Knoxville-area Young Marines News
March 2013
Each unit began Training Day 1 for their 2013 Recruit Classes, with anticipated graduation in April 2013.
February 2013
On 2 February 2013, we conducted an Orientation Meeting for parents and kids interested in joining the two Knoxville-centered Young Marine Units. Both of the hour-long briefing sessions were full in spite of some threatening winter weather.
September 2012
Over the weekend of the 7-9 September, we had our annual TN Regiment Encampment and Drill Competition at the Army National Guard Volunteer Training Site in Smyrna, TN. We had a total of 114 Young Marines and 30 Adult Leaders attend, with Young Marines from 9 of the 12 Young Marine Units in the TN Regiment participating in the drill competitions. This was by far the best turnout we’ve ever had for this event. Our Knoxville contingent totaled 34 Young Marines and 4 Adult Leaders. At the end of the Encampment, Young Marine Gunnery Sergeant Matthew Smith, the Young Marine of the Year for the Lt. Bonnyman Unit, was selected as the 2nd Battalion Young Marine of the Year (there are 3 battalions in the regiment) and subsequently as the TN Regiment Young Marine of the Year.
YM Gunnery Sergeant Matthew Smith, TN Regiment Young Marine of the Year
Young Marine Gunnery Sergeant Smith joined the Lt. Bonnyman Unit in 2007. He rose steadily through the ranks, graduating from Junior Leadership School in 2009, from Senior Leadership School in 2010, and from Advanced Leadership School in 2011. He served as a Young Marine Instructor or Assistant Instructor for three recruit classes and as the Company Gunnery Sergeant for the 2012 TN Regiment Leadership Academy. From 16-30 June 2012 he served as a Young Marine Staff Member for the Great American History Adventure as part of the Summer Program of Adventures, Challenges, Encampments, and Schools (SPACES) program, for which he received the Young Marine Meritorious Service ribbon award. He has also received numerous other ribbon awards, many with devices indicating multiple awards, including Good Conduct, Academic Achievement, Fire Prevention and Protection, Drill Team Competition, Sportsmanship, CPR, Color Guard, Organized Unit Trips, Veterans Appreciation, Swimming and Drug Demand Reduction.
YM Gunnery Sergeant Smith is home-schooled through the Berean Christian High School where he maintained a 3.82 Grade Point Average (GPA) at the end of his sophomore year. He keeps himself in excellent physical condition, as evidenced by his high scores on the YM Physical Fitness Tests. He earned a Sportsmanship Ribbon in 2011 for his long-time participation in martial arts training. He is also very active in his church, the Sevier Heights Baptist Church, and in his community. He has completed numerous community service activities over the last few years, including a church mission trip during each of the last two summers.
In March 2013, YM Gunnery Sergeant Smith was one of 10 male and 10 female Young Marines from around the country to go to New York City to participate in a conference held by the United Nations Office of the Commission on the Status of Women at United Nations headquarters. The Young Marines were delegates for an event called Consultation Day on Sunday, 3 March, at the UN. It is the traditional daylong event welcoming the 750 delegates to the conference.
July-August 2012
Young Marines and Adult Leaders from both Knoxville-area units went on our summer bus trip from 29 July to 4 August 2012 to participate in the 3rd Young Marine Division Encampment outside Gainesville, FL. We took 25 Young Marines from the Lt. Bonnyman Unit, 18 from the North Knoxville Unit, and we picked up 4 Young Marines from the Madison, AL Unit who rode with us most of the way down and back. As a result, our Tennessee Regiment contingent totaled 47 Young Marines out of the more than 300 Young Marines attending the encampment. We also had 6 Registered Adult Leaders in our group. It was mostly a “fun” trip for the kids – swimming, sailing, wall-climbing, shooting, SCUBA diving, mountain biking, canoeing, etc. – but some earned various ribbon awards, including swimming, advanced field and SCUBA certification.
Young Marines who were working on the SCUBA certification at the 3rd Division
Encampment in Florida during summer 2012
July 2012
The North Knoxville and Lt. Bonnyman Units both sent Young Marines to the 2012 Tennessee Regiment Leadership Academy in Smyrna, TN in mid-July 2012 where students from 18 units in 10 states participated in Junior Leadership School (JLS) and Senior Leadership School (SLS). Not only did our two units provide a large part of the YM Academy Staff but our students in the Junior and Senior Leadership Schools did well, too. At the graduation on Friday, 13 July, two of our Lt. Bonnyman Unit YMs received Honor Graduate Awards: YM Corporal Joseph Tippit received one of the two JLS Platoon Honor Graduate Awards and YM Sergeant Kennedy Scruggs received the SLS Honor Graduate Award as well as the Molly Marine Award for having the highest Physical Fitness Test score for a female in the SLS. At a very moving closing to the graduation, Regimental Commander David Assfalg gave honorable discharges to YM Jamaica Morrow, the Academy Sergeant Major, and to YM Dominique Starr, the Academy 1st Sergeant, both from the North Knoxville Unit.
Young Marines undergoing uniform inspection at 2012 TN Regiment
Leadership Academy, Smyrna, TN
March-April 2012
Our two Knoxville-area Young Marine Units started a joint 2012 Recruit Class on 3 March 2012. Senior Young Marine Instructor Dominique Starr from the North Knoxville Unit led a staff of 14 other YM Instructors/Asst. Instructors from both units in conducting recruit training for seven Recruit Training Days. Recruit Training concluded with a graduation ceremony on 21 April 2012 when 68 recruits graduated in front of a large group of their family and friends to become new Young Marines. During the graduation ceremony, Commandant Laimon Godel of the Lt. Alexander Bonnyman Detachment #924 of the Marine Corps League presented medals to the four Platoon Honor Graduates and to one overall Honor Graduate from each Unit: Patrick L. Alford (Lt. Bonnyman Unit) and Jerry Dean Houser II (North Knoxville Unit). Commandant Godel also helped present certificates for Platoon Superior Academic Achievement and Physical Excellence Awards, as well as the “Most Improved Recruit” Awards.
Unit Commanders, Young Marine Instructors, and graduating
recruits of the joint 2012 Recruit Class
December 2011
On 30 December 2011, the YM National Executive Director approved the application for a new YM Unit to be formed in Knoxville – the North Knoxville Unit under the command of Unit Commander Don Zerillo, a retired Marine Master Sergeant and current police officer.
2011 News Archive
2010 News Archive
2009 News Archive
2008 News Archive