia. In 1993, after six years of active duty, two deployments and two overseas assignments, Garcia transferred to the U.S. Army Reserves to concentrate on a new career.
“Leaving the Army was hard, but I always wanted to be a veterinarian,” she said. “I was one of those kids who grew up saying I wanted to be a veterinarian someday.”
She transferred to the Reserves and enrolled at Colorado State and set off to fulfill her childhood dream. Today, she works for Adams Land and Cattle, an innovative and progressive cattle feeding operation, as a veterinarian. She said she always wanted to to work with animals destined for the food chain.
“I help farmers prevent problems before they happen,” she said. “Helping manage their herds or flocks so that they do not have health problems and so they can be managers of productive farming facilities,” she said.
Garcia said there are parallels between her civilian employment and her JTF-GTMO mission. Both operations have come under scrutiny in the recent past.
“These soldiers are awesome, and those farmers are awesome. These soldiers want to do a good job, and those farmers want to do a good job,” she said.
“You become a farmer because you want to raise animals, and I think the American farmer does a great job and is really undersold by the natural food movement,” she said.
Her concerns are of negative implications that the farmers her company supports, and the soldiers who carry out missions here at GTMO, are doing something wrong. Garcia says that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
“Same with our soldiers here. We have orders, we have a mission,” she said. “The men and women in the uniform carrying out those orders want to complete their mission, do a good job and get home.”
A job that Garcia is very familiar with. As the former Joint Detentions Group Operations Officer and executive officer, in 2003-2004, Garcia was here when detainees had recently moved from Camp X-Ray to Camp Delta, and for the construction of Camp 5.
“It’s pretty wonderful to see all the great things that have happened in the past 10 years,” she said. “I knew there were new facilities for the detainees, but I had no idea how new, and how modern and appropriate they are.”
The trooper’s quality of life, Garcia said, was also a welcomed improvement.
“Ten years ago our work schedule was something like six days on, one day off in 12-hour shifts. That one day off really consisted of doing laundry, sleeping and doing more laundry.
“Now,” she said,” soldiers are on a five-two schedule, five days on, two days off. It’s still 12-hour shifts for them, but they are able to get out and do things.”
In addition to the amenities offered, and better living conditions than in 2003 when Camp America was just sea huts, the protective gear for guards has improved leaps and bounds, she said.
“At Camp Delta, there was just wire mesh between the detainees and the guards, and actually between the detainees and each other,” she said, “so they were able to communicate and organize, and they were able to splash our guards and there was not much we could do about it.
“This was all new then,” she said. “We didn’t know what their techniques were, so we didn’t have coveralls, we didn’t have splash shields for our soldiers’ faces and we didn’t have Plexiglas up.
“It was definitely a learning process,” she said.
And it’s a learning process that continues today.
“What’s great about the military is we are a learning organization,” she said. “We do AARs and we ask everyone, whether you are a 19-year-old private or a general, you get input,” she said, “and everyone’s input is taken seriously, then we learn from it.
“I think that’s how we were able to get so far ahead of where we were 10 years ago,” she said. “Because we looked at ourselves critically, and we said “we’re going to change that. I’m so proud of what we do.
“Our folks who work in the facilities are facing the enemy ever day, up close and personal, face-to-face, and that enemy is still in the fight,” she said. “This is my third time doing detention operations and every time, I look at these young Troopers and I think ‘wow. Thank you for going into that facility every day.’”
JTF-GTMO Troopers have taken notice of Garcia’s leadership and caring nature, only 60-days into her tenure as deputy commander.
“During the All Hands Call last month, Gen. Garcia briefly discussed her previous tour here at Guantanamo,” said Staff Sgt. Nina Hamlette-Wells, training noncommissioned officer, 525th MP Battalion.
“I believe her previous tour most definitely puts her in a position to understand how we as Troopers deal with the day-to-day stresses here at JTF.
“Having a leader who can relate to what you are going through is priceless; they haven’t forgotten that they were once where you are,” she said.
Hamlette-Wells also pointed out that as a female, Garcia is someone that other female Troopers can learn from, and look up to as a role model.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” she said of Garcia’s promotion to brigadier general.
“It just proves to all of us [females] that times have changed and the sky is the limit for women serving in the military,” she said.
But for Garcia, while she’s humbled to be viewed as a role model, her real job, she said, is to be a trooper’s trooper - a leader who leaves things better than the way she found it - even for a second time.
“I look at all of you in uniform, and I owe you a lot,” she said. “I owe you a lot, and I’m not going to let you down. As long as you keep talking to me, we’ll be alright.”
| Date Taken: | 08.30.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 09.09.2013 13:00 |
| Story ID: | 113326 |
| Location: | NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, CU |
| Web Views: | 1,154 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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