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U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jacari Williams, a native of New Orleans and a personnel chief stationed on Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz, gathers the team together to do a motivational “hands in the middle” group huddle, April 10, 2024. Williams in his free time helps coach the Guam Green Bay Packers, a youth football group, to inspire them to find success in life with what he teaches through football. “The kids push through,” said Williams. “They already deal with adversity in their everyday lives so football is an outlet for them to express themselves and find some success in doing the right thing while making their family proud at the same time.” (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Rey Moreno Marilao) - U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jacari Williams, a native of New Orleans and a personnel chief stationed on Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz, gathers the team together to do a motivational “hands in the middle” group huddle, April 10, 2024. Williams in his free time helps coach the Guam Green Bay Packers, a youth football group, to inspire them to find success in life with what he teaches through football. “The kids push through,” said Williams. “They already deal with adversity in their everyday lives so football is an outlet for them to express themselves and find some success in doing the right thing while making their family proud at the same time.” (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Rey Moreno Marilao)

Inspiring the youth

Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Blaz constantly strives to be a helping hand in the community of Guam. From volunteering for community clean-ups to providing healthy competitive sport opportunities, there are Marines who desire to go above and beyond to create an impact benefiting others. U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jacari A. Williams, a New Orleans native and personnel chief stationed at MCB Camp Blaz, coaches multiple divisions of the youth Guam football team, the Guam Packers, in hopes to inspire the next generation to find success in life with what he teaches through the game.

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U.S. service members and local preschool students and staff members pose for a group photo after an Earth Day cleanup and tree-planting event at Nature Mirai Kan in Kin Town, Okinawa, Japan, April 22, 2024. Marine Corps Installations Pacific coordinated a week of Earth Day events to reinforce relationships between U.S. service members and the Okinawa community. The participants planted a total of 32 mangrove trees. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Maximiliano Rosas) - U.S. service members and local preschool students and staff members pose for a group photo after an Earth Day cleanup and tree-planting event at Nature Mirai Kan in Kin Town, Okinawa, Japan, April 22, 2024. Marine Corps Installations Pacific coordinated a week of Earth Day events to reinforce relationships between U.S. service members and the Okinawa community. The participants planted a total of 32 mangrove trees. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Maximiliano Rosas)

Marines join local Okinawa communities for cleanup

U.S. Marines from Camps Kinser, Hansen, and Schwab, and their surrounding communities, worked together at various nature sites during the annual celebration of Earth Day across Okinawa on April 21-22. The Government and External Affairs (G-7) and General Facilities, Environmental Affairs branch, both under Marine Corps Installations Pacific, organized these off-base events for military personnel to work together with the local community.

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Japanese coast guardsmen decorate the Ie Shima Lighthouse Memorial Monument for Martyrs in preparation for the annual Ie Shima Lighthouse Memorial Service on Ie Shima, Okinawa, Japan, April 21, 2024. The memorial service was held to commemorate the casualties of World War II, the Ie Shima lighthouse keeper, and his family. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Brody Robertson) - Japanese coast guardsmen decorate the Ie Shima Lighthouse Memorial Monument for Martyrs in preparation for the annual Ie Shima Lighthouse Memorial Service on Ie Shima, Okinawa, Japan, April 21, 2024. The memorial service was held to commemorate the casualties of World War II, the Ie Shima lighthouse keeper, and his family. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Brody Robertson)

Ie Shima Lighthouse Memorial Service 2024

Seventy-nine years ago, during the Okinawa campaign of WWII, a lighthouse keeper and eight of his family members were killed during an air raid on Ie Shima. Every year since then, a ceremony is held in remembrance of the family and the many other casualties of WWII.

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U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Anton Arifaj, Career School master faculty advisor, at the Staff Non-Commissioned Officer Academy, Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Installations Pacific, speaks on the rewarding values of being a faculty advisor for the SNCOA on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, May 6, 2024. Arifaj, has always had an affinity for teaching and encourages staff non-commissioned officers who want to play a direct role in developing the future leaders of the Marine Corps to become faculty advisors. Fischer is a native of New Jersey. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Maximiliano Rosas) - U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Anton Arifaj, Career School master faculty advisor, at the Staff Non-Commissioned Officer Academy, Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Installations Pacific, speaks on the rewarding values of being a faculty advisor for the SNCOA on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, May 6, 2024. Arifaj, has always had an affinity for teaching and encourages staff non-commissioned officers who want to play a direct role in developing the future leaders of the Marine Corps to become faculty advisors. Fischer is a native of New Jersey. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Maximiliano Rosas)

Forging leaders through experience: Gunnery Sgt. Anton Arifaj

U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Anton Arifaj, a low altitude air defense gunner by trade, and the current master faculty advisor for the advanced school at the Camp Hansen Staff Noncommissioned Officer Academy, never took the hardships of a challenge as a deterrent. Arifaj said, even before he joined the Marine Corps in 2007, he held such adversities as a prerequisite for everything that he does, and maintains that mentality to this day.

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