Salem, Oregon Ordnance Marine Reflects on Career, Looks Forward to Future

Rios main goal at MALS-29 ordnance is to maintain her shop’s ability to provide working racks and launchers to the squadrons and aircraft.

(AL ASAD, Iraq ) - The Marine Corps has always held high standards, in everything from appearance to work.

Most Marines strive to meet these standards and achieving them takes time and discipline.

One of those Marine is deployed here as a collateral duty inspector for the bomb rack and missile launcher shop at the Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 29 ordnance section.

Sgt. Aurora G. Rios, an ordnance technician by trade, is currently deployed as an individual augment from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit to work as a CDI.

Rios inspects, maintains, and repairs the bomb racks and missile launchers that attach to rotary and fixed wing aircraft allowing them to carry and expend ordnance.

Her main goal at MALS-29 ordnance is to maintain her shop’s ability to provide working racks and launchers to the squadrons and aircraft.

“She works at one of the highest standards I’ve ever come across in the Marine Corps,” said Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Bates, the MALS-29 ordnance production control chief.

When squadrons need a bomb rack or missile launcher repaired such as the M272 Hellfire Missile Launcher, they turn the equipment into the MALS bomb rack and missile launcher shop. Rios leads her Marines as they inspect and repair the gear.

“We test and inspect the bomb racks and missile launchers and repair any discrepancies we find,” said Rios, a Salem, Ore., native. “We are responsible for the scheduled maintenance at the intermediate level of ordnance, which is MALS. The next level down of organization level is the individual squadron.”

Sgt. Aurora G. Rios, an ordnance technician with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 29, installs the
proper cables from the Common Racks and Launchers Test Set to the rails on the M272 Hellfire missile
launcher, Mar. 9th. The CRALTS runs diagnostics on the missile launcher inspecting its usability.

Rios maintains a high tempo in the workplace because of her positive attitude and her Marines. She works hard to ensure that her Marines are kept busy at work and constantly learning.

“I've always had a positive attitude,” said Rios. “That's one of my strengths. I've been able to maintain work ethics and high standards because of the Marines. I strive to be someone my Marines can look up to, whether it's personally or professionally.”

Although Rios is an experienced leader of Marines now, it was not always so. Before she joined the Marine Corps, she lacked discipline and direction with her life. She wanted to serve in the military but didn’t know which service to choose.

“Since I was young, I wanted to join the military,” she said. “Early on, I thought it would be the Army. Right out of high school, I went to a community college near home, but I wasn't ready. I needed some discipline and some direction in my life. Ryan Clapp, one of my best friends from high school, joined the Marine Corps. When I talked to him, he put the Marine Corps on a pedestal and said how awesome he felt to be part of it. He's specifically the reason I chose the Marine Corps.”

Rios has spent her career as an ordnance technician, but before joining she was unsure of what her job in the Corps would be.

“I thought and told my family I was going to be a firefighter,” said Rios. “I reached school in Pensacola, Fla., and realized that my job in the Marine Corps was actually ordnance.”

Through her six years in the Marine Corps, Rios has become a leader by learning from many leadership styles. She has been stationed on the East Coast, West Coast, and overseas, working on both rotary and fixed wing aircraft throughout her career.

At her first command, MALS-14, she worked on fixed wing aircraft and learned how to work hard and follow orders as a junior Marine, said Rios.

At her second duty station with MALS-12 in Iwakuni, Japan, she learned how to manage her time and decided to re-enlist.

While working at her current duty station, Camp Pendleton, Calif., she was moved from shop to shop, which taught her about mission accomplishment.

At MALS-39 Rios worked on rotary wing aircraft for the first time. Now, at MALS-29, she has earned experience running a work center.

“The command was good, they were very ‘Oorah!’ and by-the-book. That is where I learned how to properly drill and conduct physical training,” she said. “When given the opportunity, I share what I've learned with whoever will listen or who cares to know.”

Now that Rios has had time to reflect on her career she has considered the pros and cons of her field.

“The Marine Corps in itself is a family, but ordnance is a tighter group inside that family,” said Rios. “I love being part of a family like this.”

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Albert Marnell May 1, 2007 10:10 pm (Pacific time)

Harrison, I should have known a long time ago that you are Rosenberg nee Hitler.

