Anti-Tank Missileman

You are the crew member who feeds, maintains, and keeps eyes on a weapon system that can kill a tank at 3,700 meters. The launcher does not care how motivated you are — it cares whether you did the PMCS.

You arrive at a weapons company or anti-armor platoon after the Anti-Tank Missileman course at Infantry Training Battalion, and the first thing the section chief does is put you on a vehicle or a ground mount and start testing what you actually retained from school. Most of your garrison week is PMCS on the HMMWV and the M220 TOW launcher, ITAS battery management, ammunition accountability, working parties, range support, and the company gunny's police call. Field ops are where the job gets real: you move the launcher, set up hides, mask the system, run the tracker optics, and rehearse engagement sequences until you can execute them cold at 0200 after a 12-hour displacement. The TOW 2B flies flat and then dives through the top armor — but that does not matter if the thermal sight is fogged, the cabling is kinked, or you skipped the battery pre-op.

• 01Conduct before-ops, during-ops, and after-ops PMCS on the M220 TOW launcher system to TM 09151A-10/1 standards — every fault entered in the logbook, no deferred maintenance left undocumented.
• 02Load, unload, and safe-handle a TOW 2/2A/2B missile in all environmental conditions — the round costs more than your car and the fin damage you miss on inspection is the malfunction downrange.
• 03Operate the ITAS (Improved Target Acquisition System) thermal sight — target acquisition, tracking, engagement sequencing — under day/night conditions and recognize a tracker-lock failure before the flight motor ignites.
• 04Mask, camouflage, and set up the ground-mount or vehicle-mount system in a hide position without silhouetting the launcher or creating a heat signature the OPFOR can track.
• 05Perform immediate action on a TOW misfire, hang-fire, or flight-motor cook-off sequence using the current TM 09151A-10/1 procedures — wrong sequence at the wrong time is a casualty.
• 06Navigate and operate from the HMMWV as part of an anti-armor section — section displacement, route selection, vehicle distance, blackout drive discipline.

• —TM 09151A-10/1 — Operator Manual for the TOW Weapon System (M220 series launcher): your maintenance bible from before-ops through after-ops.
• —TM 09151A-23P — Parts Manual for the TOW Weapon System: fault diagnosis reference the section chief uses to call your bluff when you write "NMC — awaiting parts."
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry Training and Readiness Manual: the source document for every individual and collective task you are evaluated against in the 03XX occfield.
• —MCRP 3-10A.4 — Marine Rifle Platoon: platoon tactics context the AT section lives inside.
• —MCO 3500.72 — Ground Training and Readiness: the umbrella training standard that governs weapons-qualification and readiness reporting for this MOS.
• —MCO 6100.13 — Marine Corps Physical Fitness, Body Composition, and Military Appearance: your PFT/CFT lives here.

• —1st-Class PFT and CFT under MCO 6100.13 — the weapons company sergeant major sees the unit fitness report and knows whose section is dragging.
• —Annual Rifle Qualification at Expert on the M4/M27 — you are still a rifleman, and the section chief knows your slug score without looking it up.
• —TOW crew qualification at the annual gunnery standard per MCO 3500.72 — a crew that cannot qualify is a crew that does not deploy in the priority vehicle.
• —Tan Belt MCMAP out of SOI; Green Belt before you sit a Cpl board under MCO 1500.54.
• —PMCS logbook current and signed before every field op — a missing logbook entry is a 90-day deadline slip for the section on the next maintenance inspection.

• —Skipping the missile fin inspection on receipt — a bent or cracked fin changes the flight profile and turns a $250,000 round into a target indicator for the enemy.
• —Letting ITAS thermal-sight desiccant maintenance slide because "it worked last week." The sight fails on a cold-night zero-illumination range and the section fails the gunnery event.
• —Running the TOW cable without checking for kinks, cuts, or connector corrosion. A failed wire-guided engagement traced to a bad cable is on the crew chief who signed the before-ops.
• —Setting up the hide with the exhaust signature pointing toward the threat axis. The backblast and heat bloom from a TOW firing are visible — mask it before you shoot, not after.
• —Posting range card data, engagement area graphics, or vehicle serial numbers on social media. The S2 runs the sweep; the section is the one who loses their phone.

The good boot 0352 is the Marine the section chief pulls for the first gunnery event because his PMCS logbook is current, his missile pre-ops are done by 0600, and he can run immediate action on a misfire without being walked through it. By month twelve the crew leader is letting him run the ITAS tracker cold; by month eighteen he is the LCpl the company gunny briefs to the battalion anti-armor officer as the section's next crew leader candidate.

