CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Staff Sgt. Ryan K. Stogner proudly represents the Marine Corps everyday by wearing an eagle, globe and anchor on his uniform. It’s not on a set of digital camouflage utilities; it’s on the uniform of the Los Angeles Police Department. But for the past year he has put aside serving the public on L.A.’s streets to serve his country.
Stogner, a tactics trainer with the Adviser Training Cell, Training and Experimentation Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, volunteered to be activated from the Marine Corps Reserves to fill a billet in I MEF’s Individual Mobilization Augmentee program. The program allows Marines in the reserve component to activate to fulfill mission requirements. Once he completes his current tour of duty in July, Stogner will return to Pasadena, Calif. where he works in the LAPD, fighting crime on the streets vice the deserts of foreign lands.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps 12 years ago and has been in the reserve component for the last four years. He enlisted to be a military policeman; it’s what he always wanted to do, he said.
Stogner, a four year veteran of the LAPD, says the job titles are similar in both of his occupations but the actual descriptions of what he does differ in the two worlds of public service.
“I work in the Special Problems Unit, a crime suppression task force,” said Stogner about his job with the LAPD. “We analyze particular problem areas where crimes are being committed often then I take my team and saturate the area.”
He says in his job with the LAPD he deals with more severe crimes on a more consistent basis at a faster pace. In the military the rate of violent crimes is not high like it is in LA, he added.
Stogner, a weight-lifting enthusiast, has been on three deployments throughout his 12 years in the Marine Corps. While he was on active duty he was deployed in 2004 and in 2005 to Iraq.
During his most recent deployment, Stogner went to southern Afghanistan as part of a police advisor team with 1st Battalion, 11th Marines, 1st Marine Division, where he mentored Afghan police officers around the Kajaki district in the Helmand Province.
The high amount of stress he experienced while on deployments prepared him for transition into the LAPD where he experiences stress on a daily basis on the streets of L.A., Stogner said.
“Being a police officer is a pretty high stress environment,” Stogner said. “The Marine Corps is also a high stress environment, so at least you’ve already been exposed to that stress, so when put in that situation in the civilian world you can act appropriately.”
In addition to being a Marine and a police officer, the 30-year-old New Orleans native is also a father of two. His 11-year-old son is really proud of him and what he does, but doesn’t like the deployments, said Stogner.
His own family had the biggest influence on his career choice, said Stogner. His uncle, a retired 27-year veteran of the New Orleans Police department, was the one person who always stood out in his life due to his career.
Whether he’s actively engaged in the Marine Corps or awaiting orders for his next assignment, Stogner says the eagle, globe and anchor he wears on his uniform at the LAPD, or on a set of digital camouflage utilities, constantly reminds him of who he is and what he’s done.