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State of FORCECOM August 2013

Good Day, Marines,

This will be a brief note from the Office of Forces Command.
First off, for those who may have missed the announcement on the email lists and of Facebook, COL Derek Allen of 4th Brigade has been assigned to the position of Deputy Commanding Officer of Forces Command. He can be reached at dcoforcecom@sfi-sfmc.org . Derek is already hard at work on a couple of specific projects already so don’t be surprised if you hear from him directly over the next couple of weeks. He will also be taking over the Reading Challenge, so any questions about that program should be addressed to him.
We are both here to serve you so please don’t hesitate to contact either of us if you have questions or concerns.
Now with another Marine Muster come and gone and with the major awards season over, now is a good time to check out your personnel records on the database. No one’s going to know something is missing but you so it’s a good to get in the habit of reviewing your personal records every couple of months or so.
And besides, you may discover an award or two you didn’t know you received. That’s always a nice surprise.
It’s a fact of life in electronic record keeping that sometimes things go missing. An email may get eaten by a spam folder. Records can be lost on a hard drive. It is the responsibility of the individual to keep a copy of all his personal records, awards received, courses completed, etc. If you find an error, it’s certainly acceptable to point it out and request the data be added, updated or changed. Just know that you’ll need to provide documentation so that the appropriate correction to the database. Documentation can be a scanned copy of the certificate, an email from the issuing authority, a copy of a Unit or Brigade report noting the award, etc.
I can’t emphasis this point enough: if it can’t be documented, it can’t be changed, corrected or added. If this all sounds familiar, it’s something I try to stress every few months or so. It’s never a good idea to wait until the last moment to discover something’s missing, especially if you’re getting ready for a formal dress event like your Unit Holiday formal dinner or an upcoming Brigade Muster.
Just think of it as ‘preventative maintenance’.
And now, to close with a few numbers.
Breakdown of Assigned Marines:
173 active Units
1 BDE: 27 Units with 250 individuals [169 Active / 81 Reserve]
2 BDE: 16 Units with 173 individuals [130 Active / 43 Reserve]
3 BDE: 23 Units with 221 individuals [143 Active / 78 Reserve]
4 BDE: 8 Units with 110 individuals [80 Active / 30 Reserve]
5 BDE: 11 Units with 101 individuals [50 Active / 51 Reserve]
6 BDE: 12 Units with 40 individuals [33 Active / 7 Reserve]
7 BDE: 9 Units with 110 individuals [80 Active / 30 Reserve]
10 BDE: 1 Unit with 12 individuals [9 Active / 3 Reserve]
11 BDE: 4 Units with 52 individuals [40 Active / 12 Reserve]
12 BDE: 13 Units with 115 individuals [73 Active / 42 Reserve]
13 BDE: 4 Units with 27 individuals [19 Active / 8 Reserve]
14 BDE: 1 Unit with 3 individuals [3 Active / 0 Reserve]
15 BDE: 7 Units with 74 individuals [32 Active / 42 Reserve]
17 BDE: 3 Units with 76 individuals [24 Active / 52 Reserve]
20 BDE: 5 Units with 70 individuals [49 Active / 21 Reserve]
2 new Units pending completion of paperwork
1 Unit Disbanded due to lack of unit activity and reporting – unit members moved to Unassigned status
Unassigned: 457 Marines
Spread over 16 Brigade
Stand Easy, Marines.
With Regards,
BDR Jari “Gato” James
COFORCECOM]]>