Photo By Keith Hayes | Sergeant Timothy Wolfbrandt, stableman, Mounted Color Guard, records information...... read more read more
A member of the exclusive Marine Corps Mounted Color Guard is the 2020 Noncommissioned Officer of the Year 2020 for Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, California.
Sergeant Timothy J. Wolfbrandt, stableman with the Marine Corps’ last Mounted Color Guard, was tapped as NCOY recently.
Wolfbrandt sought out the MCG posting once 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 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.
“I was raised in Volcano, Calif., which has a population of about 100 people,” 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.
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 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 Year 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 firebase.
“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.
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.
Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow was a real change for the sergeant when he arrived in April 2019.
Because Wolfbrandt was 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.
He values his time in the Marine Corps, but plans on separating form the service in July 2022 to pursue horse-related schooling.
“I plan to start with a farrier school, then saddle-making school, and every horse related school that the GI bill will cover,” the sergeant explained.
Wolfbrandt wants to apprentice with the big ranches in America, such as the King and Four Sixes ranches in Texas, which breed and train quarter horses.
“After I complete an apprenticeship at a big ranch, I want to start up my own ranch,” he said.
Wolfbrandt 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.
He also said learn to appreciate the good in everything and find out what there is to do outside of Marine life at wherever you are stationed.
“It helps you deal with the stress if you can find some volunteer work to do or something to keep you involved,” Wolfbrandt concluded.
| Date Taken: | 01.14.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 01.15.2021 16:32 |
| Story ID: | 387061 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 106 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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