From his position as chief of staff of Marine Corps Base Quantico, he has had the ability to transform processes that touched several tenant activities aboard the base over the past two-and-a-half years.
Col. Thompson A. Gerke, who will relinquish chief of staff duties on April 22 and retire fromactive duty this summer, has given support to and helped rejuvenate and evaluate different processes and procedures to make programs easier and more accessible to Marines.
‘‘I’d like Marines and civilian employeesassigned to the base to remember me as an enabler of their success, individually and collectively,” Gerke said. ‘‘I’d like them to remember me as a chief of staff who was useful to them in understanding the base commander’s intent and in guiing their programs and activities consistent with it.”
Gerke, who also serves as the chief of staff for the Marine Corps National Capital Region Command and Marine Forces National Capital Region, served as the chairman of the Base Safety and Family Advocacy Councils.
‘‘I’ve challenged the staff to build a more deliberate approach to evaluating our safety andfamily advocacy programs,” Gerke said. ‘‘We’ve made great headway, not just in terms of passing inspections and accomplishing training, but inactually achieving the outcome of a more safe workplace and better support to families in need.”
‘‘All of those things,” Gerke said, ‘‘shape theinstallation for the future by kicking it up a notch.”
Gerke plans to take with him the important things he’s learned throughout his military career.
‘‘There was a division commander who once said, ‘You can accomplish an awful lot if you don’t care who gets the credit,’” Gerke said. ‘‘I heard that comment when I was a second lieutenant and it stuck with me.”
Upon Gerke’s retirement from the Marine Corps, Col. Mark Kauzlarich, who is currently the assistant chief of staff of G-7, will assume duties as the base chief of staff for MCB Quantico.
‘‘I have a great colonel relieving me,” said Gerke. ‘‘My personal presence as the chief is not as important as the degree of teamwork and cross-staff coordination that is now a matter of habit. That’s the glue that holds the base team together.
‘‘I think the working relationships between the base, other MCCDC organizations and tenantactivities here are solid,” Gerke said. ‘‘It’s thoserelationships and the continuing dialogue and discussion that enables us collectively to meet the challenges ahead.”
— Correspondent: meloney.moses@usmc.mil
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