Photo By Sgt. Antonio Rubio | Staff Sgt. Jeffery Palmer, S-3 training staff noncommissioned officer with...... read more read more
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IWAKUNI, Japan - Service members lie asleep while stars glitter like diamonds in the sky. Working like a dog, doing something for others rather than himself, a man is already preparing to train service members aboard Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni, Japan, Oct. 18, 2013.
“I’m in better shape from the whole thing,” said Lance Cpl. Frank Wojtasiak, a postal clerk with Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron. “He runs a good course. It’s a very diverse course, everything from the physical training, the most important part, to the actual combat fighting that we learn. It has taught me to better defend myself or if I ever do get in a situation where I need to do hand-to-hand combat, I’m much better off for doing his course.”
Staff Sgt. Jeffery Palmer, S-3 training staff noncommissioned officer with H&HS, runs this Marine Corps Martial Arts Program course. While there are other instructors aboard station, Palmer said his calling is to develop service members into warriors. Palmer has put countless hours in to training Marines to be able to stand up for what they believe in.
As a student in MCMAP, Palmer said his proudest moment was obtaining his black belt with his peers. However, once he entered the world of instructing, the proudest moment differed.
“As an instructor, my proudest moment was that first big course that I ran,” said Palmer. “Thirty three Marines graduated. It’s pretty cool to see all those Marines come together over a three
-week period of time. They start out not knowing the different belts and then you see them grow. When we do the morning course, especially when we do the big courses that have all the belts together, they really build and mesh together as a team and that’s why I wanted to become an instructor.”
Palmer’s students understand his meaning of what a Marine should be, physically.
Palmer talked about the bond Marines build while in boot camp and how his course emulates the same concept, to build and train Marines to think as one.
“It’s that training, that hard-nose training, that combat-type environment that you get into. When you take those Marines and then three weeks later, boom, they’re a team and they have grown and now all of a sudden, they got a new belt. You give that to them, you see that on their face, ‘hey, I accomplished something’ and they’re moving on with their career, it’s fantastic.”
Palmer said he’s trying to recreate the feeling of being in combat. The newer generation of Marines who are coming straight from high school have not yet, for the most part, experienced life-threating situations and he’s trying his best to give them a taste of reality.
“Hopefully, we never get into a hand-to-hand confrontation, but if we do, rest assured that the way we train and the way we teach the Marines to do that, they can manipulate the maneuvers and take care of themselves, the ones around them and ultimately, the United States of America,” said Palmer. “That is why I wanted to be there, working with the Marines and giving them the techniques to survive if ever in that situation.”
Palmer went on to say there is more to MCMAP than the physical aspect.
“It’s all about taking the Marine, whatever rank, junior to senior and making them a better leader, and making them an all-around better person through the things we do,” said Palmer.
| Date Taken: | 10.18.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 10.30.2013 01:17 |
| Story ID: | 115921 |
| Location: | IWAKUNI, YAMAGUCHI, JP |
| Hometown: | OTTUMWA, IA, US |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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