Naval, Marine center gets new boss

Dick Benoit

Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003 | 8:42 a.m.

Lt Cmdr. Stephen E. Stocking recently took command of the Naval and Marine Corps Center during ceremonies at the facility on Range Road near Nellis Air Force Base.

Stocking, a native of Albuquerque, relieved Cmdr. Gary Gilleon, whose new assignment is with Naval Reserve Command Future Plans, New Orleans.

Stocking previously served as manpower officer at Naval Air Reserve Point Mugu, Calif.

The 1989 University of Arizona Naval ROTC graduate has served as gunnery officer aboard the destroyer USS Hewitt, a naval gunfire support instructor at the Expeditionary Warfare Training Group, Pacific, Coronado, Calif., and as a Naval Reserve vehicle maintenance officer with Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit 110 in Portland, Ore.

He also was assigned as a recruiting officer in Spokane, Wash.

The mission of the Las Vegas Naval and Marine Corps Center is to train and provide administrative support to the nearly 300 drilling Naval Reservists who reside in Southern Nevada. Individual reservists supported by the center serve periods of reserve and active duty in locations throughout the country and around the world, including southwest Asia and South Korea.

Art contest for kids

Elementary school artists of military families have until Jan. 27 to enter the 2003 Armed Services YMCA Art Contest and earn a chance to win a $500 U.S. Savings Bond.

According to Andree Swanson of the Armed Services YMCA, the annual talent hunt is open to kindergartners through sixth graders of active and reserve-component military families in all the services, including the Coast Guard. Winners are picked from each service and given a $500 bond. Runners-up receive a $100 bond.

Defense Department and Coast Guard civilians' children may enter in an honorary category for a $100 bond.

Winners' artwork is judged primarily on the theme of "My Military Family." They will be featured on the Military Family Month 2003 poster, which is traditionally distributed around Thanksgiving each year. Children should draw their military family in color on 8.5-by-11-inch paper.

Include the following on the back of each entry: student's name, grade and age; address; phone number or a parent's e-mail address; parents' names; service affiliation; rank of military member; military installation; and school's name if the child attends a Defense Department school.

Mail entries to: Armed Services YMCA, Attn: Art Contest, 6359 Walker Lane, Suite 200, Alexandria, Va. 22310. Entries should be postmarked no later than Jan. 27.

For more information, visit the Armed Services YMCA website (www.asymca.org) or call (703) 313-9600. E-mail queries may be sent to militaryfamilyweek@asymca.org.

In brief

Hernandez, Rucker and fellow recruits ended the training with The Crucible, a 54-hour team problem solving evolution culminating in an emotional ceremony in which the recruits were presented the Marine Corps Emblem, and addressed as "Marines" for the first time.