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GARMSIR DISTRICT, Helmand province, Afghanistan (8/19/2011) —
Staff Sgt. John Wheeler painstakingly pours over documents strewn
across his desk. He is absorbed in the task, so when a fellow staff
sergeant approaches him, he squeezes the bridge of his nose between
his thumb and forefinger in mild irritation.
GARMSIR DISTRICT, Helmand province, Afghanistan - Staff Sgt. John Wheeler teaches Cpl. Cody Kapotak specifics about his military occupation here, Aug. 12,
2011. Wheeler, a native of Winston-Salem, N.C., is the communications maintenance chief, communications platoon sergeant, electronic warfare officer and the MCMAP instructor trainer for 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. This deployment is his first time to Afghanistan, but his third deployment. Kapotak, a native of Anchorage, Alaska, is a communications maintenance non-commissioned officer for 1/3.
Photo by USMC Cpl. Colby Brown |
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But irritation quickly gives way to motivation as he lays aside the
paperwork to address a question from this fellow Marine Corps
Martial Arts Program instructor. The interruption turns into
discussion, which transforms into an animated charade, with Wheeler
countering an imaginary knife strike, then seizing and plunging it
into a make-believe insurgent.
When the notional dust
settles, the instructors decide it would be better to just focus on
the basics, and as strangely as it began, Wheeler retrieves his pen
and returns to the heap of serial numbers on his desk.
So the
story goes: a typical snapshot of a typical day in the life of
Wheeler. The Winston-Salem, N.C. native serves as the communications
maintenance chief, communications platoon sergeant, electronic
warfare officer and MCMAP instructor-trainer for 1st Battalion, 3rd
Marine Regiment. In other words, he never stops working.
Fortunately, the staff sergeant is used to it. Since joining the
Marine Corps in 2003, Wheeler deployed in support of Operation Iraqi
Freedom twice before coming to Afghanistan. As he has progressed in
rank and experience, he has continued to shoulder more
responsibility. |
“You're not just worried about your little piece of your pie
anymore,” Wheeler said. “You're worried about the mission, and you
are worried about the Marines under you.”
During a normal
day, Wheeler may deal with 10 tasks or 100. As the communications
maintenance chief, he is responsible for fixing essentially all of
the battalion's electronic gear, and as the communications platoon
sergeant, he looks after the welfare of his subordinates and ensures
the platoon completes its operational requirements. Wheeler also
provides the battalion with electronic warfare training, and for
anyone who wants to train in MCMAP? You guessed it; Wheeler is the
go-to guy.
“You always have multiple things going on at one
time,” Wheeler added. “You never have the time or ability to focus
on one thing at a time, so it's almost like juggling. You're
constantly juggling. You're always accomplishing something and
moving on to the next, and you try to keep things moving forward.”
Even with all of his responsibilities, Wheeler never lets off
the gas. He stays at a mission until completion, unyielding and
unwilling to fail.
“[As a staff sergeant], you are expected
to be on you're A game 100 percent of the time,” Wheeler said.
“There's no more room for mistakes. There's no more room for I don't
know. You are expected to know the answer, or if you don't, be able
to find it very quickly. As a staff sergeant, errors can be very
costly, either by impacting the mission, financially [costing] the
Marine Corps, or even costing a Marine their life. I'd say the
learning curve is steep when a Marine is promoted.”
Wheeler
maintains uncompromising standards of conduct for himself and his
subordinates. When a junior Marine comes to him for occupational
advice, he expects a proper greeting, not because he is haughty, but
because he would do the same for his superior.
“I make sure
my Marines uphold the standards regardless of where we are or what
we are doing,” Wheeler said. “At the end of the day, they are still
expected to conduct themselves as a Marine. If you can't do the
small things right, then why should anyone think you could do the
big things right? I make sure my Marines are held to the highest
standards -- the same that I would expect from myself.”
Along
with Wheeler's brand of perfectionism comes a unique passion for
teaching, but he's no bespectacled professor with tweed jacket and
pipe. Wheeler, a shaven-headed, 6-foot-two-inch-tall, 200-pound
Marine, has “the look,” according to his friend Staff Sgt. Lucas
Cotto.
“You see him walk by, and you say to yourself, ‘I
don't want to [mess] with that guy,'” Cotto said.
Wheeler's
perpetually serious countenance is often mistaken at first for
displeasure, but appearances are often misleading. In the context of
his general behavior, “the look” is more of a fatherly frown. He
won't leave a Marine alone until he has taught him everything he
can, and for this reason, he's admired by his peers and
subordinates.
