Marine's Mentorship Leaves Lasting Impression
(January 16, 2010) |
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| AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq (1/13/2010) — Sometimes in life,
people are lucky enough to find a mentor whose experience
and wisdom follows them throughout their careers and makes a
personal impact on the way they live their lives.
Three years ago, Maj. Chris Messineo was teaching Economic
Geography to the midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy. The
course covered the effects of globalization, shifting
political boundaries and containerized shipping on national
and global economies. |
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| Maj. Chris Messineo (right), the logistics and supply officer for II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group (Forward), talks with 1st Lt. Sean Knapp (left) and 1st Lt. Robert Caldwell, both platoon commanders with Company B, 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, aboard Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Jan. 11, 2009. Knapp and Caldwell were two of Messineo's students at the U.S. Naval Academy, and the three were reunited aboard Al Asad while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. |
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Today, Messineo works as the II Marine Expeditionary Force
Headquarters Group (Forward) logistics and supply officer
aboard Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, where he works to retrograde
millions of dollars worth of Marine Corps equipment from
Iraq and is still extolling the virtues of the 20-foot
shipping container, which the former teacher will inform any
inquiring Marine was invented by Malcom McLean in 1965.
In September 2009, Messineo discovered that the 20-foot
shipping container was not the only thing from his Economic
Geography class that would follow him to Operation Iraqi
Freedom.
Two midshipmen that had attended Messineo's class, Sean
Knapp and Robert Caldwell, now first lieutenants, are also
deployed to Al Asad.
Knapp and Caldwell are route clearance platoon commanders
with Company B, 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion. At the Naval
Academy, both were varsity athletes and leaders among their
peers. Caldwell was the defensive captain of the Navy
football team his senior year, while Knapp, a varsity
wrestler, held a number of key billets during various summer
training events.
After graduating from the Naval Academy in 2007, Knapp
completed The Basic School at Quantico, Va., and then
checked into Courthouse Bay at Camp Lejeune, N.C., for
Combat Engineer Officer's Course. Upon completion of the
course, he moved to Twentynine Palms, Calif., to check into
Company B, 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, and begin training
his platoon.
Caldwell, who also graduated in 2007, was assigned to the
Naval Academy as a second lieutenant to help coach the Navy
football team. Once the football season ended, he attended
The Basic School and Combat Engineer Officer's Course, and
arrived to Twentynine Palms in March 2009 to begin preparing
his Marines for their September deployment in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Though Knapp and Caldwell have gone through many
advancements and changes since they graduated from the Naval
Academy, they still remember their time in Messineo's class
and the example he set for them as a Marine officer.
Both first lieutenants have the utmost respect for their
former teacher, and Knapp even credited Messineo for his
success when he said, “I would not be a commissioned officer
if it hadn't been for Maj. Messineo.”
“He was a great economics instructor, but he spent time
mentoring future Marine lieutenants and discussing current
events that Marines were involved in back then,” recalled
Caldwell, who attended Messineo's Economic Geography class
in 2006, during some of the most vicious fighting in Al
Anbar province, Iraq.
When Messineo, who is also a graduate of the Naval Academy,
is not busy tracking generators being shipped to Afghanistan
or coordinating support for one of the countless units for
which II MHG (Fwd) is responsible, he still finds time to
check up on his former students .
“How are my two knuckleheads?” he asks with a laugh. Once
the jokes die down, though, Messineo always leaves his
students with a few kernels of wisdom: “Seek advice when you
need it, and don't be afraid to make decisions.”
Messineo has left his mark on Knapp and Caldwell and
continues to make a difference in the Marines' lives. He
began by teaching them an economics class and now takes time
to stop and ask them how their day was. | |
Article and photo by USMC 1st Lt. Steven Baldino
Multi National Force - West
Copyright 2010
Reprinted from
Marine Corps News
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