You are the crew leader. The launcher is your accountability, the junior Marines are your training problem, and the platoon sergeant is watching whether you can execute a crew drill without being narrated through it.

You own a TOW crew — two to three Marines and yourself — and you are responsible for the launcher, the vehicle, the missiles, the ITAS, and the Marines operating all of it. You run PCCs and PCIs that actually inspect, you brief the crew on the fire mission before the section leader has to do it for you, and you write proficiency and conduct marks that feed your Marines' composite scores. In the field you are the trigger-puller and the tracker operator on the engagement, but you are also the one calling "end of mission" when the engagement area is not what the back-brief said it was. The Corporals Course slot is gated; do not let it pass while you are waiting on a "better quarter."

• 01Run a pre-mission PCC/PCI on the complete TOW crew system — launcher, ITAS, vehicle, missiles, comms, first aid, dismount weapons — and produce a fault sheet with disposition before the section leader asks.
• 02Brief a crew fire mission from a terrain model your junior Marines can actually use: sector of fire, engagement criteria, displacement trigger, immediate action for system failure, casualty plan.
• 03Operate the ITAS in the tracking mode at moving target speeds — a crew leader who loses track on a moving target at 2,500 meters in training will lose it at 3,500 meters when it counts.
• 04Call for fire through the section leader to the battery or the FDC: target description, grid, engagement method, and corrections — every crew leader needs to be able to do this even though the forward observer has the primary net.
• 05Run basic maintenance diagnostics on the M220 launcher to TM 09151A-10/1 chapter-level: identify the fault, enter it properly, and separate "crew can fix this" from "send it to maintenance."
• 06Maintain crew-level OPSEC discipline — engagement area location, system employment, vehicle routes — none of it on phones, none of it in informal comms.

• —TM 09151A-10/1 — Operator Manual, TOW Weapon System: chapter-level fault diagnosis is now your read, not your section leader's.
• —MCRP 3-10A.4 — Marine Rifle Platoon: the anti-armor section integrates into the platoon scheme; the crew leader who has not read this is the one surprised by the platoon back-brief.
• —MCRP 3-10A.3 — Marine Rifle Squad: understanding the infantry scheme the AT section is attached to or supporting.
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry T&R Manual (crew-leader collective tasks for the 03XX occfield).
• —MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System: you sign proficiency and conduct marks now, and the FitRep cycle is coming.
• —MCO 1400.32 — Marine Corps Promotion Manual: composite score mechanics, cutting score for 0352 to Sgt — pull the current MARADMIN before you ask your section leader where you stand.

• —Corporals Course graduate — required and gated; the slot that passes is the slot that does not come back on the same timeline.
• —TOW crew qualification at the annual gunnery standard per MCO 3500.72 — crew leader who cannot qualify is a crew leader who does not rate a deployment vehicle.
• —1st-Class PFT and CFT; your junior Marines do not respect a crew leader who falls out of a hump or tests below 1st-Class when they are required to pass.
• —PMCS logbook clean before every field op and after every maintenance event — a crew leader whose logbook the section chief has to chase is a crew leader who does not make the next section leader conversation.
• —Green Belt MCMAP minimum; Brown Belt before you sit a Sergeants Course board.

• —Treating the pre-op as a headcount instead of an inspection. The ITAS azimuth drive problem you missed in the motor pool is the one that kills the engagement at the gunnery event.
• —Letting junior Marines skip the after-ops clean because the day ran long. Corrosion on the TOW cable connectors from one wet field problem becomes an NMC fault inside 30 days.
• —Running a crew brief without a no-go criteria for the engagement — "do not fire if X, Y, Z" is in the OPORD and it is yours to communicate before the fire mission, not during.
• —Mishandling a sensitive item — M220 serialized components, ITAS, crew radios — even once. The 1stSgt has your name and so does the armory NCO.
• —Letting composite score drift without tracking it monthly. The cutting score does not wait for you to notice the problem; the Cpl who misses the first board sometimes misses three.

The good Cpl 0352 is the crew leader the section leader sends to the hardest engagement area on the range card because the crew executes the sequence clean, the ITAS does not lose track, and the PCC/PCI the section leader spot-checks is actually a PCC/PCI. His junior Marines are composite-score-tracked and counseled, and the platoon sergeant has already mentioned him to the company gunny for the next Sergeants Course slate.

