MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE ALBANY, Ga. -- Achieving career goals and playing sports are two things one Logistics Support Division Marine discusses enthusiastically.
Goal No. 1: Win the meritorious sergeant board.
Goal No. 2: Re-enlist.
Goal No. 3: Deploy with a Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Goal No. 4: Be a drill instructor.
Sgt. Edward Peifer, supply administration and operations specialist, accomplished goal No. 1 when Gunnery Sgt. Morgon Latimore and Sgt. Brandon Wilson pinned on his sergeant chevrons during a promotion ceremony Aug. 20 in front of Building 3500, here.
Latimore is the legal services chief, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, and Wilson is the platoon sergeant, Headquarters and Support Company, MCLB Albany.
“Meritorious promotions don’t just happen,” Lt. Col. Daniel Bates, executive officer, MCLB Albany, said after the promotion citation reading and new chevrons pinning. “I (have) had the opportunity to work with (Sergeant) Peifer so I know what kind of Marine he is.
“We are glad to have him as a sergeant in the Marine Corps,” Bates added. “We are proud of you. It speaks well of you.”
Wilson portrayed Peifer as an all-around great Marine who is well known throughout the base and Marine Corps Logistics Command.
“He is a direct reflection of his meritorious promotion,” Wilson said.
Among 38 enlisted Marines, sergeant and below, in H&S Co., Peifer “was definitely the top corporal and definitely deserved to be on the board,” Wilson said. “He did it by his own actions. His desire to take charge and get tasks completed stands out above everyone else. His attention to detail is unmatched. I have never had a better Marine in my career, which includes 4,000 students at Marine Combat Training and previous duty stations. He is a great addition to the sergeants we have here on base.”
Peifer won the MCLB Albany board followed by the Marine Corps Installations East level to earn his third stripe. A Marine for nearly four years, he described the hardest and easiest parts of winning the meritorious sergeant board.
“The hardest part (was) studying the Marine Corps knowledge,” the Lake Placid, Fla., native said.
“There’s so much knowledge within the Marine Corps that you don’t know what questions are going to be asked on the boards,” he added.
Peifer has appeared before several boards during his Marine Corps career: meritorious corporal, Marine of the Quarter, two noncommissioned officers of the quarter and meritorious sergeant.
“Preparing the uniforms was probably the easiest part because the uniforms are always supposed to be ready for boards or uniform inspections,” he said.
The supply administration and operations specialist noted that everything he’s accomplished so far in the Marine Corps helped him win the board, such as knowledge he’s received from staff noncommissioned officers, community events he’s participated in, letters of appreciation he’s received as well as his physical fitness test, combat fitness test and rifle range scores.
Peifer also thanked Cpl. Nicole Dickinson, ammunition technician, LSD, MCLB Albany, for helping him study for the board.
“If not for her, it would have been a lot more difficult to study for the board,” he said.
During his time off, Peifer plays softball, basketball and football on and off base.