MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Marines and their families from the Marine Corps Recruiting Command took time from their busy schedules to celebrate the 2010 Marine Corps Recruiting Command Family Day August 12 at the Barber Physical Activity Center.
Family days are an important part of the Marine Corps; they allow single Marines and Marines with families to come together as a much bigger family -- the Marine Corps family.
“Families are our most valuable resource because they are the ones behind the Marines,” said Gilbert Macias, family readiness officer for MCRC. “Family day gives us the opportunity to meet with our co-workers families and share stories.”
“When my husband told me his work was having a family day, I didn’t know what to expect,” said Nicole Holbrook, wife of Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Holbrook the diversity chief for MCRC. “I thought it could be fun getting to know his co-workers and talk with different people.”
Family days not only give family members a chance to meet their Marine’s co-workers, they are also filled with competitive and participatory activities for people of all ages. At the MCRC family day, a very special event took place. Sgt. Tavaris Douglas earned a meritorious promotion earlier in the month and was able to have the promotion ceremony in front of all his friends and co-workers.
“It was very humbling to get promoted in front of my Marine Corps family,” said Douglas, a waivers administrative clerk at MCRC.
Though Douglas is a single Marine, according to him, family day was an opportunity to get to know his co-worker’s families in a relaxed environment with fun activities.
Master Sgt. Jaqueline Gray and 1st Lt. Nicole Taylor began planning activities four months ago to make family day possible.
“We started by going back to what had been done in the past,” said Gray MCRC’s administrative chief. “Coordinating the location, food and events was a big part of the planning.”
Some of the activities included a moon bounce, face painting, relay races, tug-of-war and pie tossing. The pie tossing was a fundraiser toward MCRC’s next celebration, the 2010 Marine Corps Birthday Ball.
“Aside from food being the best part, I was excited to participate in the relay races and the tug-of-war,” said Douglas referring to his favorite parts of family day. “The way family days build espirit de corps is irreplaceable, and you won’t find it anywhere else.”