Sergeant Robertson, Sterling
SNCOA Mentoring Marines
SSGT Chaidez
12 March 2013
My Mentor that stands out in my mind is Staff Sergeant Barbara of MCCS (Marine Corps Community Services). Staff Sergeant Barbara has inspired me in many ways as well as motivated me to be a better and harder working Marine. He knew what it takes to make a warehouse great. I was only able to work with him for just over a Month which makes what I learned in such a short period time so important to me. I had some good mentors in my past but never had any truly great leaders that had this kind of effect on my life.
Staff Sergeant Barbara inspired me to want to come to work every day with his enthusiasm and drive. Each day he would arrive before me and refuse to leave work until I was done working as well. He was a very optimistic individual that others around him could not help but want to learn from him.
Staff Sergeant Barbara made me want to work hard with each and every moment we had at work. From the leadership I had in the past I was taught to do as little as possible so as to keep our customers from wanting more from us. This way of thinking is a terrible work ethic but hard to change when you have not been taught otherwise. Staff Sergeant Barbara showed me how to do as much as humanly possible for others by helping out in any way possible. This not only makes your customers appreciate you but also makes you realize you are making a difference in people lives for the better as well.
Staff Sergeant Barbara knew how to take a disorganized warehouse and make it run like a well-oiled machine. When he transferred from the East Coast to California our Special Events warehouse was a disorganized mess at best. I was fairly new to this warehouse and had a couple other senior Marines that were running it when I arrived. When Staff Sergeant Barbara arrived on deck, he and I were literal taking a sledge hammer to the walls in the first week. We were