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Twenty years ago, Sgt. Maj. Mike Barrett was behind enemy lines in Kuwait, providing reconnaissance and sniper fire as U.S. forces launched an all-out ground attack to eject Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces from the tiny, oil-rich kingdom.
Then a staff sergeant, he led Marines through enemy-held territory from Feb. 23 to 27, 1991, during the 100-hour assault that liberated Kuwait. As a platoon sergeant with 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, then out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., he played spotter for an 81mm artillery team, provided surveillance and battlefield reports to commanders and engaged enemy mortar positions with a .50-caliber Barrett sniper rifle coincidentally bearing his name. The Corps later awarded him a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with "V" device for his actions.
That's just one combat experience that Barrett will carry with him as the 17th sergeant major of the Marine Corps. A 6-foot, 190-pound ball of energy, he will take over as Commandant Gen. Jim Amos' top enlisted adviser during a June 9 ceremony at Marine Barracks Washington.
"I am so humbled by the commandant's selection and excited to take on the challenges that lay ahead," said Barrett, 47, in an interview with Marine Corps Times. "I'm one of those guys who believes that if you're not always taking and making assessments, you're not doing your job. I plan on constantly sticking my finger in things, because I want to know and I want to try and improve every type of process."
Barrett has a sparkling résumé that will bring him instant credibility with combat-hardened grunts. He's not only a trained scout sniper, but a graduate of the Army Ranger School who earned two Bronze Stars with "V" device while serving in Iraq as sergeant major of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms, Calif.
He recently finished a one-year deployment as the top enlisted Marine in Afghanistan, where he served under Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, commander of more than 20,000 Marines with I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward). He toured the battlefield frequently to make sure Marines' needs in combat were met.
Barrett has a broad range of experience outside the war zone, too. He has served as a drill instructor and as the senior enlisted adviser at commands ranging from Recruiting Station Cleveland to Officer Candidate School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. He also worked at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., during President Clinton's second term in office, serving as a company gunnery sergeant and liaison to the U.S. Secret Service.
Barrett is no slouch in the fitness department, either. His current scores on the Physical Fitness Test and Combat Fitness Test are 297 and 300, respectively. He's also a first-degree black belt and martial arts instructor in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and a qualified expert with the pistol and rifle.
'The best of the best'
Amos was candid about his reason for picking Barrett.
"He's the best of the best, it's as simple as that," the commandant told Marine Corps Times. Amos said he interviewed seven other finalists for the position, characterizing them as "superstars" serving under two- and three-star generals.
"Sergeant Major Barrett, through his long and distinguished service to our nation, has demonstrated that he is particularly well-suited to serve as my senior enlisted adviser through the challenges ahead," Amos said. "My wife Bonnie and I welcome him and his wife Susan, and look forward to serving with them."
For Barrett, it has been a whirlwind time of change. I MEF (Fwd.) was relieved after a year downrange in a March 26 ceremony at Camp Leatherneck, the Corps' main hub of operations in Afghanistan. Barrett returned to the U.S. on March 28, just a few days before interviewing with Amos.
Several sergeants major had more time in rank than Barrett, but his energy, infantry credentials and leadership in combat may have appealed to Amos, one of the Corps' first commandants in years without an infantry background. The finalists were interviewed the week of April 4, Marine officials said.
Barrett initially interviewed for the position while at Leatherneck early this year, speaking with a panel of general officers through videoconference. After returning from Afghanistan, he spent a couple of days with his wife at their home near the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, and headed to Washington with her.
"I had enough time to grab my Alphas and Charlies and a couple of suits, and I flew to Washington and spent a week there with seven of my other brothers, the commandant and his team," Barrett said.
Barrett praised the other sergeants major interviewed, saying they are magnificent leaders who could have done the job well. The selection process was exciting, he said.
Amos first met Barrett in summer 2008, when the general was the three-star deputy commandant of combat development and integration and Barrett was the senior enlisted Marine at OCS. With the push to expand the Corps to 202,100 Marines well underway, Amos served as the graduating official of one of the largest classes of lieutenants in Marine history, Barrett said.
