MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Marines and family members gathered by the marina here June 6 during the Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12 Summer Bash.
The morale building event gave Marines an opportunity to spend time with each other and their families.
“You got to make sure that you bring the families together with the Marines,” said Sgt. Maj. James Kirkland, the squadron sergeant major for MALS-12. “Your family will be with you for the rest of your life, and it’s important to remember them.”
The Summer Bash was dedicated to the families as a way to say thank you to them for the moral support they provide for their Marines, Kirkland said.
Community members from the counseling center, local schools and the local Kumon center were also invited to the event.
Kirkland said they’ve tried to say thank you to almost every agency that helps support the families and the squadron here.
Marines, families and community members spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying barbeque while the children scuttled about, playing in blow up bouncy cages and slides as they ate popcorn and cotton candy.
“It’s a great opportunity to bring out the family and mingle with the rest of the unit,” said Staff Sgt. Raymond Ortiz, a section five ground safety officer with MALS-12. “We get so caught up with the everyday hustle and bustle. It’s a good time to just take a pause right at the beginning of summer.”
MALS-12 offered a fun atmosphere packed with family games, a children’s train ride and a cultural performance filled with paper maché fire breathing dragons orchestrated by the Uanuda Group.
“I have a 1-year-old and a 7-year-old, and I knew it was a very family-friendly atmosphere,” said Ortiz. It’s important to spendtime with the family at events like the Summer Bash because if a Marine is happy at home, a Marine is happy at work, Ortiz added.
Also offered at the event was a variety of live music, a taiko drum demonstration, free jet ski rides at the marina, rope for tug-of-wars and a rock wall participants could climb.
Sgt. Dennis Laferty, a logistics chief with MALS-12 said events like this give families something to look forward to.
“This was Sergeant Major Kirkland’s idea,” said, Laferty.
The main idea of the event was for Marines and their families to have fun, interact and build unit cohesion, Laferty added.
MALS-12 tries to hold morale-building events like the Summer Bash for their Marines about once a month, but one thing set this event apart from the others.
“This is Sergeant Major Kirkland’s last big shindig with the unit,” said Laferty.
Kirkland is slated to leave MALS-12 during a post and relief ceremony June 11.
While part of the event was paid for by the MALS-12 morale and welfare fund, the other part was paid for by Kirkland.
“Some of it is for me to say thank you to the squadron for the past three years,” said Kirkland. “I’m extremely grateful to the squadron for supporting me as their sergeant major for the last three years.”