Up From The Ranks

COL Rocky Farr, SF, CM, PF, FS, etc., etc.

I saw this and just had to pass it along. Col. Rocky Farr has gone from the jungles of Viet Nam to the halls of medicine and now serves as the SOCCOM Command Surgeon. Needless to say, this Doc knows his stuff. Can you imagine a Navy Doctor with more than 40 years of service with the formative portion being in a line unit as a trigger puller?

If this guy can hold on for a few months, I will nominate him to be Surgeon General. Whenever he decides to retire, I think I may know a worthy successor from the Naval Service.

To often, very talented enlisted personnel never make rank and ultimately leave the service. But here recently, it seems like prior enlisted officers are popping up all over the place. This is a good trend as I see it and I hope it continues. Anybody that can come up as a hard way warrior has my vote of confidence.

When I first arrived at Lejeune to serve alongside Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, I saw a pattern emerge over the course of two week of Marine Corps Indoctrination Training with a group of Chaplains and RP's. We were a mixed lot with both officers and enlisted folks who were there to learn about the mission of the USMC.

Several of the Chaplains had been prior enlisted but one of them was constanlty stopped by young enlisted Marines that need someone to talk to. He had been a Force Recon Marine and had served out his enlistment, gone to college and then to Seminary, was ordained in the Southern Baptist Church and had returned as a reserve Chaplain Captain.

Once those young Marines saw the Parachutist Wings and the Dive Badge combined with the Cross, they were drawn to him. We waited quite a few times for the good chaplain to hear a request or give advice. But it proved the necessity of the Chaplains role in the modern force.