MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- "Never assume the coffee pot has coffee in it!"
That's the advice offered by Sgt. Amber Bess Magel, protocol non-commissioned officer-in-charge, HQs, MCRD San Diego, to anyone providing for meetings involving generals, congressmen and commandants.
As the protocol NCOIC, Magel is essential to the efforts of the section in organizing and supervising VIP visits to the Depot. One part of this mission is ensuring refreshments are available. Magel would argue this isn't always as easy as it sounds.
"On more than one occasion we had a VIP coming and we set up a little silver tray with coffee and water," she said. "Well the VIP was here, but come to find out the coffee pot was bone dry and it had broke. Myself and the captains were running around the building looking for someone who had some coffee to spare."
While Magel and the captains, Capt. Matthew A. Dumenigo, protocol officer (at the time), and Capt. Kevin E. Clark, general's aide (at the time), can laugh about the situation now. Magel says it definitely wasn't amusing at the time.
"Never, in a million years, would I think coffee would be so important," she added.
However important coffee may become for a VIP visit, it is just a small part of the overall mission of the Protocol Office.
The section arranges VIP visits from briefings in the CG's conference room to tours of the Depot. The Commanding General's social roster, including events at his personal quarters are at the top of Magel's priority list. Every invitation, every thank you note and every appreciation gift passes through the Protocol Office.
"How busy we are depends on what is going on for that particular week," she said. "I learn something new every day and there is never a dull moment."
Learning something new every day is part of Magel's success as a protocol NCO. There isn't formal training for the billet, according to Magel who started her career as a cook.
"I was told to go to the general's office for an interview," she said, describing the first step toward being assigned to the protocol office. "They picked me."
When asked how she got from her hometown of Winchester, Va., to the Marine Corps, she says it was a matter of wanting to do something good with her life.
She spent her first year aboard Marine Corps Air Station Futemna, Okinawa, Japan. Upon assignment to the Depot, Magel enrolled in night school at Vincennes University to study criminal justice.
Her ability to multi-task is something Col. Thomas W. Spencer, chief of staff, MCRD San Diego and the Western Recruiting Region, believes is a factor in her success and the success of the protocol office in general.
"We truly have some exceptional people working in the section," Spencer said. "They have to have effective communication skills and people skills and be able to juggle lots of balls at one time."
Magel may not have sat through hours of classes to learn the tools of her trade, but her approach to her duties is an essential element in her toolbox.
"Make sure everything is perfect all the time," Magel stated matter-of-factly. "We represent the CG so our actions reflect on him. We want him to look good."
And that is all Spencer expects of the Protocol office - perfection.
"They never know who is going to be on the end of the next phone call," Spencer said. "It could be anyone from a patron wanting to speak about his or her experience at the exchange to the Office of the Commandant. As I often tell them- 'All I expect is that you will do everything perfectly all of the time."
Magel's professionalism and charisma were the deciding factors in her selection as protocol NCO, according to Dumenigo.
Lorrie Glick, commanding general's secretary, can offer Magel and her counterparts an anecdote worth of solace. At least the current staff hasn't caused an evacuation of the commanding general's suite.
As an administrative assistant, Glick worked with Major Gen. Grinalds.
"When Major Gen. Grinalds was in command, our present to the parade reviewing officer was a round fired from the guns," Glick said. "It was unique -- a polished round mounted on a wood plaque with a brass plate which read: 'Last round fired presented to ...'"
As the story goes, the first box of rounds was received from the Recruit Training Regiment on "a cold, rainy winter day." The protocol officer, juggling a multitude of tasks, asked the private to put the rounds in his office.
"Later in the morning a very strong, horrible odor permeated throughout the CG's office spaces. Only the CG's secretary and myself were in the office at that time and we looked everywhere for the source. The smell got so strong it made our eyes water. Thinking it was a gas leak, we called facilities and were told to close the doors and evacuate the spaces."
Fortunately, the facilities maintenance personnel did not discover a gas leak.
Unfortunately, they discovered unpolished, uncleaned rounds encrusted with sulfur and parked within baking distance of the radiator.
The crew Magel worked with prevented any sulfurous incidents.
The sergeant's ability to organize and coordinate incidents with the protocol officer and general's staff recently paid off as she was recognized by San Diego Women's Council Navy League as one of the top female service members in the area.
Magel's dedication to duty earned her the Miltary Women of Achievement Award, which was presented to 52 other female service members in San Diego.
She accepted the award in the same manner in which she performs her duties, graciously and with pride.