This is the second of two episodes with recently retired Master Gunnery Sergeant Justin Aiken who served in the United States Marine Corps for 31 years.
Our initial plan was for this interview to be mostly focused around what lessons we could learn from someone who served at the highest level about leadership and training. However, to prepare for the interview, Master Guns Aiken spent weeks listening to all our podcast and doing independent research about the EM profession as a whole. We quickly realized we needed to soak up as much knowledge and wisdom as we could. So we didn't take breaks and didn't worry about time. The end result was just short of three hours soaking up knowledge and wisdom from someone who achieved the highest rank possible in the Marine Corps, in the most difficult job field to do it in, the infantry. Additionally, Master Guns Aiken was the senior enlisted infantry advocate to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. There are only around 75 infantry Master Guns in the entire Marine Corps and only one is selected as the infantry advocate.
In this episode we discuss the importance of the EM profession from out outsiders point of view, the importance of professional identity, and existing in the shadows vs. advocating for your profession. .