SHIRLEY KITZHABER March 30, 2007 9:08 am (Pacific time)

The neocons tell us that Iran can’t be trusted. But let’s compare Iran to Israel in recent decades. The only war Iran has fought since the fall of the Shah was the war against Iraq. The US had encouraged the Iraqis to go to war with their neighbor as punishment for overthrowing the CIA puppet government. Meanwhile, Israel has bombed most of their neighbors at least once in recent decades. Israel has invaded Lebanon twice since 1980. In the most recent invasion, Israel systematically destroyed civilian housing giving -at best- a phone call to imminent victims of Israeli aggression. Israel reportedly committed a mass murder in Jenin just a few years ago. The Israelis refused to let UN inspectors examine the ruins of the Jenin refugee camp to investigate the charges of mass murder. The truth is that Israel is responsible for most of the warfare in the Middle East. Israel has repeatedly launched sneak attacks on their neighbors (and even their friends –for example the USS Liberty). If any nation in the Mid East should NOT have nuclear weapons, that nation is Israel. The fact that the Israeli Lobby and neocons in the Bush regime are threatening war over a nuclear energy program in Iran exposes how paranoid and undeserving of power these lunatics are. Americans need to start voting out of power any politician who takes orders from the Israeli Lobby. Any politician who voted for the war on Iraq should be in jail, not in office. George Washington warned Americans to avoid foreign entanglements. That includes allowing our government to be infested with pro-Zionists and completely intimidated by the Israeli Lobby.

Retired Contractor March 30, 2007 8:59 am (Pacific time)

As also retired military let me share some information with you folks: From 1775 when he arrived in Boston to assume command of the Continental Army, George Washington depended on civilian contractors to provide food, weapons, ammunition, transport, armories, engineering, construction, clothing and medical assistance for his troops. Though many of these civilians shared the same hardships and privations as the troops they supported, they were more often criticized than honored by our government. Modern warfare has made civilian contractors even more essential to our military -- and placed them at higher risk. Three weeks after Pearl Harbor, nearly 100 American civilian construction contractors were killed and wounded standing shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. Marines and sailors defending Wake Island. When the tiny garrison was overwhelmed on Dec. 23, 1941, more than 1,000 contractors became prisoners of the Rising Sun and scores were subsequently worked to death and massacred by their captors. None of those who died received so much as a Purple Heart. By the time I arrived in Vietnam in 1965, thousands of American civilians(soon to be tens of thousands) were backing our efforts on the battlefield. My tiny outpost overlooking a river valley in the central highlands had a half-dozen American civilians manning sophisticated communications and detection equipment. North of Dak To, our specialized unit was supported by U.S. civilian "tech reps" who maintained and operated fire control radars, ran generators and repaired everything from sensors to heavy equipment. One of the most famous photographs of the Vietnam War's ignominious end was an American civilian contractor's UH-1 "Huey" helicopter evacuating desperate Vietnamese refugees from the top of 22 Gia Long Street, a half mile from the U.S. Embassy. Today's globe-spanning war on terror -- and a much smaller U.S. military to fight it -- place even greater burdens on civilian contractors. In Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait, more than 350 U.S. companies and nearly 100,000 American civilians are directly engaged in supporting U.S. and coalition efforts. In Iraq, civilian contractors man and protect more than 900 convoys a month delivering food, water, clothing, fuel, weapons, ammunition and equipment to the new Iraqi police and army. Nearly all major maintenance is performed by civilian contractors, including that for U.S. forces. These men and women love America, and know that if we pull out before the job is done, unlike when we left Vietnam, the Islam radicals will follow, and then your world will change forever...

Harrison March 30, 2007 8:29 am (Pacific time)

Mr. LaMarche are you happy with the way John Kerry-Kohn characterized Vietnam veterans as war criminals? Are you a war criminal? According to him and others you are! Here is an individual who spent just around 4 months in Vietnam (Al Gore was there just 6 months when his senator dad [who voted against all civil rights legislation]arranged for him to attend seminary training, where he flunked out, then law school, where he flunked out. What's left after that?Politics), who never spent any real time within the interior of Vietnam to at least make some cursory observations, and then he could make all of these irrational and inaccurate statements with what basis? Oh sure he has all these medals and three purple hearts (bandaids and no hospitalizations), but he had no closeness for the men he served with. He found an angle to get out of Vietnam, he pursued that scheme, and he exercised it... shamelessly. He is an arrogant opprotuntist. And Mr. Marnell, our military people are all about thinking independently and engaging in problem-solving and decision-making. Are you familar with Thomas Hobbes: "...life in the state of nature is short, nasty, and brutish..." Think about it? These people are keeping you safe, not you, keeping yourself and others safe. You and Rosie should thank your lucky stars you have a military such as ours.

S.LaMarche; March 29, 2007 11:37 pm (Pacific time)

John Kerry-Kohn?, traitor? Less freedom now than then? What about George Bush? as in what does he represent? Just curious.