The section is yours — two or three TOW crews, the vehicles, the missiles, and the NCOs running them. The platoon commander trusts you to integrate fires into his scheme without holding his hand.

You lead an anti-armor section of two to three TOW crews. You are responsible for their training, their maintenance readiness, their equipment accountability, and their proficiency at gunnery. You write FitReps on your Cpls under MCO 1610.7, you defend the section's fire plan in the platoon back-brief, you run the section-level PCCs and PCIs that hold the company's maintenance score together, and you translate the company commander's anti-armor task to the crew leaders in terms they can brief to their Marines before the next rehearsal. You are also in the COC more than you expected — S-4 on parts, S-3 on training windows, armory on accountability — but the engagement area is still where the job lives.

• 01Develop a section anti-armor fire plan integrated with the platoon scheme of maneuver — engagement area, sector of fire, displacement plan, priority of fires, triggers — and brief it in five paragraphs without notes.
• 02Run a section-level PCC/PCI that actually finds faults before the platoon back-brief; a section leader who presents launchers with deferred maintenance at gunnery is done for the cycle.
• 03Write clean Section A FitReps on Cpl crew leaders — observed behavior, action-result-impact, no inflation the reporting senior cannot defend at the battalion review.
• 04Coordinate with the company fire support team on target engagement priorities and trigger lines; the 0352 section leader who cannot talk fires to the FDC is a section leader the artillery CO notices for the wrong reasons.
• 05Manage the section's maintenance parts pipeline through S-4: fault sheets, deadline reports, EDD tracking, controlled-exchange requests — the platoon commander does not need to know the parts process; he needs to know when the launcher is back up.
• 06Mentor your two or three Cpls into Sergeants Course-ready candidates — FitRep prep, composite score tracking, gunnery standards, crew brief quality.

• —TM 09151A-10/1 — Operator Manual, TOW Weapon System: you are the section-level maintenance authority now — every NMC fault that leaves the section goes through your fault disposition.
• —MCRP 3-10A.4 — Marine Rifle Platoon: you are planning inside this framework every time the platoon runs an attack or defense with AT integration.
• —MCRP 3-10A.3 / MCWP 3-01 — Offensive and Defensive Tactics: the anti-armor section operates inside these schemes; know the fires integration chapters.
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry T&R (Sgt / section-level collective tasks; your evaluation standard).
• —MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System: you write FitReps on your crew leaders; the section lieutenant reads them.
• —MCO 1400.32 — Marine Corps Promotion Manual: composite scores, cutting scores, Sergeants Course gating — pull the current MARADMIN before you advise a Cpl on his board timeline.

• —Sergeants Course graduate — required and gated, no exceptions on the path to SSgt.
• —Section gunnery qualification at MCO 3500.72 annual standard — every crew qualified, every launcher mission-capable on the report date.
• —1st-Class PFT and CFT; section fitness average is tracked and reported by the company gunny.
• —FitRep profile defensible at the battalion review — relative value, attribute rationale, and the Cpls you write are competitive for SSgt.
• —Composite score tracked monthly for every Cpl in the section; pull the current MARADMIN on 0352 SSgt cutting score and communicate it before they ask.

• —Verbal-only counseling. If the crew leader's maintenance discipline is a problem and it is not in writing — page-11 entry or formal counseling — it did not happen and the company commander cannot act on it.
• —Letting a deadline launcher stay NMC past the fault-disposition deadline because "parts are on order." The platoon commander's MCCRE score is riding the section readiness report; own the EDD and escalate it.
• —Briefing the fire plan from memory at the back-brief. The engagement area, sector boundaries, displacement trigger, and no-fire criteria are drawn and rehearsed — not described.
• —Hiding a SAPR, EO, financial distress, or self-harm issue from the chain. The Marine and your career both need it in the system inside 24 hours.
• —Going around the platoon sergeant to the company gunny to get a training window. The chain runs through your platoon sergeant; the company will hear about the short-circuit before you get back to the section.

The good Sgt 0352 section leader is the NCO the platoon commander puts in the hardest engagement area on the range card because the section goes up on time, the launchers are mission-capable, and the crew leaders execute without the section leader narrating it. His Cpls are FitRep-ready, his section qualifies clean at the annual gunnery, and the platoon sergeant can leave for two weeks knowing the section will not embarrass anyone at the next MCCRE.

You are the senior NCO running the anti-armor platoon or advising the weapons company commander on every AT employment decision. The lieutenant signs. You make it survivable.

