Photo By Keith Hayes | (2nd from left) Sergeant Timothy Wolfbrandt stands ready as a "sideboy" to help pipe...... read more read more
A member of the exclusive Mounted Color Guard is the Noncommissioned Officer of the Quarter for the third quarter of 2020 for Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, California.
Sergeant Timothy J. Wolfbrandt, stableman with the Marine Corps’ last Mounted Color Guard, was tapped as NCOQ recently, going up against stiff competition from a large pool of NCOs aboard the base, including Sgt. Amy E. Carter, a fellow MCG stableman.
“I believe if I hadn’t been chosen, then Sgt. Carter probably would’ve gotten the recognition,” Wolfbrandt said.
Wolfbrandt sought out the MCG posting after his advisor told him after his last deployment he had only a year and a half left on his current enlistment contract and could not be deployed again.
He discovered after his research on social media sites just how important a recruiting tool the MCG is, especially in rural areas where there usually is not much of a recruiter presence.
After being assigned to the MCG, the sergeant found out getting that position used to be like any other duty station in the Marine Corps; you were ordered to report even if you had no riding experience.
“Now it’s considered more of a prestige assignment,” Wolfbrandt said. “I believe that’s a better way because now you get a better pick of Marines whom want to be a good ambassador for the Corps with the many public appearances the unit makes every year ... or at least did make every year before COVID-19 restrictions were put in place.”
Wolfbrandt was born in the small town of Jackson, California, in Amador County, which history buffs will recognize as being Gold Country, where the California Gold Rush era kicked off.
“I was raised in Volcano, Calif., which has a population of about 100 people (115 as of the 2010 U.S. Census),” he explained “My folks had to go to Jackson for my birth because we didn’t have a hospital in Volcano.”
Though tiny by any standard, Volcano has some important history behind its name Wolfbrandt said.
“It was the first community in California to have a public library, it was also the first community in the state to have an observatory,” he said.
Marine Brigadier General Harry Liversedge, the recipient of the Navy Cross in both World War I and World War II, was born in Volcano, the sergeant said.
“It got its name when an Army regiment from New York, on their way to fight in the Mexican-American War, stopped at the creek in Volcano in 1849 and discovered gold,” Wolfbrandt said. “They decided stay on in the area and mine for gold in what was then called Soldiers Gulch.”
The name Volcano stuck after one of the soldiers said it resembled a volcanic crater after all of the trees in the area were cut down due to gold mining.
The sergeant joined the Marine Corps right out of high school in 2012. He had a driving interest in joining the Corps because of the events of 9/11.
“I was raised in an area where there were a lot of military veterans who fought in Vietnam and the Korean conflict,” Wolfbrandt said. “I knew I wanted to join the military from an early age. Originally, I wanted to join the Navy to become a fighter pilot and attend the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, but I chose the Marine Corps after 9/11 because I knew it would get me into the fight quicker and I wanted to take part in handing out justice for the 9/11 attack.”
He attended boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in June 2012. His first assignment out of boot camp was Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton where as a member of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines he was deployed to the Asian and Southeast Asian Theater.
“I was deployed to Okinawa, Japan; Australia, South Korea and Indonesia,” Wolfbrandt said. “After I reenlisted I was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines (Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center) Twentynine Palms.”
“I have been deployed twice to Kuwait, once to Iraq and once to Syria, with a little bit of time in Jordan,” Wolfbrandt said.
Wolfbrandt believes the leadership traits he demonstrates on the job also helped him get the NCO of the Quarter spot. He credits that to his past leadership roles in the Marine Corps, especially in Syria where he was the guard force commander for a fire base.
“Usually an E-5 NCO doesn’t get that kind of responsibility, but Syria was a dynamic and changing environment which required Marines to adapt quickly to responsibility,” Wolfbrandt concluded. Being deployed to active combat areas had a real effect on the sergeant, especially when he saw firsthand the devastating effect the conflict had on civilians in the region.
“It certainly made me appreciate America much more,” Wolfbrandt said.
He credits his time deployed for developing an appreciation for his fellow Marines.
“When you’re part of a group that is deployed to a combat zone they pretty much become family and everything you do is for them ... your Marines,” Wolfbrandt said.
“The same attitude follows you to whatever assignment you’re given, and I believe that is also one of the reasons I was chosen as NCO of the Quarter,” he said.
Sergeant Emily Rowe, the Noncommissioned Officer In Charge of the MCG and Wolfbrandt’s supervisor, put him up for NCOQ consideration.
“He has a real passion for doing his job right and for being a good Marine,” Rowe said. “Whatever task he is assigned he does to the best of his ability, even if he’s had no prior experience at that task. He finds out what needs to be done and does it.”
Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow was a real change for the sergeant when he arrived in April 2019.
“It was surreal not being assigned to an infantry unit and be in charge of several Marines as an NCO,” he said. “Now I’m in the Mounted Color Guard with five Marines and not assigned to handle any of them.”
Because Wolfbrandt had been stationed at Twentynine Palms, though, he did not experience the “terrain” shock that some people have when they come to MCLB Barstow.
“I like the desert, its geography and the history in the area so I’m enjoying being here,” he said.
Post-Marine Corps for Wolfbrandt is going to be about horses.
“I want to work at a job that allows me to be on a horse and to carry a weapon,” he said. “That’s usually a law enforcement position, and the Forest Service has cool jobs like that.”
Or, Wolfbrandt continued, he could sign on as an apprentice to a master horse trainer with the goal of eventually owning his own ranch and doing horse training for a living.
Wolfbrandt recommends for anyone thinking about joining any branch of the military to attend college first, then go in to the military as an officer.
He also has a philosophy about being a good Marine.
“It’s not that hard to do the right thing, in my opinion,” Wolfbrandt said. “I’ve never had any disciplinary problems because it wasn’t hard to stay out of trouble.”
“If you’re in the Marine Corps or any branch of the military, for the right reasons, it’s pretty easy to stay on the straight and narrow. If you join the military because you truly care about your country, the rest comes pretty easy,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 07.23.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 07.23.2020 19:06 |
| Story ID: | 374502 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CA, US |
| Hometown: | VOLCANO, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 176 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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