Barrett plans to assist Amos in achieving priorities he has set, the sergeant major said. He also has some ideas of his own, but he won't discuss them publicly until he talks about them with the boss. He said he'd "like to think that I've been in the thick of it my entire life," even when the Corps has pulled him from infantry units to serve in staff positions.
His take on combat is straight-forward.
"I believe that when bad things happen, you take it on, damn it," he said. "You move forward."
A future sergeant major
Barrett grew up in Youngstown, N.Y., a village of fewer than 2,000 people near the Canadian border. It's about 11 miles north of Niagara Falls, along Lake Ontario. His mother named him Micheal, with an uncommon spelling, but there isn't any significance to it, he said.
At 17, he enlisted and jumped into Marine life after starring on his high school soccer team as a goalie. He graduated from boot camp in 1981, and was assigned as a "0311" rifleman to his first unit, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms.
Even as a lance corporal, Barrett drew other Marines to him with his gregarious personality and energy, said former Lance Cpl. Mitch Ybarra, a roommate at Twentynine Palms and a member of Barrett's first squad. The future leader had a good sense of humor and was quick with a laugh, but was all business during training, Ybarra said. Barrett was meritoriously promoted several times, and selected to attend the Ranger School while with 1/4.
"He was always saying, 'This is it. I'm going to make the Marine Corps my career,'" said Ybarra, now a police officer in Folsom, Calif. "He'd say, 'I'm going to be a sergeant major one day.' And we'd say, 'OK. You might do that.'" Barrett met his future wife while serving in 1/4, he said. They married in August 1984 and had two children: Michael, 25, and Jonathan, 23. Jonathan is now enlisted in the Army.
Other Marines who served with Barrett before he became a sergeant major said he was a tough but fair leader. As a first sergeant, he pushed Marines to train as hard as they could, but he would keep up with them step for step while they did it, said Gunnery Sgt. Kynan Henderson, the company gunny with Headquarters Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 37, out of Okinawa, Japan.
"He taught me a lot about being a better human being, father and service member," said Henderson, who served under then-1st Sgt. Barrett in 1999 with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms.
Another 3/4 veteran, former Sgt. Jason Scroggins, said 1st. Sgt. Barrett was "an easy man to hate" at first because he was strict. Scroggins eventually developed great respect for Barrett after the junior Marine started serving under him as the company clerk for 3/4's Headquarters and Service Company. Barrett mentored him and eventually helped him earn a meritorious promotion to corporal.
"I used to come in early so I could work out with him in the morning before work, and then after we worked out, he would go work out more," said Scroggins, now an operations manager for an accounting firm in Cincinnati. "He used to ride his bike to the office in the morning and then run home afterwards. Then the next day, he would do the opposite."
Barrett also was famous in 3/4 for the ominous briefs he would deliver to Marines before they were cut loose for liberty. On at least one occasion, he told them sarcastically that if anyone wanted a hangover, he could create similar effects by putting a dirty sock in their mouths and punching them in the stomach, said former Cpl. Robert Beers, now a police detective in Sandpoint, Idaho.
"He had the respect of every single Marine in his unit," Beers said. "But when he started to get irritated, this vein would pop out of his head. Then you knew First Sergeant was pissed."
'He was like Superman'
Barrett became a sergeant major in 2002, after 21 years in the Corps. His first job was at RS Cleveland, where he led recruiters across Ohio from July 2002 to May 2005, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began to complicate the need to find new Marines.
It was after he left Cleveland, however, that Barrett really made a name for himself. From May 2005 to October 2007, he served in 2/7, leading Marines during two difficult combat deployments in Iraq. From the battalion commander down, he commanded respect in the unit with his professionalism, humility and courage, say numerous 2/7 Marines.
"We were together for 30 months and deployed the battalion to Iraq twice," said retired Lt. Col. Joseph L'Etoile, 2/7's commanding officer at the time. "It was during those combat deployments that I had the opportunity to daily witness the bravery, depth of character and professionalism and pure love Sergeant Major Barrett has for all who serve. He makes everyone around him better — junior, peers and seniors."
