1. Our phone numbers have changed.Click here for more info

Like father, like son: Marine officer receives temporary orders to father’s workplace at USTRANSCOM

2nd Lt. Quinlin Preston, U.S. Marine Corps basic communications officer, and his father Rich Preston, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Navy who has worked at U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) as a member of the Military Sealift Command since 2012, stand near the Global Operations Center entrance inside USTRANSCOM’s building at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, Dec. 9, 2020. Quin received temporary orders to work in the GOC, where his dad also works at USTRANSCOM. (USTRANSCOM photo by Michelle Gigante)

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. – Rich Preston recalls the time his son visited Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, as a young Boy Scout to tour his place of work in the Global Operations Center (GOC) at U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM).


“It’s kind of neat, he’s been there on the floor two other times with [the Boy] Scouts coming to visit, but each time he was in his civilian clothes. But now, I turn around and there he is in uniform, working and discussing actual military operations,” said Rich Preston, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Navy who has worked at USTRANSCOM as a member of the Military Sealift Command since 2012.


2nd Lt. Quinlin Preston, U.S. Marine Corps basic communications officer and son of Rich Preston, joined USTRANSCOM for a temporary duty assignment, Nov. 26, 2020, before he attends his Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) school at Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California.


Rich Preston had been keeping the Marines of USTRANSCOM informed of his son’s progress while he was assigned to The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia.


Since Quinlin Preston was to become a communications officer, USTRANSCOM Marine leadership began coordinating with the Marine Corps to allow him to work in the GOC at USTRANSCOM until he moves on to train in his MOS in January 2021. The Marine Corps agreed this was a unique opportunity and approved no-cost temporary orders, after all the COVID-19 protocols were observed.


“I was thrilled about getting to come to USTRANSCOM,” said Quinlin Preston. “I had met multiple people my dad has worked with throughout the years and was excited to get to see them interacting in the workspace, and to see my dad in an operating environment that I had never seen him in before.”


The newly commissioned officer described his relationship with his dad as being very tight and always improving, adding, “We work well together, ensuring the other is always learning.” Prior to working at USTRANSCOM, his dad traveled to see his graduation at The Basic School in Quantico.


While each agreed they work well together, they find they have different ways to work through problems and conflict.


“Oddly enough, he [his father] probably has the more stereotypical Marine approach of running through a problem until it breaks down,” said Quinlin Preston. “But we both are immensely driven and like to work with others.”


“I have spent my whole life learning to lead, through sports, Boy Scouts, and extracurricular activities, and there is no one better to lead than United States Marines,” Quinlin Preston said, stating how he always looked up to the Marines his dad worked with as a Naval officer.


Kidding around how one of his biggest failures in life is he didn’t have his son join the Navy instead of joining the Marines, Rich Preston lightheartedly added, “With that being said, you know the Marines can’t do anything without the Navy, but the Navy can do plenty without the Marines.”


Other than a mismatched idea of which is the best service, both Prestons expressed gratitude for this occasion. The junior Preston said what he admires most about his dad is his ability to quickly master a subject matter, and his ability to be confident in transferring that knowledge to everyone around him.


The elder Preston expressed how proud he is to see his son engaging with junior and senior officers at a level well beyond what he imagined of his son’s experience and age, saying, “He has a confidence working in this environment, and it just amazes me, seeing my son grow and learn and experience the same things I’ve been experiencing for over 32 years.”


Rich Preston went on to elaborate that while it was a short time to work together, what a unique involvement it was. “I feel pretty blessed to be able to watch him experience that, it’s almost a dream come true to be able to say you’re doing a professional job with your son,” he said. “I don’t know too many other people that get that opportunity.”


He shared a memorable moment from when he was teaching Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. Just a kindergartener at the time, little Quinlin and his mom and brother visited Rich Preston at the university, and that’s where a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who worked at the ROTC detachment caught the youngster’s attention.


“Quinlin just could not stop staring at him. He was in his dress blues, he was doing some type of function, but just anything the gunnery sergeant did or said, [Quin] was amazed,” said Rich Preston. “And it was kind of funny, because later that week my wife and I were talking and she said, ‘You know if he joins the military, he’s going to be a Marine.’ And sure enough he’s a Marine.”


Another condition of Quinlin Preston’s orders being approved was for him to provide a detailed after-action report and briefing to his commanding officer at the Marine Corps Communication Electronics School at Twentynine Palms.


Quinlin Preston’s assignment with USTRANSCOM is now being treated as a pilot program, with the potential to allow a limited number of future graduates of The Basic School the prospect to work at USTRANSCOM in advance of attending their MOS schools.


Lt. Col. Garrett V.H. Randel III, who works on the GOC floor and helps mentor the younger Preston in his role at USTRANSCOM, said, “Mentorship is important to Marines, but it is especially exciting to share the pearls of wisdom with a new Marine Officer as 2nd Lt. Preston begins his Marine Corps journey.”


What the young Marine officer said he likes most about this assignment is being able to talk with his dad about work and understand the acronyms, because the lack of general knowledge base had always served as a barrier, he explained. Furthermore, he enjoys being able to ask his dad questions and learning how to fit in to the community on the GOC floor, which is an opportunity that he’s never really had before.


“The biggest thing I always tell him is remember where you came from and remember that you can’t do this on your own, it’s a teamwork environment,” said Rich Preston. “You need to work with others and pull on the strengths from those around you, and then as a leader, take all those strengths and put them together as one.”


USTRANSCOM exists as a warfighting combatant command to project and sustain military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. Powered by dedicated men and women, USTRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the Joint Force, advances American interests around the globe, and provides our nation's leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries.


Office of Public Affairs - transcom-pa@mail.mil
News Archive

Follow Us On:

Facebook      Instagram      Twitter      Flickr      LinkedIn


Connect to USTRANSCOM JECC AMC MSC SDDC
Office of Public Affairs|United States Transportation Command|Scott Air Force Base IL 62225-5357
This is a Department of Defense (DOD) computer system. Please read our Privacy, Accessibility, Use and Non-Endorsement Disclaimer Notice.