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OKINAWA, Japan - Black or white, Christian or atheist, West Coast or East Coast, service members come from all walks of life, with every culture having its own beliefs, values and style of leadership.
With this fact in mind, Marine Corps Installations Pacific hosted an equal opportunity representative course at the Ocean Breeze at Camp Foster Aug. 7-10 to teach service members how to lead and work with individuals regardless of cultural differences.
The course was held to train battalion and squadron-level personnel as equal opportunity representatives through classroom instruction and a series of exercises.
“We put them in a situation where they had minimal information other than what is shown on the outside,” said Gunnery Sgt. Darrell W. Clark, the equal opportunity advisor for MCIPAC. “We’re trying to teach them not to judge a book by its cover; instead, they have to open it and really get to know that individual.”
The course also consisted of exercises that showed what could happen when an individual is given responsibility and begins to abuse it.
“A lot of individuals take their own personal beliefs and values and apply (them) to their leadership style and decision making,” said Clark. “At the course, we teach them to take a step back because everyone has different values, beliefs and cultures. What you have to do is take those different cultures and beliefs and integrate them into a team concept. If you can look at your own values, you can see if they’re conflicted and (figure out) how to work through them. Doing this will make you a better leader overall.”
The participants learned that everyone’s opinion was important, to listen and strive for mutual understanding, and to only speak for themselves.
“The course is supposed to help us learn about ourselves (and others),” said Staff Sgt. Fantasia O. Langford, an electrician with 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, and a participant in the course. “Learning to interact with beliefs and cultures that are different from our own will help better the Marine Corps as a whole.”
Participants were asked to sit by someone new everyday of the course in order to get to know each other.
“This course is very important because the Marine Corps is (an extremely diverse) organization,” said Clark. “You have individuals coming from all walks of life, all corners of the U.S. and all cultures and religions. We even have people from other countries that join. When you put all that into a melting pot, conflict (can) arise. This course teaches Marines to manage that conflict and work with varying cultures and values.”
Guest speaker Maj. Gen. Peter J. Talleri, commanding general of MCIPAC and Marine Corps Base Camp Butler, spoke from experience on the root of the issue at hand and how important command climate is for Marines of all ranks.
“I have been in this business for 34 years,” said Talleri. “It always begins with the command climate and making sure Marines feel comfortable. When it comes to this particular training, I don’t think there is any training more crucial. The negative affect these issues can bring to an entire command makes training like this important for the whole Marine Corps.”
| Date Taken: | 08.07.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.09.2012 21:47 |
| Story ID: | 92959 |
| Location: | OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 183 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Leaders focus on importance of equal opportunity, by Cpl Brianna Christensen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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