Melvin G. Carter talks about his promotion to brigadier general at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia, August 9, 2019. Carter grew up in York, Pennsylvania and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1985. He was awarded a NROTC Scholarship to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps upon graduating in 1992. During most of his 34 years of service, Carter has served as a Marine Air Ground Task Force Intelligence Officer and has completed multiple tours overseas in combat zones to include Operation Joint Endeavor in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan, Operations Balkan Justice and Restore Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He will now serve as the Director of Intelligence, Headquarters Marine Corps. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Cpl. Servante R. Coba)

Transcript

So today, Brigadier General Melvin G. Carter. I’m from York, Pennsylvania. Yeah, let’s do it, York, Pennsylvania, great environment, very small town. Probably about 45,000. Inner city kid for me. Went to William Penn Senior High School, but not a lot of opportunities, but we made the best of it. Frankly, I came from a family that couldn’t afford to send me to college, so college, through my parents, was not really an option for me, although they sent me off, but I wasn’t able to stay, and after I dropped out of college, I was on the yellow footprints at Parris Island and I think my Marine Corps career began from there. I just love what the Corps stands for. Camaraderie, esprit de corps, team, and the physical fitness and the challenge of it. And I’ll tell you, I couldn’t be anything else but a Marine. Yeah, very, very memorable. I would say my 30-year career as of today has shaped my time as an enlisted Marine. The things that I’ve learned, the teamwork, all built upon the enlisted Marine. I had some fantastic role models. They grew up through the ranks of Major General Cliff Stanley. Folks like then-Lieutenant General Ron Bailey, General Gaskin, retired as a three-star, Coleman. They were sterling examples of what a Marine officer should be like, all built upon Lieutenant General Petersen and, at the very beginning, Lieutenant Branch, being the first African American officer in the United States Marine Corps. Yeah, fantastic story. When I was a midshipman at the ROTC unit at Morehouse College, I was actually a bellman, and General Stanley was being escorted by then-Major Bailey coming down to speak to our ROTC unit, and when they came and talked to us, and the things that they laid upon us, just absolutely motivating, and that’s where it all started for me. I’ll tell you, I was wandering around at the BOOST program, which is a Broadened Officer Selection and Training program. I went to a big university, which really wasn’t good for me, and when I went through the BOOST program, there was a master chief, Master Chief Jeff Hutchinson, that absolutely meant the world to many of us. He recruited, out of our BOOST class, probably about 15 of us, which was significant for that unit, and when he came in there, he was hands-on. He kept good mentorship and oversaw us throughout the career, and I owe it all to Master Chief Jeff Hutchinson. So at the time, I didn’t understand the significance of the HBCU. I really was looking for an opportunity. I wanted to make sure that I stayed in school, but what I found out when I got down to Morehouse is that it’s a family-oriented environment, and then a historical black college piece of it, pretty awesome. I learned a lot about myself and our heritage by going to HBCU, so if I had to do it over again, that’s where I would absolutely start. No, not at all, and I think there’s many in the audience. My friends would go, “That guy? “There’s absolutely no way.” And I don’t think anybody can say that they came in the Corps to become a general officer. It’s something that happens along the way, and then, by the time you get to that rank, I’m brand new to the ranks, but it’s really an honor to be here and, really, a duty to serve, so I’m honored to be here, but never saw in a mile away, a thousand years, that I would be here. Becoming that true leader, true north, and making sure that we stay true to the game, in terms of leading Marines. As you know, our business is a tough business. Only 1% of the nation serves in the military, and I’m honored to be here, and then when you have to take a Marine to combat and the family members expect you to bring them home, that weighs pretty heavy on you, but it’s our duty. We have a mission to accomplish and I’m honored to serve. Oh wow, my family. The Corps, when you talk about being successful in the Marine Corps or any service, it really starts with the family. So there’s the familiar family, there’s the Marine Corps family, but there is quite a bit, so I’m very proud of my family. I’m married to a wonderful wife of 27 years and I have two remarkable children. It’s a great deal to me. So I thought very carefully who I wanted to participate in the ceremony, and when you look at the lineage of Montford Point Marines, and just a few, short years ago in the early ’40s, African Americans were not allowed to serve side-by-side with others, and that segregation. And then, today, executive order passed and now you have a young, African American Marine that is able to rise through the ranks of General Officer. So what the Montford Points started out and shaped for us allows the diversity that the Marine Corps promotes today, and so I’m honored to be here, and again, really thankful that I’ve had an opportunity to spend some time with a Montford Point Marine. Yeah, work hard. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it. I think the sky is the limit, certainly in the Marine Corps. I’m a testament to some of those things, but hard work and dedication will get you there every time.