15. CSM Nathan Marshall_God, Grit and the 82nd Airborne!
Hey! I’m Jay Goodman and this is Talking with a Good Man, or TWAG. You know, my last name, Good Man, is an absurdly hard one to live up to, iʻm more fail than success when it really comes down it, but the difference is I will never stop the struggle, I will never give up the fight to be holy. Through daily successes and lots of failures, I work to be forgiving and loving while striving for strength with magnanimity because, hey…we’re all made for greatness and God calls us all to truly be a Good Man. Join me in striving to be a Good Man, for yourself, your Family, your Church, and most importantly for our Lord Jesus!! Let’s step into that scary breach, where the true work and danger is! And we as Men love the danger, don’t we? If we use it appropriately and righteously, mannnnnn in can bring strength. My next guest is a CSM, or COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR, the highest position and rank in the working Army. Let me explain…his rank is SGM, or SERGEANT MAJOR. Inside of that rank, his positional authority is a CSM. So he is the highest rank you can have in the Army enlisted side of things, or E-9 AND he is the second positional rank from the top of the entire Enlisted Army, which would be SERGEANT MAJOR OF THE ARMY. Yes, that means, if you are in the Army and you happen to meet the Sergeant Major of the Army, you would address him as, “Yes, Sergeant Major of the Army…” or “No, Sergeant Major of the Army”. We must literally address him with that complete title when speaking to him. To say “Sergeant” or “Sergeant Major” would be an insult and disrespectful. The same sort of goes with CSM Nathan Marshall. If you donʻt know him like I do, and you are a Soldier who comes across him, you would FIRST address him as “Beautiful morning CSM!” And THEN after he addresses you, you would use “SGM” in place of CSM until you are done talking to him. THEN, when you are leaving his presence, you finish by saying something like, “Have a good day CSM Marshall!” Thank God he is Nathan to those of us Men from the Hawaii group. That is WAY too complicated, isnʻt it? But he deserves it and he earned it through his hard work, which is extremely hard as he is the CSM for the mighty 82nd Airborne!!! Hooooooahhhh!!!! They were first introduced to combat on June 25th, 1918 in France during WW1 and have been located at Fort Bragg since then! They had many very dangerous roles during D day such as capturing bridges over the Merderet River at La Fiere and Chef du pont and capturing and destroying bridges over the douve river at beuzeville la bastille. They also participated in Operation market garden, an allied attack on holland, and the great battle of the buldge. SGM Nathan Marshall is part of this elite airborne unit but best of all, he is the one enlisted Soldier in charge of the entire thing!! Iʻll tell you something else about this Man, he reminds me a lot of General Hal Moore, made famous in the movie “we were soldiers” in the sense that I know Nathan, and I know for a 100% fact he is as old as me, is hurting, has all sorts of body problems from our great time in the Army, but he jumps WITH HIS MEN, and leads them the way a leader should lead. He really cares about the Men assigned to him, and treats everyone with respect and a great sense of brotherhood. He really loves his Wife and kids fiercely too and spends time with them, engages with them, and although he would be the first to tell you how imperfect he is, I know for a fact that he does his best every day to leave work at work and to be a husband and dad to the best of his ability. For these reasons, as well as so much more that youʻll soon hear, I am very humbled and excited to introduce my brother in Christ, friend and comrade, CSM Nathan Marshall. For more information or to contact me, or to order Shaklee and change your life nutritionally, email me at talkingwithagoodman@gmail.com.
