MAJ TRAVIS WELLS 1:26

The beauty of the Marine Corps is that we are a really flexible organization, where we will take smaller components of ourselves and we’re available wherever a hotspot might erupt in the world.

Flying the Harriers about seven years now. The recommendation was brought to me about attending the Naval Academy from a high school principal of mine, and I’m kind of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of guy, and they promised me that would be a pretty challenging walk to take, so I did it. And in my exposure at the Naval Academy they have a lot of Marine Corps offices, a lot of Marines that are staffed at the Naval Academy, and by and large I was just incredibly impressed by not only how sharp they looked, the uniforms themselves, their ability to really connect with people, and really motivate people to do really good things. And I just found a connection with that and hoped I could do the same thing with young Marines that I’m lucky enough to have now.

We’ve got Marines from all walks of life, all corners of the country, and they come together and they all really focus on the same goals, and it’s just a beautiful thing to be able to have the privilege and the honor, in my instance, to be an officer and take charge of some of these Marines, and have them hopefully look up to me as a good example. You can’t wipe the smile off your face when you see a connection with a young Marine that you’ve taught them something or they’ve seen something in you that they’re gonna take along with them for the rest of their lives.