You run the AT platoon's enlisted side — training plan, equipment readiness, FitReps, gunnery calendar, schools, promotions, and discipline — or you serve as the weapons company's anti-armor chief advising the CO directly. You write three to four Sgt FitReps per cycle, you defend the platoon's anti-armor plan at the company back-brief, and you build your lieutenant into an officer who understands fires integration before he embarrasses himself in front of the battalion S-3. You operate at company and battalion level now — the company gunny and the battalion anti-armor officer know your name, the S-3 schedules training windows around what your platoon can support, and the battalion SgtMaj is reading your FitRep against every other platoon sergeant in the weapons company.

• 01Build a platoon gunnery training plan that survives the S-3 long-range calendar: T&R-aligned, parts-and-ammo-resourced, locked in the training calendar before the week-before scramble.
• 02Write three to four Sgt crew-leader FitReps per cycle that the reporting senior can defend at the battalion review — clean Section A, defensible attributes, relative value the board believes.
• 03Run a platoon-level live-fire gunnery event to MCO 3500.72 standards — risk assessment (ORM), surface danger zones, MEDEVAC plan, ammunition accountability, all of it signed before the range opens.
• 04Mentor three to four Sgts into SSgt-board-ready candidates without stopping your own Career Course prep.
• 05Act as weapons company AT chief in the CO's absence — accountability formation, maintenance prioritization, training calendar conflicts, all of it.
• 06Brief the platoon commander honestly on section maintenance readiness, crew leader proficiency, and the two things that will embarrass the platoon at the next MCCRE evaluation.

• —TM 09151A-10/1 — Operator Manual, TOW Weapon System: the maintenance standards you enforce at platoon level.
• —MCRP 3-10A.4 — Marine Rifle Platoon / MCRP 3-10A.5 — Marine Rifle Company: you operate at company level in the planning cycle now.
• —MCWP 3-01 — Offensive and Defensive Tactics for MAGTFs: the fires integration framework you advise the company commander against.
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry T&R (platoon-level collective tasks and SSgt-level evaluation standard).
• —MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System: FitRep mechanics you write against and teach your Sgts.
• —MCO 1400.32 — Marine Corps Promotion Manual: SSgt-to-GySgt board mechanics, FitRep relative-value impact — pull the current MARADMIN before you advise a Sgt on his board.

• —Career Course (resident or distance) completed; SNCO Academy slot slated when the GySgt board approaches.
• —Black Belt MCMAP — the platoon expects the platoon sergeant to be one of the senior instructors in the company, not a belt behind his junior Marines.
• —Platoon gunnery qualification rate at 100% per MCO 3500.72 annual standard — any crew that does not qualify is the platoon sergeant's maintenance and training problem, not a scheduling anomaly.
• —FitRep relative value above battalion average — the SSgt-to-GySgt board is FitRep-driven and one weak cycle moves the timeline by years.
• —Platoon PFT/CFT pass rate at or above 95%; the battalion SgtMaj sees the health-of-the-force report and knows which platoon sergeant is carrying dead weight.

• —Writing a FitRep as a wish list. The reporting senior who has to defend an inflated Section A at the battalion review remembers the SSgt who wrote it — and so does the next board.
• —Skipping the ORM worksheet on a live-fire gunnery event. When a round impacts outside the surface danger zone and the risk assessment is blank, the CO will not stand behind you.
• —Letting the section's missile inventory go unverified before a field problem. One missing round with a bad lot-number trace eats the company training calendar and starts a JAGMAN.
• —Hiding platoon maintenance faults from the company gunny to look good at the Monday morning readiness brief. He finds out — usually from the motor-T chief in the worst possible meeting.
• —Allowing a senior Sgt to run a crew with known discipline problems because "he is your guy." That is favoritism on the next IG complaint and a relief on the next cycle.

The good SSgt AT platoon sergeant runs a platoon that executes the gunnery standard whether he is at the COC or on a MEDEVAC. His Sgts are SSgt-board-ready, his crews qualify clean at every gunnery event, and the company commander is willing to lose him to a B Billet because the battalion already knows he comes back as the GySgt the weapons company needs.

You are the company gunny or the battalion's senior anti-armor expert. The anti-armor employment doctrine the regiment runs comes through you, and the 1stSgt is the only NCO in the building with more authority over what happens in the weapons company.

