Sergeant Aaren Battle, US Marine Corps

Sergeant Aaren Battle served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2017 to 2023 as a Marine Air Ground Task Force Planning Chief. He deployed as a Corporal to Camp Lemonnier where he served with Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa. He was responsible for planning and recording the movement of thousands of service members and millions of tons of cargo.

Asked about the deployment, he said, "I did a little of everything on my deployment. It took effort, concentration, and determination to do the work required, but I rose to the challenge and know I made a difference. I was able to go on the tarmac when a giant C5 transport plane landed that I had done all the planning for. To watch 70 people pour out, helicopters, and a heck ton of gear, and equipment that I had typed every dimension of was simply neat."

Understated as he is that what he accomplished was simply "neat," Aaren was the youngest in age, rank, and years in service at his unit, but accomplished his duties so well that he was the sole Marine selected to be coined by a visiting 4-star General two months into his deployment. At the end of his tour, he was awarded the Joint Commendation Medal, a nearly unheard of decoration for someone at his rank to receive. Aaren's many accomplishment during his time in service proved over and over again that he was capable of meeting the needs of the mission and his fellow Marines.
​
You can read more of Aaren's story in 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦

---