Conway becomes first commandant to visit Brooklyn Marines

Photo By Sgt. Randall Clinton | Gen. James T. Conway, the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps, answers a Marine's question during a town hall discussion at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, N.Y., July 29. He became the first commandant to visit 6th Communications Battalion's headquarters. The Marine battalion was relocated from Fort Schuyler, Bronx to Floyd Bennett Field in 1997.  

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES

07.30.2010

Story by Sgt. Randall Clinton 

Communication Directorate             

NEW YORK -- Gen. James T. Conway, the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps, became the first commandant to visit 6th Communications Battalion’s headquarters, arriving here, July 29.

“No commandant has ever come here before,” said Sgt. Maj. John Canty Jr., 6th Comm. Bn., 4th Marine Logistics Group, Marine Forces Reserve, inspector-instructor sergeant major.

The Marine battalion was relocated from Fort Schuyler, Bronx to Floyd Bennett Field in 1997, according to information on the unit’s web site.

The top Marine general received a brief by the unit’s staff before taking questions from the battalion during a town hall discussion.

“It’s a big morale boost for the Marines,” said Canty. “It’s a chance for them to see that the top leadership cares about them and the things they are doing.”

Over the last year the unit has not deployed as a whole, instead relied on smaller detachment deployments to support a number of operations all over the world. In this cycle there are Marines deployed somewhere, almost every month of the year including a group returning from Afghanistan in the coming weeks, he said.

In the 1980s, Canty, a Sumpter, S.C., native, was an artilleryman with 10th Marines, when General Alfred M. Gray Jr., the 29th Commandant of the Marine Corps, visited his unit.

“He was the first commandant I saw really pushing the warrior mentality, a lot like General Conway does now,” he said.

Conway has held town-hall type meetings with troops at Marine bases across the country since he became commandant in 2006. Unlike Conway, Gray didn’t take questions from the junior troops. “We just sat and listened to him speak,” Canty said.

Conway spent most of his time talking about the shift for the Marine Corps from Iraq to Afghanistan.

“We went into Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction, but there were none,” said the 63-year-old Marine general. “What we did find when we got there was Al-Queda.”

Conway explained that the Marine success there was dependant on the local population turning against negative elements of the country, which was later coined “the Sunni Awakening.”

“We became an advise and assist [force] and when that started happening, we started saying we served our purpose here. We’re not trained, manned or equipped to do that. So we said if there’s another fight building, and at that point there was in Afghanistan, that's probably where we need to be,” he said

In Afghanistan, the Marines would need to rely on a strong civilian population willing to fight for their country.

“We’re going to need to make sure they’re is a level of trust there [between the government and the people], but we’re not there yet,” he said.

Conway and other top Marine leaders will be traveling to meet with Pakistan’s top generals, where they will pressure them to do more to support operations along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, he said.

The border region, specifically Helmand province has seen some of the worst fighting for American troops, something Conway said is to be expected for Marines.

“Just like in Iraq, we drew the shortest straw in Afghanistan,” he said.

This visit was about more than speeches and briefs for the commandant. He turned the floor over to the Marines in front of him, and asked for blunt questions and suggestions.

“We do make changes based on these visits,” he said. Specifically, he mentioned a complaint from a Marine stationed aboard a Navy ship. When the ship came into port, the sailors could drink alcohol as long as they were above the host-nation’s age limit, but Marines we subject to the older, U.S. age limit.

“It took 36 hours to make that change, we wanted to treat the Marines like the responsible adults they are,” he said.

With that Marines asked questions ranging from “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Afghanistan rules of engagement, tattoo rules and more.

Pfc. Milik Rodriguez, 6th Comm., wire operator, was sitting in front and had his question ready. He was hoping for another quick change like the one Conway had alluded to earlier, this time to help give the tattooed, 18-year-old Marine and college student, a shot at becoming a Marine officer.

Even if the policy didn’t change, he was still glad to be heard.

“I’m a pfc and I get to ask the general anything,” he said.

• Date Taken: 07.30.2010
• Date Posted: 07.30.2010 15:08
• Story ID: 53711
• Location: NEW YORK, NY, US