MCB HAWAII -- His colleagues now know better than to put Cpl. Curtis Yard “on point” in a patrol. Carrying more than 180 pounds of gear, including radios, 20 quarts of water and a javelin missile on his back, he once left his junior Marines in the dust while hiking a mountain in Now Zad, Afghanistan.
“We’d be like ‘Curtis, freak, slow down, you’re getting out of control,’” Petty Officer 3rd Class Cory McGuire, a hospital corpsman from Yukon, Okla., said. “He’ll put
on as much weight as he can carry.”
Yard was recently chosen as the III Marine Expeditionary Force Marine of the Year, and received the Navy Achievement Medal April 9.
Yard, a scout sniper with 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment is “a highly motivated Marine,” McGuire said.
Being a sniper can be an arduous job, and for Yard, keeping physically fit is the difficult part. He strives for at least two hours of physical training each day, whether lifting weights, doing pack runs or swimming.
The Marine of the Year is someone making the “extra effort, the extra mile, will go out there and do something for the unit [and] not just themselves,” said Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, commanding general, III MEF. “It’s not about us. It’s about the team, and today’s award exemplified that. I was very proud to [present] that.” Robling visited Marine Corps Base Hawaii and presented Yard with his NAM.
“It’s competitive,” said Sgt. Maj. Daniel Fierle, sergeant major, III MEF. “We get all the elements in [Marine Air Ground Task Force] together, and we pick that person who had an opportunity and excelled at the opportunity they were given for that particular year … [Cpl. Yard] had a very good deployment. He’s done some great things for the regiment, and it’s just a pleasure to come out here and recognize it.”
Yard, from Goodrich, Mich., graduated with a degree in aviation maintenance technology from Western Michigan University in 2004.
At age 27, he joined the Marine Corps. After two and a half years as an aircraft mechanic in Milwaukee, Yard said he wanted “something new, something challenging.”
At 30 years old, Yard’s colleagues call him a “grumpy old man,” but his actions say otherwise.
“He’s probably the oldest Marine in our platoon on the junior ranks and his attitude and maturity reflects it,” said Sgt. Leo Cuellar, a chief scout for the Scout Sniper Platoon, 2/3.
Cuellar, from San Antonio, said Yard has a “solid work ethic.”
“The regiment is extremely proud of Cpl. Yard,” said Col. James Bierman, commanding officer, 3rd Marine Regiment. “He’s very typical of the fine young leaders we have in this regiment who’s been the background of all our success in combat.”
Yard has deployed to a combat zone twice in his military career, once to Iraq and the other to Afghanistan.
While in Now Zad, Afghanistan as a radio operator, Yard said he could spend as much as 72 hours out on a single mission. His team gathered intelligence on the Taliban and reported to the commanding officer.
“Every day was different,” Yard said. “Every mission was different.”
Staff Sgt. Ronald Bustamante, Yard’s platoon sergeant, remembers during Operation Eastern Resolve in Now Zad, Yard carried at least twice the amount of a regular Marine, with his pack including two javelin missiles.
Bustamante, from Tulare, Calif., said Yard was able to “take out an entire machine gun nest” with a rocket he was not yet trained to use.
Today, Yard spends his workday doing different training and tasks each day, while maintaining his physical fitness.
“He PTs really hard,” McGuire said.
Outside of work, Yard enjoys the occasional golf game with friends or traveling with his wife to the mainland United States. Recently, he and a team of 10 competed in The Beast 10K run.
“He’s always willing to do extracurricular activities,” Cuellar said.
Yard is considering whether or not to re-enlist in the Corps, and may take on a career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But if he chooses to stay in the Corps, Yard said he would like to try counterintelligence.
But one thing’s for sure — Yard is a humble award recipient.
“There [are] a lot of Marines in the III MEF,” Yard said. “I was surprised to get it, and I was happy just to win the regimental Marine of the Quarter board. I had no idea it was going to go that high.”