Sgt. Maj. Robert W. Pullen is settling into his role as the new sergeant major of Headquarters and Service Battalion, Headquarters Marine Corps, Henderson Hall.
"This is my first time within the beltway," he said. "Everything is a new experience to me."
Pullen replaced retired Sgt. Maj. Craig Cressman as the battalion's top senior enlisted advisor April 10. He joined the Marine Corps in 1989 and comes to Henderson Hall from 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, Camp Lejeune, N.C., where the majority of Marines who served under him were in the junior enlisted ranks. In contrast, Pullen said the majority of Marines assigned to H&S Battalion are staff noncommissioned officers and officers.
"I've got about 250 NCOs, corporals and below and 40 lance corporals and below," he said. "One of the biggest things that I want to do is ensure that we have a strong staff NCO corps and noncommissioned corps and that the young Marines are getting the care and maintenance they need."
Among the things that make H&S unique in the Marine Corps is its administrative mission, said Pullen.
"The battalion, we're not here to deploy," he explained. "We're here to provide service and support to the Marines of the battalion and the joint base."
And, the support the battalion provides is an integral part of keeping the Marines it serves mission ready, Pullen said.
"As long as we can support everybody, I feel that's our tie-in to success," he said.
Pullen said he is especially concerned about the Marines who are assigned to the battalion as privates or privates first class as their first tour of duty in the Corps.
"They leave in three years, potentially as an NCO, a corporal," he said. "We've got to make sure they're armed with the same leadership skills a comparable corporal in the fleet has. The last thing we want is to send them back [to the fleet] and they be behind their peers. That's not fair to them."
Pullen said the battalion's staff non-commissioned officer corps have the responsibility to make sure NCOs are ready for the next step in their military careers.
"What I think is important to our institution is that we pay attention to the little things, like how we carry ourselves, how we relate to other people," he said. "That's where I focus SNCOs and NCOs."
The battalion's command-sponsored corporals' courses and lance corporals seminars and other professional military educational opportunities are also an integral part of the formation of its junior Marines, he said.
Pullen also noted that the battalion recently held a joint professional military education seminar for NCOs from all branches of the nation's armed forces.
"I think it's good because younger NCOs oftentimes do not get exposed to the joint world," he said. "I think where we're going today, there's more opportunities for that."
When he's not leading Marines, Pullen said he is an avid outdoorsman who loves to run and hunt.
"I'm a crazy hunter," he said. "It's something I grew up with."
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