WEBVTT 00:00.090 --> 00:02.760 - So today, Brigadier General Jerry Carter. 00:02.760 --> 00:04.363 I'm from York, Pennsylvania. 00:06.210 --> 00:08.810 Yeah, let's do it, York, Pennsylvania, 00:08.810 --> 00:10.700 great environment, very small town. 00:10.700 --> 00:12.710 Probably about 45,000. 00:12.710 --> 00:15.040 Inner city kid for me. 00:15.040 --> 00:16.720 Went to William Penn Senior High School, 00:16.720 --> 00:19.820 but not a lot of opportunities, 00:19.820 --> 00:22.780 but we made the best of it. 00:22.780 --> 00:24.219 Frankly, I came from a family 00:24.219 --> 00:27.090 that couldn't afford to send me to college, 00:27.090 --> 00:29.930 so college, through my parents, 00:29.930 --> 00:31.440 was not really an option for me, 00:31.440 --> 00:34.935 although they sent me off, but I wasn't able to stay, 00:34.935 --> 00:38.144 and after I dropped out of college, 00:38.144 --> 00:39.972 I was on the yellow footprints at Parris Island 00:39.972 --> 00:43.233 and I think my Marine Corps career began from there. 00:44.230 --> 00:46.650 I just love what the Corps stands for. 00:46.650 --> 00:50.750 Camaraderie, esprit de corps, team, 00:50.750 --> 00:53.730 and the physical fitness and the challenge of it. 00:53.730 --> 00:56.993 And I'll tell you, I couldn't be anything else but a Marine. 00:58.230 --> 01:00.345 Yeah, very, very memorable. 01:00.345 --> 01:04.090 I would say my 30-year career as of today 01:04.090 --> 01:07.010 has shaped my time as an enlisted Marine. 01:07.010 --> 01:09.870 The things that I've learned, the teamwork, 01:09.870 --> 01:11.903 all built upon the enlisted Marine. 01:15.980 --> 01:18.913 I had some fantastic role models. 01:20.410 --> 01:21.243 They grew up through the ranks 01:21.243 --> 01:24.960 of Major General Cliff Stanley. 01:24.960 --> 01:29.480 Folks like then-Lieutenant General Ron Bailey, 01:29.480 --> 01:33.100 General Gaskin, retired as a three-star, Coleman. 01:33.100 --> 01:34.302 They were sterling examples 01:34.302 --> 01:36.700 of what a Marine officer should be like, 01:36.700 --> 01:40.200 all built upon Lieutenant General Petersen 01:40.200 --> 01:43.910 and, at the very beginning, Lieutenant Branch, 01:43.910 --> 01:45.970 being the first African American officer 01:45.970 --> 01:47.867 in the United States Marine Corps. 01:51.270 --> 01:52.350 Yeah, fantastic story. 01:52.350 --> 01:53.620 When I was a midshipman 01:53.620 --> 01:56.230 at the ROTC unit at Morehouse College, 01:56.230 --> 01:59.740 I was actually a bellman, and General Stanley 01:59.740 --> 02:02.630 was being escorted by then-Major Bailey 02:02.630 --> 02:05.540 coming down to speak to our ROTC unit, 02:05.540 --> 02:07.400 and when they came and talked to us, 02:07.400 --> 02:09.370 and the things that they laid upon us, 02:09.370 --> 02:10.709 just absolutely motivating, 02:10.709 --> 02:12.703 and that's where it all started for me. 02:16.975 --> 02:20.500 I'll tell you, I was wandering around at the BOOST program, 02:20.500 --> 02:24.100 which is a Broadened Officer Selection and Training program. 02:24.100 --> 02:27.920 I went to a big university, which really wasn't good for me, 02:27.920 --> 02:30.400 and when I went through the BOOST program, 02:30.400 --> 02:33.730 there was a master chief, Master Chief Jeff Hutchinson, 02:33.730 --> 02:36.400 that absolutely meant the world to many of us. 02:36.400 --> 02:38.230 He recruited, out of our BOOST class, 02:38.230 --> 02:40.360 probably about 15 of us, 02:40.360 --> 02:42.540 which was significant for that unit, 02:42.540 --> 02:44.544 and when he came in there, he was hands-on. 02:44.544 --> 02:46.810 He kept good mentorship 02:46.810 --> 02:51.810 and oversaw us throughout the career, 02:52.084 --> 02:54.973 and I owe it all to Master Chief Jeff Hutchinson. 02:57.950 --> 02:58.938 So at the time, I didn't understand 02:58.938 --> 03:01.460 the significance of the HBCU. 03:01.460 --> 03:02.792 I really was looking for an opportunity. 