The citations from Barrett's Bronze Stars with V reinforce that sentiment. The first credits him with participating in more than 200 combat operations in 2005 in and near Fallujah, including mounted and dismounted patrols, raids and sniper missions. Barrett's "desire to be at the point of friction often placed him under enemy sniper and small arms fire," the citation states. It credits Barrett with designing a sniper training facility and instructing the unit's scout snipers.
Barrett's actions in 2007 followed suit. Again deployed to the Fallujah area, he participated in more than 140 combat patrols and tangled with insurgents in several firefights, demonstrating "exceptional combat leadership by placing himself where the danger was greatest and where his impact would be felt by members of the battalion," according to the second citation. In one example highlighted, he stood his ground when a mobile battalion command post came under fire.
"With rounds impacting within two to three feet of his position, he maintained a steady demeanor and directed Marines to take cover while he remained exposed in an attempt to locate the enemy," the citation states. "Through improvised explosive device attacks, indirect fire attacks and direct fire ambushes, his courage under fire and his exceptional tactical abilities contributed greatly to enhancing the warrior spirit and combat effectiveness of the unit."
Marines in the unit say Barrett's impact went far beyond what's conveyed in the citations. With a mix of gruffness, humor and discipline, he inspired them to push through pain, misery and boredom — and backed them up when they needed it, said former Cpl. Curtis Wheeler, who deployed with Barrett to Iraq in 2007.
One example: After a 21-day operation in 2007, Wheeler's platoon returned to Camp Fallujah one night just before midnight. None of the Marines had showered in weeks, but with the chow hall closing soon, they went straight to get something to eat. They were greeted by a corporal in fresh, pressed cammies who refused to let them in because they were dirty.
"All of a sudden out of nowhere, here comes Sergeant Major Barrett," said Wheeler, now an emergency medical technician in Colorado. "He was like Superman. He came through and demanded that he not only show the lieutenant some respect, but that he also show the rest of us the same by serving the platoon himself. This poor corporal had to fix all of our plates for us."
On point in Afghanistan
After leaving 2/7, Barrett moved on to OCS. He became 1st Marine Division's senior enlisted adviser in June 2009, linking up with Mills less than a year before their year-long deployment with I MEF (Fwd.).
Mills said Barrett was invaluable in Afghanistan, especially in making sure the general and his staff understood how tactical and logistical decisions could trickle down to affect junior Marines in combat. Whether it was coping with weather, equipment problems or operational decisions, he'd consistently raise questions about "unintended consequences" for junior Marines and noncommissioned officers, Mills said.
"He got frequent-flier miles around the battlefield," the general said. "He was always down in the fighting positions, in the fighting holes, talking to young Marines and staff NCOs. And then he was making positive recommendations to me, rather than simply pointing out a problem, laying it on my lap and saying, 'Here it is.'" Mills credited Barrett with working with Marine Corps headquarters to increase the amount of combat meritorious promotions available, and with making sure some of them went to deserving Marines in combat support whose contributions sometimes get overlooked.
Barrett also visited almost every wounded or injured Marine after they arrived at Camp Leatherneck from combat and made sure their needs were met, Mills said. The sergeant major set up an unofficial wounded-warrior barracks on base that treated low-grade concussions and minor wounds, allowing Marines to eventually return to their unit rather than go home.
Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, the Corps' top enlisted Marine for more than four years, said any of the finalists could have done the job well, but he praised Barrett for his fairness, fire and willingness to step outside the wire. Like Barrett, he served as the top enlisted Marine in a forward-deployed MEF, filling the role for I MEF (Fwd.) when it deployed to Iraq in 2004.
"He's a superb leader," Kent said. "The Marines, they respect him to the utmost. He is motivated and full of fire. When he gets out in front of Marines, he knows how to motivate them."
Barrett's infantry background will be helpful to leadership, but it's important to remember that Barrett is a well-rounded leader who relates well to junior Marines, Kent said.
"He ate the dirt that they ate," Kent said. "That's the sign of a great leader."