You run the weapons company's enlisted training and readiness or you serve as the battalion's anti-armor employment chief. You manage 60-120 Marines through your platoon sergeants, you advise the company commander on every AT employment decision, and you set the maintenance and gunnery standard that the sections watch and the crew leaders follow. You write three to five SSgt FitReps per cycle, you sit on the company training board with the operations officer, you run the company through pre-deployment training (ITX at MCAGCC Twentynine Palms, MCCRE, SLTE), and you start the conversation with the 1stSgt and the battalion SgtMaj about the MSgt-vs-1stSgt path before the next board cycle. The battalion fires officer also knows your number because when the AT employment plan needs to survive contact with the enemy's combined arms, you are the NCO who stress-tests it.

• 01Build and defend a company quarterly training schedule — T&R-aligned, gunnery-resourced, parts-and-ammo-budgeted — that the CO can brief at battalion BUB without an apology.
• 02Write three to five SSgt FitReps per cycle that the battalion FitRep board can defend: clean attribute rationale, defensible relative value, Section A that names observable outcomes.
• 03Run a company through an ITX rotation at Twentynine Palms or a SLTE as the senior NCO on the anti-armor employment plan — risk assessment, safety, gunnery standards, parts accountability.
• 04Mentor three to four SSgts into Career Course graduates and GySgt-board-ready candidates; identify early who is on the 1stSgt track and who is on the MSgt / AT chief track.
• 05Brief the company commander honestly on AT-section maintenance health, crew proficiency trends, and the MCCRE vulnerabilities he cannot see from his desk before the evaluators do.
• 06Coordinate with the battalion S-4 and S-3 on missile lot-number accountability, deployment readiness, and the parts-pipeline status that determines whether the AT platoon crosses the LD mission-capable.

• —TM 09151A-10/1 and TM 09151A-23P — TOW Weapon System Operator and Parts Manuals: the maintenance authority the company commander refers questions to.
• —MCRP 3-10A.5 / MCRP 3-10A.6 — Marine Rifle Company: your operational planning framework at company level.
• —MCDP 1-3 — Tactics: you teach fires integration off this, not consume it.
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry T&R (company-level collective tasks; the training plan you build the calendar against).
• —MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System (FitRep mechanics you now teach to your SSgts).
• —MCO 1400.32 — Marine Corps Promotion Manual: GySgt-to-MSgt / 1stSgt board mechanics — pull the current MARADMIN before you advise a SSgt on timing.

• —SNCO Academy Advanced Course (Career Course) graduate; SNCO Academy Senior Course slated when MSgt board approaches.
• —Black Belt Instructor (MCMAP) at minimum — at this rank you are a senior instructor in the company and the platoon sergeants are watching.
• —Company AT-section gunnery qualification rate at 100% per MCO 3500.72 annual standard; the battalion SgtMaj sees the weapons company readiness report.
• —Company MCCRE / ITX rating that the battalion can brief without apology; pre-deployment training AT-employment plan delivered on the timeline the CO signed for.
• —FitRep profile that the senior reporting official can defend at MSgt/1stSgt board — relative value, attributes, and the SSgts you rate are competitive for GySgt.

• —Letting one platoon sergeant drift on maintenance discipline because you trust him. That is the section the MCCRE evaluator prioritizes and the company gunny absorbs the result.
• —Confusing being tight with the CO with being aligned with the CO. The weapons company needs you to push back on the anti-armor employment plan that will not work — in his office, with the door closed, before the back-brief.
• —Carrying a personal grievance with the battalion AT officer into the command relationship. The battalion SgtMaj notices, the FitRep board notices, and the next slate writes itself.
• —Skipping the ammunition and missile lot-number accountability reconciliation before a field problem. One unsourced round is an investigation that stops the company calendar.
• —Going around the 1stSgt to the battalion SgtMaj. You will be wrong on the facts and the company will hear about it before you walk back to the motor pool.

The good GySgt weapons company gunny is the SNCO the battalion SgtMaj sends to the hardest company in the regiment because the AT sections come back with current gunnery quals, functioning launchers, and platoon sergeants who can write a FitRep. His SSgts make GySgt. The company commander trusts the AT employment plan he defends at the BUB because the GySgt stress-tested it against the terrain and the parts forecast before it got to slides.

You are the standard-bearer for the weapons company or the regiment. Marines know whether the AT employment doctrine is sharp or stale by whether you have read the latest threat system update and whether you hold the platoon sergeants to the answer.

