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State of FORCECOM May 2012

Greetings Marines,
Well this past weekend I had to privilege of fellowshipping with the marines of my home brigade, The Fighting First, as we gathered for the 1st Brigade Muster in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.

A good time was had by all, the Marines of the 1st Brigade sponsored a Pizza party on the Friday night. I would like to congratulate the Marines that won the Valor awards from both the 1st and 15th Brigades
The following are the winners from both of the Brigades:
1st Brigade
Cross of Valor (Marine of the Year):
MGSGT John Kiwi Kane, 101st MEU,
Sword of Valor (Leader of the Year):
LTC Jimmy Nelson, 100th MSG,
Shield of Valor (Volunteer of the Year):
BGN Susan Mahaffey, 161st MSG,
Star of Valor (NCO of the Year)
SGM Mark Polanis, 173rd MSG,
Legion of Valor
100th Marine Strike Group,
The First Brigade also presented the following Cadet Valor Awards
Cadet Cross of Valor 4th Grade
Tori Gahrmann, 173rd MSG
Cadet Cross of Valor 2nd Grade
Anya Walker, 173rd MSG,
Cadet Star of Valor
Caleb Nelson, 100th MSG
15th Brigade
Cross of Valor (Marine of the Year):
LGN Douglas W. Mayo, 980th MSG
Sword of Valor (Leader of the Year):
BGN Matthew Ingles, 955th MSG,
Shield of Valor (Volunteer of the Year):
CPT Paul Scalabroni, 95th MSG,
Legion of Valor (Unit of the Year):
95th MSG,
I would like to welcome 4 new units to the Corps, they are the following:
26th MSG The Rouges from the 4th Brigade
235th MSG The Searchers from the 12th Brigade
269th MSG The Black Bettys from the 12th Brigade
617th MSG The Guard Dogs from the 2nd Brigade
Welcome to the Corps and I hope you enjoy yourselves.
I would like to commend the marines that are participating in the SFMC Reading Challenge
the totals for 2010 – 2011 Reading challenge was 765,217 pages
Whereas for the 2011-2012 reading challenge so far to date are 753,109 pages
And there is still 1 reporting period to go for this year’s challenge.
Last year we had 7 Brigades participating in the Reading challenge,
whereas this year we have 9 Brigades participating
Last year one brigade read 50,089 pages for the total challenge so far to date that same brigade has read 151,145 pages
Way to go marines.
Well until next time
Be safe out there
John Kiwi Kane
Master Gunnery Sergeant, SFMC
Commanding Officer, Forces Command
STARFLEET Marine Corps
forcecom@sfi-sfmc.org]]>