Albert Marnell March 29, 2007 10:17 pm (Pacific time)

Harrison: You can hate me but I do not have to hate you. What have I done for freedom? One thing that was important in my life was to march in civil rights demonstrations in my twenties and to do clerical work for free by donating my time to civil rights. I could have been hurt in the demonstrations and had no real protection from the police. I would suspect the police hated what we did in the 1970's. I have given modest sums of money to underdog organizations. I never said Kerry was the answer. Remember, I said the two party system can not possibly represent almost 300 million people. In order to be part of the two party system you have to sell yourself to corporations. The American people have no representation anymore. I was old enough to live through the Vietnam era and could have been drafted...the war ended about two years later. I never thought that my generation would allow another Vietnam. I am very disappointed in them. I do not think that people in the military are dumb but they are trained to not think for themselves which is all that I was trained to do. If you think that I am controversial, you should here what I say to my friends and individuals that are willing to learn.

Harrison March 29, 2007 9:49 pm (Pacific time)

Mr. Marnell have you ever taken a Personality Inventory Test? I'm just taking a guess, but I bet your narcissistic scales would go through the rough. It appears quite clearly that you think everyone in the military is dumber than you, just the opposite. As far as all the taxes you have paid to the government...so what! Freedom is not a natural condition, it is something earned. What have you done in your life to contribute to this hard earned thing we call freedom? Rest assured had that traitor Sen. John Kerry-Kohn been elected in 2004, you would not have the freedom you have now. No doubt mediocrity is a safe refuge for you.

Albert Marnell March 29, 2007 9:03 pm (Pacific time)

Harrison: One more thing. I do not hate the military. I only hate when it is used for Imperialism and economic Colonization. It's purpose is to protect people not help large and wealthy corporations, individuals and special interests in government to profit. The military is supposed to serve and protect not abuse and exploit. I can not think of one war this century that was not a war of profit. Even WWl was entered under false pretense in order for certain U.S. industries to profit. In 1936 the majority of Americans did not want to get into Europe's conflicts. The "False Flag" of Pearl Harbor shifted public opinion. The propaganda mill and the profiteers went at it again. The truth about the Lusitania took over 50 years to come out. It was used to sway opinion. The Germans knew it had contraband on it. Lend-Lease to the U.K. was the start of profiting during in preparation for WWll. 9/11 was a self-inflicted wound. If the certain people in power do not care if a 19 year old comes home in a casket, do you think that they care if people are killed within our borders as long as the end result is money made or land stolen or a public brainwashed. We are in Iraq and Afghanistan to erect more basis, protect pipelines and go for oil when we should be going green at home. See Prison Planet.Com or any of Alex Jones sites.

Albert Marnell March 29, 2007 8:46 pm (Pacific time)

Dear Harrison: I know I came across defensive because I misread into what you were originally saying. I did however get you to show your true colors which are those of a dictator not an educated adult or a person interested in freedom. Maybe you are just having a bad day. 99% of the people in the military are just being used and are not told the REAL reason of what they are fighting or waiting to fight. I do not question the good intent of the almost 100% of people who choose a career in that capacity. They should know however that they will never really know the real reason they are fighting or what is going on between a few secret operatives, a few government officials at the top and people who are part of the military, industrial, congressional complex who are war profiteers. All wars are about domination and money. I do not know what you mean when you talk of a God. I do not know what you mean when you talk about the enemy. I hate getting political but Bush is the enemy of democracy. But all people at the top of this two party system have to be in bed with corporations that you know; like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Blackwater, Haliburton etc. Read (and you won't bother) "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" by Greg Palast. "The only people that should be allowed to vote are veterans and active duty military". That is quite a statement. Look up the term jingoism and superpatriotism. This moonbat has sent vast amounts of money to the federal government, I think that I should have something to say about it. You are not evil, your ideas are. When you have time I would love to hear what this God of yours looks like, how often he talks to you, what he says. If possible get him on tape or a photo would be nice. Does he like tea or coffee? Maybe he has no bodily functions. Do you have his phone number?

Harrison March 29, 2007 3:48 pm (Pacific time)

I did not mean to insult you Mr. Marnell, you seem to be quite capable of doing that all by yourself. You obviously hate the military, and you allude that those who go in are simply being manipulated. People go in the military for a multitude of reasons and regardless of that reason, I say thank you for your service. Because without our military might people like you Mr. Marnell would simply be like that falling tree in the wilderness, nobody would have heard you fall, and more importantly, cared. God Bless America. God Bless our military. God Bless all our troops, from the commander in chief down to the newest recruit. God bless those who make better weapons to kill the enemy. Would you like to know more? The only people who should be allowed to vote are veterans and active duty military. Then you would have the people who really understand just what evil is involved in making our country's policies, instead of a bunch of lefty moonbats.