As 1stSgt you run the weapons company — 100-150 Marines, the company office, the AT platoon sergeants, the training and tasking calendar, and the boundary between what the CO needs and what the company can actually deliver. As MSgt you are the senior AT employment expert — regimental AT chief, division fires-integration SME, or MOS roadmap owner at the schoolhouse — shaping the next generation of GySgts and the doctrine the regiment runs. As SgtMaj you advise the battalion or regimental commander on every enlisted decision and set the standard for hundreds of Marines by what you walk past in formation. As MGySgt you are the occupational pinnacle: the Marine the MMPB calls when the 03XX anti-armor roadmap and the employment doctrine need revision. You write fewer FitReps per cycle, but they are the ones that pick the next 1stSgt and SgtMaj slates.

• 01Run a 1stSgt's call that produces maintenance readiness actions, gunnery scheduling, and discipline resolutions in 30 minutes without becoming a feelings meeting.
• 02Build a weapons company training and tasking calendar with the CO and the GySgt that survives the battalion BUB without losing the AT sections to competing taskings.
• 03Mentor the company's GySgts and senior SSgts as the next 1stSgt / MSgt cohort, with honest reads on who is troop-leadership and who is doctrine-and-employment track.
• 04Walk the AT sections during an ITX rotation or MCCRE evaluation and identify the broken maintenance habits and crew-leader confidence gaps before the evaluators do.
• 05Brief the battalion commander and the battalion SgtMaj on weapons-company maintenance readiness, retention, and the second-order effects of employment decisions the CO cannot see from the conference room.
• 06Run a casualty notification or memorial service for a Marine lost in the AT community with the dignity the family and the formation deserve — you are the face they will remember.

• —TM 09151A-10/1 / TM 09151A-23P — TOW Weapon System Manuals: you are the terminal authority the regiment refers questions to; if you have not read these in the last 18 months, fix that.
• —MCDP 1 — Warfighting; MCDP 1-3 — Tactics: you teach these to the next generation of AT leaders, not consume them.
• —MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System: you are the rater or reviewing official on the FitReps that decide the next 1stSgt and SgtMaj slates.
• —MCO 1400.32 — Marine Corps Promotion Manual: 1stSgt / SgtMaj / MGySgt board mechanics — if you do not know the current MARADMIN cold, the GySgts who work for you should not trust your career advice.
• —MCO 1900.16 — Marine Corps Retirement / Separation: you are the resource the weapons company turns to for every transition question; know this document.
• —MCO 5354.1 — SAPR Program; MCO 1000.9 — Equal Opportunity: you enforce both; the IG validates both on every inspection.

• —SNCO Academy Senior Course graduate; Sergeants Major Course (Marine Corps University, Camp Geiger) before competing for command SgtMaj slate.
• —Weapons company UCMJ rate, retention rate, and SAPR/EO climate index in the top tier of the battalion — the battalion SgtMaj reports against every peer 1stSgt and the numbers do not lie.
• —Personal FitRep profile that the reporting senior can defend at HQMC — the bar at this rank is whether the GySgts you rate get selected for 1stSgt and MSgt.
• —Zero senior-enlisted integrity incidents — financial, fraternization, OPSEC, classified mishandling. One ends the career at this rank and there is no second board.
• —Post-service transition plan running 24-36 months out — VA disability documentation filed before EAS, no retirement walked into cold without a plan.

• —Going public with disagreement with the CO. You take the disagreement into his office with the door closed; you walk out aligned every time, no exceptions in front of the formation.
• —Confusing seniority with authority over the training schedule. The AT sections do not run their gunnery on your personal instinct about the threat — they run it against the published MCO 3500.72 standard and you enforce that standard.
• —Stopping personal PT because the rank excuses it. Marines stop respecting the chevrons when the body stops carrying them, and the 1st-Class PFT is still the floor at this rank.
• —Letting a GySgt run a bad maintenance or gunnery climate because he produces results. The battalion SgtMaj finds out, the regimental SgtMaj finds out, and the next 1stSgt slate runs without your recommendation on it.
• —Treating the glide path to retirement as the job. Until you walk out of the formation for the last time, the standard is your job — the LCpl missileman is still watching how you carry it.

The good 1stSgt / SgtMaj 0352 is the senior Marine every boot missileman in the battalion knows by reputation before they meet him in person. He is the reason the re-enlistment line forms after a hard ITX rotation at Twentynine Palms. The CO trusts him with the maintenance readiness brief at 0200 before the inspection; the Marines trust him to fight for the training window they need even when the S-3 says the calendar is full. The good MGySgt is the Marine the MMPB calls when the anti-armor employment doctrine and the 0352 MOS roadmap need rewriting — and the section leaders across the regiment quote him without realizing they are doing it.