Episode 31:  Corporal Sincioco

November 15, 2005 8:00 a.m. (Baghdad Time)
Al Asad, Iraq
By Cpl Sincioco
Revised on April 14, 2006

"Never work just for money or for power.
They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night."
—Marian Wright Edelman

The Word is Out

In the days leading to the end of October,
mostly everyone I work with on a daily basis
knew I was “picking up” Corporal.

GySgt Stapleton overheard our conversation.

Picking Up a Promotion

The phrase “picking up” and “getting promoted” mean two different things to me.  In my case, like so many Lance Corporals before me, we picked-up Corporal because the Marine Corps’ computer system said it was time.  Every Marine qualified to get promoted to the next rank gets put on a running list.  As the Marines ahead of you get promoted every month, you move up the list.  Month-after-month Marines monitor this list like it’s the stock market—making projections of when they will get promoted and the extra pay they will receive.

Personally, I never paid attention to the list as I have enjoyed every rank I’ve ever had.  I don’t concern myself with things I have no control over—when and how I will get promoted.  And as for the extra pay?  I hardly ever check our payroll system to see how much I get paid month-after-month.  The increase in pay from one rank to another doesn’t really excite me all that much.

I have observed that even the most unworthy Marines will eventually pickup Corporal given enough time in the system.  Just like the stock market, some Marines are over-valued, and some under-valued.  Fortunately, not every Marine who pick-up rank will stay at that rank.  Some Marines are second-rank-awardees; more for the special few who just can’t stay out of trouble.

To say one got promoted to Corporal almost implies, to me, you won some sort of Meritorious Board, in which a group of people from your chain of command voted you worthy of the next rank.  There are Marines who get promoted this way, and pick up rank after rank like it’s the season’s new fashion.  This can be likened to Corporate America’s way of promotion, by which you will only get promoted if your boss recommends you to.

In my case, my boss(es) if you will, have been recommending me for months.  When Cpl Weller, Sgt Williams and SSgt Stanton were here in Al Asad they tried.  And after they left, GySgt Stapleton took on that role.  But, fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you want to look at it, the computer beat them to it.  I ultimately picked-up rank because the computer said it was time.

My NCOs and Staff NCOs

Don’t get me wrong, I have been most fortunate for having good NCOs and SNCOs.  Cpl Weller, Sgt Williams, SSgt Stanton all worked hard to submit me to what they thought was the Meritorious Board on the last rotation.  I even remember when I won that board.  Cpl Weller shook my hand and said, “Congratulations, Corporal.”  Later we found out I won just the Marine of the Quarter Board.

And for this rotation, GySgt Stapleton spent a good deal of time writing me up for a recommendation to the up-coming Meritorious Board in Fallujah.  He told me, one of the things he didn’t like when he was a young Marine was his NCOs or SNCOs writing him up for a board and can’t even get their grammar right.  He took his time to make sure his write-up for me was well thought out and well composed.  He informed me he submitted me to the Meritorious Board two days after he had done so.

GySgt Stapleton told me he wrote nothing of my programming skills for the board.  I was quite happy when he told me that because if I did win the Meritorious Board I wanted it to be for the right reasons, so that my peers can’t say I got promoted because I can program.  He told me he submitted me to the board for the leadership traits I have exhibited in the last month.  He said, for me to discipline my Lance Corporal peers in the manner that I do it is quite amazing.  The two Lance Corporals I am in charge of Gunny classified as an “NCO challenge.”

In my final days as a Lance Corporal, I attended a NCO Leadership class.  I was the only Lance Corporal in that class, everyone else was a Corporal or a Sergeant.  SSgt Armel, the instructor, told the class when I walked in that I was in a unique circumstance that’s why he let me in the class.  One, it was because I was getting promoted soon; and two, it’s because I play a challenging role on a day-to-day basis as a Lance Corporal with an NCO billet.  GySgt Stapleton told me before I left for the class, “They’ll be surprise how much you already know.”

Pinning on the Rank

November 1st came and went.  And LCpl Sin was still—happily—LCpl Sin.  Everyone wondered why I still haven’t pinned on my new rank.  Some of the newly promoted Corporal approached me to ask what happened.

I give them the run-around of how shit bag Marines don’t get promoted.  But, they don’t buy that.  So, eventually I have to fess up that I opted to wait a few days to pin Corporal.  Officers, Staff NCOs, and NCOs came by the DSID shop to congratulate me, but they left disappointed.

CWO Dill shook his head left and right like I’m nuts.  Everyone is so eager to get promoted he couldn’t figure out why I’d be willing to wait.

In the first 3 days of November, everyone was confused as to why I have not pinned on rank.  People came to the DSID to congratulate me only to find that I’m still, disappointingly, a Lance Corporal.  Then, of course, they would turn to GySgt Stapleton and wondered, “what the fuck?” Poor Gunny.

I thought it was kind of funny.  I was having a great time over it, actually.  I doubt GySgt Stapleton was though.  When 1stSgt Simburger, Major Steffen, and Lt Bathgate arrived it was 4 o’clock in the morning on November the 3rd.  GySgt Stapleton scheduled my promotion ceremony on the same day at 1100.

I laughed.

The Award Ceremony

I didn’t invite anyone to the ceremony, except for SSgt Armel who specifically wanted to come.  I just wanted a small and short ceremony, and the people that I wanted in my ceremony weren’t there anyway; namely Sgt Williams, Cpl Weller and SSgt Stanton.  Cpl Worsnop showed up, Cpl Roberts, the two Data Marines from the last rotation.  The very chevron that got pinned on me was from Cpl Worsnop.  In fact, I’m still wearing them.  Cpl Roberts told me, “I wouldn’t miss your promotion for the world.  I missed everyone’s promotion in the last rotation; I don’t want to make that mistake again.”

During the ceremony the CO (Commanding Officer) asked if there was anyone I wanted to call out to have my rank pin on me.  I just said, “No, sir.”  I realized later on, that had been a mistake.  I should, at the very least, called Cpl Worsnop and GySgt Stapleton to pin my new rank on me.

Corporal Alfaro tried to go to Al Asad for my ceremony, but it didn’t get approved.  Had he been there, I would have had him pin my rank on me.  To be in a ceremony—your own promotional ceremony no less—and not really know anyone enough in the crowd to bestow the honor of having them pin your new rank on you was…rather sad.

Corporal Sincioco

So there you have it.  LCpl Sin pinned on Corporal at 1100 on November 3rd 2005.  I went to chow right after the ceremony and went back to work like any other day before.  I went to the PBX Bunker that afternoon to work on setting up a new firewall.  As I stared at the LCD screen waiting for the firewall to boot up I saw a reflection of what I thought was a Corporal standing next to me.

Then I came to a realization….

There was no other Corporal in the room, it was just me.

"The secret of joy in work is contained in one word—excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it."
—Pearl S. Buck