Dear Harrison March 29, 2007 1:15 pm (Pacific time)

Thank God I was educated by people from all over the world and I will leave it at that. Why do you seem to have a problem with what I say?....It is all truth. Do I no longer have a right to "Free Speech"? I have been studying money and economics my whole life. Everything is about money. Governments represent the elite not the homeless, poor or working class.....wouldn't you agree with that? What are you so bothered by? Do you even really know? The United States has become a police state and a military state. Capitalism has been replaced with "Might Makes Right". Get to the point. What is it that bothers you. I say nothing that is not true....1% of the time I make a mistake and am always the first to admit it. What do you have against people educated in other countries? Do you think that people are stupid in Europe? How about Canada or Australia? Spit it out! AM in the PM

Harrison March 29, 2007 12:38 pm (Pacific time)

Say Marnell I have been looking at what you have been saying on a couple of these posting sites, I was wondering, are you an American citizen? Were you educated here?

Dear Rudy March 29, 2007 11:00 am (Pacific time)

I congratulate her too. I would just like my federal dollars to train her at anything but defense which is already bloated. This is not her fault and is an opportunity for her, she should take advantage of it. We have one self-inflicted wound like 9/11 and suddenly Americans have become more manipulated than the Germans of the 1930's. They had even more reason to fight. Look at the redrawing of maps after WWI and you will see how much land was taken from Germany. They had a right to mad after 1919. They had a right to fight for their confiscated land and to want to obliterate Bolshevik Russia.

Rudy March 29, 2007 10:38 am (Pacific time)

Congrats to this aspiring young woman. I'm sure the training she receives in the military will do her well in civilian life too. Would you begrudge her that? She is absolutely a role model for so many girls... and they all the help they can get these days of mixed messages and unrealistic expectations. Good work Sgt!

Albert Marnell March 28, 2007 10:53 pm (Pacific time)

People in the U.S. still get physically and psychologically assaulted for being gay and are not allowed in the military. This sets up a culture all across our society that this is ok. We better look in our own backyard before we throw stones in another country; especially in the name of freedom. This woman is being exploited by the system and I do not see any comparison to Ms. Phelps with regards to Grandpa. I wish the Sgt. good luck but I wish the military industrial congressional complex total failure in their abuse of the autonomy of other countries and cultures. These kind of innocent people like the Sgt. are the same ones that fire stormed my relatives and people and then lied about what they did and the death tolls. Look up the Firestorm of Hamburg. I actually have home movies of some of the mass graves....I know what this country does to innocents....want a picture of my mother's 11 year old cousin in a casket right after the war. Sorry but I know what they don't teach in books. I hope all is well with you and your family.

Tim King March 28, 2007 10:50 pm (Pacific time)

I just think there is a bigger picture and this woman may fit into it, I worry about pigeon holing too many things, I'm sure you understand.

Mr. Tim March 28, 2007 10:39 pm (Pacific time)

We love you but I can not even go into any major city in the U.S. withoug being bothered by public or private right wing fanatics called security, police, or a combination. The average American is wearing an invisible Burka. More and more doors are closing on the American public with regards to any opportunity and the doors of the prisons are overflowing. This woman is just trying to survive. The criticism is towards the Governments use of someone that could have been a doctor, teacher or just a good librarian. Don't take it so hard. The anger is not directed at her, it is the social structure that has become more the norm since Reagan.

Tim King March 28, 2007 10:15 pm (Pacific time)

I am a former Marine and I think you guys go way too far with this. I think it is a distinct possibility that she wanted to serve and isn't that her choice? Most of us were not in support of attacking Iraq but you are talking about your countrymen and women and you have questionable honor in being so insulting. You invalidate your own point because you sound more like Margie Phelps talking than a well meaning peace activist. I too believe in peace, that is why I traveled to Afghanistan to see our military operations up close. I know that there are positive impacts, particularly for the women of that country who can again walk the streets without being accosted by the right wing fanatics called Taliban.

Dear Grandpa March 28, 2007 10:10 pm (Pacific time)

The Neo-Cons want everyone brainwashed and in the military. So, with so few opportunities in the direct private sector, there is the indirect blur between military and private industry. I love your wisecrack. Even though it is not the Sgts fault because she has been railroaded into something to serve the Neo-Cons, she is the enemy of the American people because she is in the service of our Masters. We are the slaves and she will become a blind overseer. She probably already is. Hopelessly brainwashed into serving the government and not the American people. She could have joined the Peace Corps.

Grandpa March 28, 2007 9:35 pm (Pacific time)

War is killing , "ordinance" is the stuff that kills men , women and children. Great career !

Janet March 28, 2007 1:38 pm (Pacific time)

This is one cool lady, thanks for your service to our country!

Informed March 28, 2007 11:27 am (Pacific time)

Sgt. Get ready for a "False Flag" attack of Iran. I do not believe a word that we are being told about the British Sailors....we have been there and done that. But I am glad that you have a career.

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