Marine Officer - Maj Brent Purcell

<img style="float: none;" src="http://assets2.marines.com/assetmgr/image/disp/inline/size/460x259/id/4358" alt="Maj Brent Purcell Communications Officer" /><h2>Accepting the Challenge</h2>Purcell1Becoming 1:22 Maj Brent Purcell: What inspired me to become a Marine was, the recruiter presented me with a challenge and I´d been pretty successful through high school as far as accomplishing things that came to me very, very easily. Didn´t really have to strive to accomplish those goals. So when I was presented with a challenge that few people had the ability to achieve, that really intrigued me. I really wanted to strive to accomplish that goal, which I have. I enlisted in 1992 as a recruit and then I joined the Marine Corps Reserve to earn money while I went to college. And then when I graduated from college I got commissioned and attended OCS in 1998. Then, Officer Candidates School was the toughest physical training that I had ever encountered, ever. It was a challenge in every aspect of the word. We were pushed to our limits every day, both mentally and physically. But at the end of that process, the way that I felt about myself and the young men and women that I was with, I realized that you could not do things by yourself, that you were part of a team; teamwork was very important. Also from that experience I learned that the Marine Corps wants you to be better today and tomorrow than you were the previous day. So as long as you keep on giving your best effort today and tomorrow, that´s what the Marine Corps is looking for. You get a first-class education going to Officer Candidates School. I think it´s probably the best leadership school that America has to offer to really learn about yourself, to learn what you´re made of and realize that you can accomplish more than what you thought you could possibly accomplish. <hr /><h2>The Role of a Communications Officer</h2>Purcell2MOS 1:44 Maj Brent Purcell: My first job I ever had after leaving Communications School as a 2nd lieutenant was serving in Infantry Battalion and I had 60 Marines that I was responsible for making sure that they had lodging, food, clothing-the whole nine yards. So for a 24-year-old man graduating from college, going through Officer Candidates School and all the training that follows-that was a large responsibility, one that I was prepared to do based on the training that I´d received. But if you were to take me prior to receiving all that training, tell me to do the same job, there was no way that I would ever be prepared for that. The hardest part about that job was just dealing with the unknown. You wanna plan for everything, but there are just some things that, that are, are not known, so you do the best you can do. You fall upon your standard operating procedures and you do the best you can do every day. Right now my current job is the course coordinator for the Basic Communications Officers Course and I currently have 73 students who I´m responsible for their training and have seven captains that assist me in providing that communications education for those students. Ok, you understand that this is the easy part. You´re in a static location. Tomorrow morning, while it´s still dark outside, you´re gonna be bounding from location to location. LZ to LZ. Also, with your tack nets, when we roll into a new location, it should only take 15, 20 minutes tops to get your tack nets up. You guys are so caught up in the technology in the radio than making the radio work from an operating standpoint. Is that part of it? Marines: Yes, sir. Maj Brent Purcell: As far as gear or systems that we use for data, we use a lot of industry-standard type data equipment. When these young men and women leave here, they leave with an industry-standard certification that if they were to ever leave the Marine Corps some day, they would have that tangible benefit of a certification they could take to an employer and they´d be very marketable, as well as while they´re in the Marine Corps, they´re learning industry-standard techniques that the Marine Corps applies on a daily basis. <hr /><h2>First and Foremost, A Marine</h2>Purcell3Mission :18 Maj Brent Purcell: When America needs us, we´re, we´re always ready to go, no matter day or night, time or place, that we´re there ready to do the mission. We´re trained and ready for that challenge and that´s something that as a young Marine Officer that you learn early on that the Marine Corps is first and foremost and that everything you do serves that mission of first to fight. <hr />

The Marine Corps wants you to be better today and tomorrow than you were the previous day. So as long as you keep giving your best effort today and tomorrow, that’s what the Marine Corps is looking for.
—Maj Brent Purcell

Enlisted: 1992
Commissioned: 1998
Commissioning Program: Officer Candidate Course
Education: Marshall University, Webster University

Major Brent Purcell was drawn to the Marine Corps for the individual challenge, but today he’ll tell you that being part of a team has been the greatest reward. As an officer candidate, he discovered he could accomplish more as part of a team than he thought possible. Now it’s his job to help his Marines make the same discovery, and succeed not only as individuals, but as a unit.

As the Course Coordinator for the Basic Communications Officer Course, Maj Purcell is responsible for supervising seven captains as they train newly commissioned lieutenants with the skills required to become a Communications Officer. The training focuses on communications planning with regard to radios, data networks, as well as tactical telephones. Under his leadership and supervision, the students learn industry standard skills and the Marine Corps Planning Process, and emerge ready to deploy.

Marines. The Few. The Proud.

Maj Brent Purcell
Communications Officer

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