03:02.792 --> 03:05.550 I wanted to make sure that I stayed in school, 03:05.550 --> 03:07.770 but what I found out when I got down to Morehouse 03:07.770 --> 03:10.200 is that it's a family-oriented environment, 03:10.200 --> 03:12.040 and then a historical black 03:12.040 --> 03:14.710 college piece of it, pretty awesome. 03:14.710 --> 03:17.370 I learned a lot about myself and our heritage 03:17.370 --> 03:20.440 by going to HBCU, so if I had to do it over again, 03:20.440 --> 03:22.340 that's where I would absolutely start. 03:24.740 --> 03:27.617 No, not at all, and I think there's many in the audience. 03:27.617 --> 03:30.367 My friends would go, "That guy? 03:30.367 --> 03:32.210 "There's absolutely no way." 03:32.210 --> 03:34.050 And I don't think anybody 03:34.050 --> 03:35.370 can say that they came in the Corps 03:35.370 --> 03:36.888 to become a general officer. 03:36.888 --> 03:39.150 It's something that happens along the way, 03:39.150 --> 03:41.130 and then, by the time you get to that rank, 03:41.130 --> 03:43.140 I'm brand new to the ranks, 03:43.140 --> 03:45.430 but it's really an honor to be here 03:45.430 --> 03:47.690 and, really, a duty to serve, 03:47.690 --> 03:49.210 so I'm honored to be here, 03:49.210 --> 03:53.710 but never saw in a mile away, a thousand years, 03:53.710 --> 03:55.210 that I would be here. 04:00.030 --> 04:04.480 Becoming that true leader, true north, 04:04.480 --> 04:06.668 and making sure that we stay true to the game, 04:06.668 --> 04:08.603 in terms of leading Marines. 04:08.603 --> 04:12.000 As you know, our business is a tough business. 04:12.000 --> 04:15.640 Only 1% of the nation serves in the military, 04:15.640 --> 04:16.473 and I'm honored to be here, 04:16.473 --> 04:19.130 and then when you have to take a Marine to combat 04:19.130 --> 04:22.193 and the family members expect you to bring them home, 04:23.200 --> 04:26.210 that weighs pretty heavy on you, but it's our duty. 04:26.210 --> 04:29.060 We have a mission to accomplish and I'm honored to serve. 04:32.890 --> 04:34.163 Oh wow, my family. 04:36.240 --> 04:38.080 The Corps, when you talk about 04:38.080 --> 04:40.850 being successful in the Marine Corps or any service, 04:40.850 --> 04:42.570 it really starts with the family. 04:42.570 --> 04:44.640 So there's the familiar family, 04:44.640 --> 04:46.050 there's the Marine Corps family, 04:46.050 --> 04:48.983 but there is quite a bit, so I'm very proud of my family. 04:51.520 --> 04:53.936 I'm married to a wonderful wife of 27 years 04:53.936 --> 04:56.633 and I have two remarkable children. 04:59.670 --> 05:00.503 It's a great deal to me. 05:00.503 --> 05:01.636 So I thought very carefully 05:01.636 --> 05:04.400 who I wanted to participate in the ceremony, 05:04.400 --> 05:07.990 and when you look at the lineage of Montford Point Marines, 05:07.990 --> 05:11.453 and just a few, short years ago in the early '40s, 05:11.453 --> 05:14.070 African Americans were not allowed to serve 05:14.070 --> 05:18.020 side-by-side with others, and that segregation. 05:18.020 --> 05:19.641 And then, today, executive order passed 05:19.641 --> 05:22.335 and now you have a young, African American Marine 05:22.335 --> 05:25.990 that is able to rise through the ranks of General Officer. 05:25.990 --> 05:29.290 So what the Montford Points started out and shaped for us 05:29.290 --> 05:31.771 allows the diversity that the Marine Corps promotes today, 05:31.771 --> 05:34.070 and so I'm honored to be here, and again, 05:34.070 --> 05:36.350 really thankful that I've had an opportunity 05:36.350 --> 05:38.873 to spend some time with a Montford Point Marine. 05:41.700 --> 05:42.960 Yeah, work hard. 05:42.960 --> 05:45.360 Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do it. 05:46.210 --> 05:49.040 I think the sky is the limit, certainly in the Marine Corps. 05:49.040 --> 05:51.353 I'm a testament to some of those things, 05:51.353 --> 05:54.953 but hard work and dedication will get you there every time.