SAN DIEGO – Petty Officer First Class Marcus Lewis, assigned to Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron (MSRON) 11 out of Seal Beach, Calif. was recently selected as the winner of the Naval Institute’s 2025 Enlisted Prize Essay Contest. His essay, “Bases are for Service Members,” highlights the importance of Sailor-friendly base and transportation infrastructure.
The essay was published in the July issue of Proceedings. Lewis will be honored for his accomplishment at the annual Institute-hosted WEST conference in 2026.
“When I found out I won, I was in disbelief and extremely grateful,” said Lewis, reflecting on the accomplishment. “It felt validating to know that others not only saw value in my perspective but also recognized that we have room to improve our bases.”
The Naval Institute’s Enlisted Prize Essay Contest seeks to highlight voices of the sea services’ enlisted ranks. The 2025 contest requested entries on how maritime forces can most effectively recruit, retain, train, and educate enlisted personnel for the challenges our services may face in the future. Lewis decided to enter the essay contest to highlight issues beyond the typical concerns of pay, bonuses, command climate and unit culture. While these are important, he wanted to emphasize the often-overlooked issues of design and function of military bases and their impacts on service member readiness, retention and quality of life.
“I hope the biggest takeaway from my work is that military leaders begin to see base renovation through a different lens that prioritizes service members as people, not just the movement of cars and equipment,” Lewis notes. “I want it to challenge how we think about urban planning in military contexts and, ideally, influence the way surrounding communities develop as well.”
Lewis, from Rockford, Il., is a Navy reservist living in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Read the essay on USNI here: https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2025/july/bases-are-service-members.
MSRON 11’s mission is to provide high-value asset escorts, harbor area defense, embarked, and aviation security teams, and when directed, conduct combat operations to dominate the littorals and reinforce blue water operations. The MESF deploys globally and operates throughout the sea-to-shore and inland operating environment protecting maritime infrastructure, providing insertion and extraction capabilities and supporting Fleet assets in support of maritime operations. For more information about the NECF and MSRON 11, please visit https://www.necc.usff.navy.mil/mesg-1/.
| Date Taken: | 07.09.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.09.2025 17:46 |
| Story ID: | 542367 |
| Location: | US |
| Hometown: | ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 23 |
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