[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13669]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        TRIBUTE TO MASTER GUNNERY SERGEANT JULIUS D. SPAIN, SR.

 Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize MGySgt 
Julius D. Spain, Sr., U.S. Marine Corps, on the occasion of his 
retirement following 26 years of service in the Marine Corps.
  A native of Conway, SC, Julius entered the Marine Corps in August 
1990 as a recruit at Parris Island, SC. In the years after completing 
school there, Julius received several promotions, as well as orders to 
many assignments within the Marine Corps, including being deployed to 
combat operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2002 and 
reporting to the U.S. delegation to the North Military Committee, Joint 
Staff, NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, in 2004, where Julius 
provided administrative and operational support for the U.S. Ambassador 
to NATO, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and the President of 
the United States.
  In 2010, Julius was selected as one of two staff noncommissioned 
officers in the Marine Corps to participate in the 2011 Congressional 
Fellowship Program on Capitol Hill. I met Julius in January 2011, when 
he began a 12-month stint in my Senate office as my defense fellow. 
During that year, he assisted on numerous military issues and was an 
excellent representative of the Marine Corps. Julius also was selected 
for promotion to the rank of master gunnery sergeant during his time in 
my office.
  Since leaving my Senate office, Julius has served as the senior 
enlisted legislative adviser for the Marine Corps Office of Legislative 
Affairs and later as a special senior enlisted detailee with the 
Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General. He will retire 
from this detailee position this month.
  MGySgt Julius Spain is married to the former Adriana Contreras of 
Houston, TX, and she is a Marine Corps veteran herself. They have three 
children: Monique, 22; Julius, Jr., 21; and Leana, 17. I wish the 
entire Spain family fair winds and following seas as they enter this 
new phase of their lives together. Thank you all for your commitment to 
our Nation.

                          ____________________