“He portrays himself as — and is — a strict
leader,” said Cotto, the battalion wire chief and native of Ilion,
N.Y. “I can count on him to tell me how it is, because even though
we're friends, he isn't afraid to tell me when I am doing something
wrong. He doesn't hide anything. I am senior to him, but I still
pick up [leadership traits] from him all the time.”
Wheeler
channels these traits into managing a unit. He prioritizes the tasks
that need to be accomplished and assigns them to his Marines. He
finds work for idle hands, especially if they are his own. He
continually scrutinizes operations within his platoon, company and
battalion.
“The way I feel about it is [as a staff sergeant]
you're almost always responsible for everything either directly or
indirectly, so my view is the big picture,” Wheeler said. “The
[non-commissioned officer] is definitely what makes the Marine Corps
function, but at the end of the day, the staff sergeant is usually
the one ... explaining about what went on that day, especially if
something went wrong.”
Wheeler views the Marine Corps as more
than an occupation; to him, it's a way of life. Fellow Marines know
this, but not because Wheeler runs around, manically chanting
cadence and bellowing “Ooh-rah!” They can tell by the way he carries
himself.
“The only thing that comes to mind when I think of
Staff Sgt. Wheeler is that he is a Marine,” said 1st Lt. Ron Davis,
the communications officer for 1/3, a native of Raeford, N.C., and
Wheeler's boss. “He is exactly what I imagined when I thought of a
Marine when I was 18 years old, and I wanted to be like that Marine,
so I joined.”
Ever since he can remember, Wheeler has wanted
to join the Marines. When asked if he plans on staying in the Corps,
Wheeler unhesitatingly answered, “Absolutely.” His father was a
Marine, so Wheeler was no stranger to the commitment it would take
to become one.
Since joining, Wheeler said he has never
looked back. In fact, he believes every able-bodied male should
serve his country.
Cpl. Wesley Tucker, a ground
communication technician non-commissioned officer and native of
Jasper, Ala., claimed that Wheeler is “always motivated.”
“It's hard to explain, but just by first glance, he can tell if
something is wrong or not,” said Tucker. “And he keeps you on your
toes. He is always trying to better himself and us. I have learned
more from him than I can explain. I want to lead in the style he
leads.”
Wheeler said watching Marines grow into leaders is
the greatest reward, and being a part of the Corps' successes goes
along with his belief of being a part of something bigger than
himself.
“I'm constantly thinking about what I can do to
make my Marines better,” Wheeler said. “[Are] there any personal
issues that I need to take care? How can the platoon improve? How
can the company improve? ... It turns it into a lifestyle instead of a
clocking-in-and-clocking-out thing.”
Even when Wheeler takes
a break, he really isn't. He'll head to the gym, where he briefly
escapes the ordered chaos of the staff non-commissioned officer
world to focus on one thing: pumping out that last repetition.
“It's good stress relief,” Wheeler said. “I try to break up a
portion of the day with a work out. It's 30 minutes to an hour where
you don't think about what you have to do that day or what you need
to accomplish. It's definitely my escape. It's usually the only
piece of [me] time that I get.”
Although his schedule is
crammed, Wheeler continuously looks for the occasional chance to
contact his wife, whether through email or phone. When going outside
the wire, he said, seeing the local children “snaps me back to my
children, and all I can think about is what they might be up to.”
“I don't know if you ever get used to being away from your
family,” Wheeler added. “You learn how to deal with it a little
better, but I don't think I could ever get used to it. It definitely
sucks, and [the separation] never stops. You get your personal time
when you can, where you can.”
Despite all of Wheeler's
responsibilities, he never seems distracted from his work. It's as
if he's constantly searching for a better way to accomplish the
mission, and his Marines say that appearance literally is reality.
“He is the most well rounded Staff NCO I have ever worked
for,” said Cpl. Cody Kapotak, communication maintenance
non-commissioned officer and native of Anchorage, Alaska. “How he is
able to take all of his responsibilities and manage them very well
is a statement to what kind of leader he is. And to go along with
all of his responsibilities, he always has the answer and always
challenges us to become better at our jobs, exercise more, learn
more MCMAP. I don't know how he does it, but he never stops.”
Editor's Note: ‘Through the Ranks,' is a series of feature
articles about a day in the life of a deployed Marine from 1st
Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. Each article will highlight an
individual's personal experience through the perspective of his
rank. This is the fifth article of the series.
By USMC Cpl. Colby Brown
Marines Blog
Copyright 2011
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