Marine Officer - Rye Barcott

Benefits

<span> <p> <img style="float: none;" src="http://assets2.marines.com/assetmgr/image/disp/inline/size/460x259/id/254346" alt="Rye Barcott <br /> Harvard MBA and MPA Candidate, Former Marine Officer" /><h2>Deciding to Become a Marine Officer</h2>Barcott1Deciding 1:55<br /> <br /> Rye Barcott:<br /> I was privileged to have an opportunity to sit down with men like my dad and his closest friends who were all Marines. There was a sense of service and what that meant, but there was also just this tremendous excitement to be a Marine, to travel overseas, to be responsive, to be in charge and that was something that was extremely exciting for me.<br /> <br /> I applied for a ROTC scholarship in my junior year and I was fortunate enough to get the scholarship to go to UNC. One of the great aspects of the ROTC program is that during half of each summer you get an opportunity to see another side of the naval services. So during the first summer I spent part of my time on a nuclear submarine and over at the air wing and got familiar with how those components complement the Marine Corps. On the second summer I went out to Mountain Warfare School in Bridgeport, California, and attached to a Marine infantry company. And that was a phenomenal experience for me because it was basically an opportunity to get a ground-level perspective on what it's like to be a, you know, 19-20-year-old Marine in a platoon. <br /> <br /> Everybody has their doubts and fears. Everybody does. I did. I didn't know whether I'd make it. I mean I was gonna fight like hell. But everybody has their own doubts and fears. So recognize that. You know, real courage is not being unafraid. Real courage is acting in the face of fear and doing what's right when no one's looking. <br /> <br /> I think there's a common misconception about military service that it's all about giving or taking orders. The fact of the matter is that you get paid to think as a Marine Corps Officer. It's to think and to lead and to lead with that blend of compassion and toughness that is the hallmark of a great Marine Corps Officer.<br /> <hr /><h2>Human Intelligence</h2>Barcott2BeingAnOfficer :52<br /> <br /> Rye Barcott:<br /> The Marine Corps is about as close to a meritocracy as you can get, you know. You're only as good as your current duty station. Sure, your reputation precedes you. But you've got to perform. Every job you have is about your performance and your aptitude, not who you are, not what family you came from, what are you doing and what decisions are you making. <br /> <br /> I knew that I wanted to shoot for this MOS called Human Intelligence. It's about leading small teams of generally more senior Marines, sergeants and staff sergeants, into combat, attached to infantry units and talking to local sources to get information about where the enemy is located, the enemy disposition and using that actionable intelligence to drive operations. It's a critical role to any line unit. <br /> <hr /><h2>A Personal Journey Toward Service</h2>Barcott3Service 1:31<br /> <br /> Rye Barcott:<br /> So I came back to UNC for my junior year and I had spent a lot of time studying economics, anthropology and Swahili. So I traveled over to Kibera and rented an 8-by-8 foot shack in this slum community with about 700,000 people living in extreme poverty. I had wanted to basically travel to Africa and get a better understanding of some of the ethnic violence that had occurred. And the thinking for me behind this was that I was going in to be a Marine Officer and we may deploy to places such as Rwanda in either a peacekeeping role or a military intervention and I wanted to better understand that. I also wanted to better understand what could be done to prevent that type of violence. And it was a humbling experience for me. <br /> <br /> This was an initiative fundamentally aimed at preventing violence in an extremely dangerous part of the world through a model of participatory development, engaging a local community. I would learn a lot that would be potentially relevant as a Marine Corps Officer. <br /> <br /> Service really does stem from a sense of calling. It's got to be something that, that people are not telling you but that you feel within you. You know, don't go into the Marine Corps to go to Harvard Business School or to build your résumé. That's the wrong reason to go into the Marine Corps. Know that there are other options for you if you decide not to make that a career. But go into the Marine Corps because you want to lead Marines in combat if our nation's at war.<br /> <hr /><h2>Life After the Marine Corps</h2>Barcott4AfterTheCorps 1:31<br /> <br /> Rye Barcott:<br /> Everybody's own decision to stay in the Marine Corps or leave the Marine Corps is intensely personal to them. And for me, I had certainly considered making a career out of the Marine Corps. I also felt like I could potentially be an effective agent of change as well outside of the Marine Corps and that there could be a life for me beyond the Marine Corps from a career perspective. And so I looked at a bunch of different graduate school opportunities. One of the things that appealed to me about business school was this bias for action that the schools focused on.<br /> <br /> At business school, every case here starts off with a protagonist and the protagonist confronts some decision point. In the Marine Corps, life's very similar. In combat a thousand different things are happening; you have to make life or death decisions with very short notice.<br /> <br /> My Marine Corps background is always with me every day. And fundamentally in the classroom it's about how do you present yourself, what decisions do you make, what judgments do you make, how do you carry yourself, live a life with integrity and show mutual respect to everyone that you encounter. These are sort of life principles that the Marine Corps instills in you, that guide you and I think by the way that the business community can learn a lot from the principles within the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps gives you a real sense of, you know, if you're going to lead, you better look out for everybody, particularly that, you know, the lowest-level person that may be supporting your organization, they matter. Everyone matters.<br /> <hr /> </p> </span>

To think and to lead with that blend of compassion and toughness—that is the hallmark of a Marine Corps Officer.
—Capt Rye Barcott

Commissioned: 2001
Years of Service: 5
Commissioning Program: NROTC
Education: University of North Carolina, Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School
Current Title: Founder and Director, Carolina for Kibera; Harvard MBA and MPA candidate

Even among the MBA candidates at Harvard Business School, Rye Barcott stands out. A former Marine Officer, he began his career in the ROTC program at the University of North Carolina. While completing his degree, he cofounded a nongovernmental organization that promotes peace through sports, community development and women’s empowerment in Kibera, Kenya.

Barcott began training at The Basic School in the fall of 2001, and led for five years as a Marine Intelligence Officer. In 2006, he completed his active duty and entered the Harvard MBA program, ready to take on a leadership role in the business world. After graduating, he plans to put his considerable talents to work in the renewable energy field.

Marines. The Few. The Proud.

Rye Barcott
Harvard MBA and MPA Candidate, Former Marine Officer

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Marines. The Few. The Proud.

Rye Barcott Harvard MBA and MPA Candidate, Former Marine Officer

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Rye Barcott
Harvard MBA and MPA Candidate, Former Marine Officer