Marines

Passing on the Torch: 63 years of combined experience retire from MCBH

5 Sep 2018 | Marine Corps Base Hawaii

Keeping a military installation operational takes a team of dedicated service members and civilian employees working together for one common goal. That goal for the S-3/5 department is providing a superior installation that supports our warfighters.

 This year, three of the base’s top leadership are set to retire after 63 years of combined service.
Kennon Stephens, a budget analyst for the base’s environmental department, is a retired U. S. Marine Corps major. Although he didn’t start his military service in the Corps, something about those Marine Corps dress blues called to him.
 “I was going to school at night and saw an officer in his dress blue deltas,” he said. “Next thing I knew, I was driving to [Marine Corps Base] Quantico.”
 Stephens went on to become an aviation supply officer serving more 16 years and now finally ending his career at Marine Corps Base (MCB) Hawaii. Over the years, Stephens has come across many Marines and Sailors here at MCB Hawaii but he says their qualities are still the same.
 “I’ve looked at the way the Marine Corps has developed in the past few decades,” he said. “This generation of Marines are polite, you can relate to them, and they all still go out of their way to help you.”
Stephens was already working aboard MCB Hawaii when he found a familiar face from his Marine Corps career.
  Bill Tourek, the future planning officer for MCB Hawaii, is a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and has known Stephens for over 30 years.
 “We first met each other when we were stationed at U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific,” Tourek said. “I saw him again once I started working at MCB Hawaii and we’ve been working together ever since.”
 Tourek went on to say that the Corps has been good to him both on active duty and as a government employee. And while his career has taken him many places, it will be the people that he will miss.
 “It’s been a great career,” he said. “I won’t miss coming to work as much as I’m going to miss the relationships that I’ve build over the many years.”
 With Stephen and Tourek’s retirements, the count is now at 42 years. Forty-two years of knowledge, training, and memories. Lt. Col. Philip Herschelman, the director of the S-3/5, adds his 21 and a half years of service to make 63.
 “I joined the Marine Corps wanting to lead Marines and be pilot,” Herschelman said.
  And he did.
  Herschelman went on to become a C-130 aircraft pilot, which took him all over the world from California, New York, the Pentagon, and U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Korea. But, his favorite duty station will always be MCB Hawaii.
 “I love base, the weather, and the mission of helping support the operational forces,” he said. “I’m connected to the Corps for the rest of my life. It hasn’t hit me yet, but it will when I leave here.”
 Herschelman says he’s going to miss seeing the amount of dedication to the mission from the Marines but has one word of advice before his ends his Marine Corps career.
 “Work hard and have fun doing what you do,” he said. “With hard work comes results and that’s fulfillment for you but at the same time, have fun doing it”.
 With the combined total of 63 years of military and government experience, this is tremendous loss for their former sections and the installation. But with every loss, there is a gain. Their knowledge, wisdom and experiences were passed along in daily conversations with Marines, meetings with staff members, passed down to those that will take their places. The lessons learned from their experiences will continue to guide the operations of the base into the future.


Marine Corps Base Hawaii