Player is a Legislative Fellow

Sugar Ray Leonard poses with LtCol. Player following the Annual Fight Night fundraiser in the District of Columbia. Both Leonard and Ken Norton were on tap for the recent event.

CC LtCol. Riccoh Player holds one of the most unique jobs in the Marine Corps, that of a Legislative Fellow on Capitol Hill in Washington.  We asked him recently about the job and what made it interesting for him.

“I’ve been assigned to the Veterans Affairs Committee with specific duties on the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation.  My tasks include, but are not limited to, tracking the VA Claims backlog, answering constituent questions, concerns and complaints, and tracking and analyzing VA related media trends.  We also provide a sounding board for concerned citizens who provide advice and ideas.

“On the people side, I interact with constituents, Hill staffers and the various Veterans Service Organization representatives.  We do this both on the phone as well as in person.  One of my prime jobs is preparing talking points, questions and witness evaluation for hearings conducted by the eight Subcommittee members.”

We asked him what the Marine Corps got out of his assignment.

“The assignment, on paper and during the three-month Fellows orientation, is for me to serve a year on Capitol Hill, followed by a follow-on tour in the Pentagon or a related office of Legislative Affairs  billet which would allow me to parlay my Hill knowledge in the greater Capitol region.”

With the Corps’ combat commitments we asked if this was realistic.

“It’s realistic to this extent:  The training I will receive in this assignment will definitely benefit the Corps in the long-term.  Near term, however, I will report for duty as the II MEF PAO at the end of 2010.”