Photo By 94th Airlift Wing | Sgt. Jeffrey T. Majka, a scout sniper team leader, deployed to Afghanistan twice, in...... read more read more
Subscribe
A Marine with 3rd Marine Division was named the III Marine Expeditionary Force Non-commissioned Officer of the Year.
Sgt. Jeffrey T. Majka, scout sniper team leader, Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, was nominated by his company and competed in boards from the battalion to MEF level before he was awarded the title.
A native of Mesa, Ariz., Majka enlisted in the Marine Corps in January 2008. He was stationed aboard Marine Corps Base Hawaii, his first duty station, starting in August of 2008.
Majka, 29, said he enlisted because he wanted to deploy, enjoy a brotherhood with the “good guys,” and support the mission of the Corps.
Majka deployed twice to Afghanistan — from May to November 2009 and from November 2010 to June 2011.
He was meritoriously promoted to corporal while serving in Afghanistan in 2009. He recently re-enlisted to be eligible for deployment again.
As the III MEF NCO of the Year, Majka said he is excited about the award and considers it an honor. However, he credits his success to all the influential people around him, not only in his platoon, but in 2nd Bn., 3rd Marines, as a whole.
“Everybody in my platoon deserves this award,” Majka said. “I was surrounded by over-achievers — people who have helped me out, showed me a good route to success.”
This is not the only honor Majka has earned.
His fellow Marines report that he was also the honor graduate for the Scout Sniper Team Leader Course at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., as well as the honor graduate for the Corporal’s Course here.
“I wasn’t too surprised,” said Staff Sgt. Loren M. Cunningham, scout sniper platoon sergeant for Headquarters and Service Company, referring to Majka’s newest honor. “Every school I’ve sent him to, everything I’ve tasked him with, he’s come back with an award.”
Cunningham described Majka as a hard worker who “gets the job done.”
For 1st Lt. Andrew T. Miller, platoon commander, it was how Majka got the job done during Exercise Lava Viper at Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii.
Miller said Majka completed more than a dozen complex missions.
“He was leading a very junior team of Marines,” Miller said. “This was their first exercise, and he got them through the entirety of the mission.”
Miller said he is happy for Majka and proud.
“He worked for it and he earned it,” Miller said. “He brought great credit not only upon himself but upon his platoon and his battalion.”
“He is really good at what he does,” said Majka’s wife. “He’s just amazing. I was very proud of him.”
She describes him as kind-hearted and willing to help friends and even people he does not know.
When he is not on duty, Majka takes time to golf, swim, run and spend quality time with his family.
Majka has no plans to leave the Corps anytime soon. Currently, he is pursuing involvement in the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Program.
When he does leave the Corps, however, Majka said he hopes to teach history or physical education to high school students.
| Date Taken: | 03.16.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.22.2012 22:35 |
| Story ID: | 85656 |
| Location: | HI, US |
| Hometown: | MESA, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 952 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Scout sniper named III MEF NCO of the Year, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT