Marine Officer - Lt Zachary White

<span> <p> <img style="float: none;" src="http://assets2.marines.com/assetmgr/image/disp/inline/size/460x259/id/3799" alt="Lt Zachary White<br /> Logistics Officer" /><h2>Realizing you are Prepared</h2>White1Becoming 1:19<br /> <br /> 1stLt Zachary White:<br /> I had almost enlisted after high school. I had a history teacher who was a former Marine who was a big influence on me and I looked up to him quite a bit. What happened to me was I was a sophomore in college and I was walking through the student union one day. That particular day it was very, very busy and I just happened to get stopped right in front of the Marine Corps booth, you know; there was a gunny standing there and, you know, handing out brochures and stuff and he just started talking to me. "Hey how´s it going?" You know. "Ever thought about the Marine Corps?" The conversation went from 30 seconds to 10 minutes and then [I] went and saw him again and he brought me down and introduced me to the captain who was the OSO and that´s how I kind of got into the recruiting cycle.<br /> <br /> When I got commissioned I felt excited. After I got commissioned I spent about a year in training at TBS and then MOS school. When I got to the fleet, it was definitely a feeling of uncertainty, you know; I felt like the Marine Corps had prepared me, you know, because they had done it with hundreds of other guys just like me, but I really didn´t know what to expect. My particular experience: I checked in, I got to the fleet after school and two weeks later I was in Iraq. Shortly after arriving, I realized that I was prepared. I think the Marine Corps does a very good job of preparing young officers to take charge and do their mission.<br /> <hr /><h2>Leading Marines</h2>White2Leadership :22<br /> <br /> 1stLt Zachary White:<br /> The best part about being a Marine Officer for me is leading Marines. I know it sounds like it´s something that´s off a recruiting poster somewhere, but it´s true. And I´m 28 years old; there´s nowhere else I know of where I could go out and be in charge of this many people and have this much responsibility and be allowed to execute my job. The best part is interacting with the Marines, you know, doing the mission.<br /> <hr /><h2>On the Battlefield</h2>White3MOS 1:28<br /> <br /> 1stLt Zachary White:<br /> The nice thing about being a Logistics Officer is there´s a broad range of things that one can do. I´ve had, in the four years I´ve been in the Marine Corps, I´ve had a couple different jobs. The first job I had was a landing support platoon commander, and that´s the job I had when I went to Iraq the first time. <br /> <br /> I´m a Transportation Support Officer. I have a transportation detachment. The large share of what I do deals with transportation. Moving stuff around the battlefield, whether it´s resupply or bringing people to different places, delivering troops somewhere or if it´s delivering some other capability. I might be, you know, taking engineers somewhere else so they can get on the ground and repair a road. So, what I do deals a lot with transportation and it´s very-it´s the large support part of logistics.<br /> <br /> My prime mover is what´s called the MTVR, medium tactical vehicle replacement. It´s a big seven-ton truck. We have Humvees, all kinds of radio systems, machine guns. We use quite a few different machine guns in our daily execution of our mission.<br /> <br /> In the Marine Corps there are regulations for everything. One of my jobs as an officer is to make sure that those regulations are followed. We do pre-combat checks and inspections. We make sure that the trucks have all the equipment they´re supposed to have and that´s everything from mechanical checks to make sure they have air in the tires and, you know, the seat belts work; things like that. We make sure that Marines have all the gear they´re supposed to have. There´s equipment requirements, like they have to wear their flak jacket and their helmet; things like that. We make sure that the gear is configured the way it´s supposed to be.<br /> <hr /> </p> </span>

The best part about being a Marine Officer for me is leading Marines.
—Lt Zachary White

Commissioned: 2005
Commissioning Program: Platoon Leaders Class
Education: University of North Texas

At 28 years old, Lieutenant Zachary White has taken on more responsibility than some people will in a lifetime. He has deployed twice, first to Iraq as a landing support platoon commander, then aboard a Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Western Pacific. Wherever Marines are needed, it’s his job to form a plan and get them there.

He looks out for his Marines 24/7, whether that means coordinating a mission, overseeing training or helping solve a personal issue. It’s not easy, but it’s a challenge he finds rewarding. He credits his Marine Corps training for preparing him to successfully take on key leadership roles.

Marines. The Few. The Proud.

Lt Zachary White
Logistics Officer

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Marines. The Few. The Proud.

Lt Zachary White Logistics Officer

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Lt Zachary White
Logistics Officer