COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Carlton Kent said the All-Marine team is doing exactly what he told them to do at the Warrior Games –
“kick some ass.” Kent and Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos surprised the All-Marine team when they arrived to the Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo., May 18 to cheer on the Marines.
The Corps’ most senior enlisted and commissioned Marines were sitting front row watching the All-Marine sitting volleyball team shut down the All-Air Force team. All were eventually on their feet chanting “U.S.M.C,” fist pumping and doing the wave while watching the game.
The commandant’s wife, Bonnie, and Chaplain of the Marine Corps Rear Adm. Margaret Grun Kibben also partook in the game festivities.
The game ended in a best-of-three series shut out – a three-in-row victory from the Marines’ sitting volleyball team.
Amos held a post-game team meeting to tell the Marines how thrilled and proud he was to witness a great game from his Marines.
The next day, Kent and Amos toured the Olympic Training Center where the Warrior Games are hosted and met some of the All-Marine athletes.
“I’m very proud of you guys,” Amos told the Marines. “The things you have been doing here are amazing.”
Amos said he’s impressed with the Corps’ Wounded Warrior Regiment programs for providing hope to wounded, injured or ill Marines and for keeping Marines in the sports and athletics scene.
“To the extent of what the Marines’ injury is, they may look at life and see that there’s no hope for them,” said Amos, referring to newly wounded or injured Marines. “The Warrior Games and athletics prove to them that there is hope. They can get back in athletics again; they can excel; they can compete. That’s what Warrior Games does. They bring Marines back to what’s natural in their lives.”
After shaking hands with the many Marines in attendance – both competing and spectating – Amos and Kent caught the final round of the recurve archery event. Amos presented the gold medal to the Marines’ very own Marine veteran Sgt. Daniel Govier, a native of Boscobel, Wis., and the bronze medal to Sgt. Stephen Lunt, a native of Charleston, S.C, in the recurve archery event.
“It’s clear the Marines are kicking ass here,” Kent said. “The Marines have created a new kind of warfighting legacy, it’s just off the battlefield, and everyone is proud of them. [The All-Marine team] have a tremendous amount of support coming from all over the Marine Corps, and their brothers and sisters in Afghanistan are truly proud of them.”
The top Marine leaders departed with words of encouragement to the sitting volleyball team on their next match against their fellow service, the Navy.
“Go after the enemy, and the enemy today is the Navy,” said Amos. “I have every confidence that the Marines will prevail tonight.”