During my years of service in the Marine Corps, I participated in and led units small and large. I also applied organizational, tactical, and technical concepts that I had developed on my own to include a way to control a room before entering, called Tall Man, and a deceptively simple three-watch system for a chow hall. During and after my service in Fallujah, Iraq, I aided in the preliminary material that went into the establishment of the first Marine Corps Mortuary Affairs Unit (Personnel Retrieval and Processing). This included an organizational model for deploying detachments, an annual training cycle, and guidance for search and recovery to include mount-up procedures, and modifications to convoy operations and actions at the site.

I have designed, planned, and directed many training evolutions that required coordination with various support entities and command staff. I additionally took part in the after-action reviews of those and other activities, a highly useful analysis that helped shape my view of organizations. One particular part of my organizational analysis of the Marine Corps led me to conclude that the enemy could not be considered merely an obstacle, but must be considered a stakeholder. This change in perspective, along with many years as a cook, manager, government contractor, Scoutmaster, and mentor, led directly to my Bachelor’s thesis, The Marine Cell.