U.S. Navy photo by Andrew Revelos
Lt. Col. Vincent Lumalcuri, the new executive officer of the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force.
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CBIRF welcomes new executive officer
Marines assigned to the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) welcomed a new executive officer to their Naval Support Facility (NSF) Indian Head home in July. Lt. Col. Vincent Lumalcuri and his family recently relocated to Indian Head from Camp Pendleton, Calif., where he served as executive officer with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).
Lumalcuri is a graduate of Siena College and was commissioned in 1991. An infantry officer, Lumalcuri is also a veteran of multiple deployments with the operating forces. "I've mostly done normal infantry officer jobs," he said.
Lumalcuri's career has taken him to duty stations on the east and west coasts, Hawaii, Japan, as well as multiple assignments with Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs) and two tours in Iraq.
Of course, the CBIRF mission is unlike other assignments in the Marine Corps and the organization brings together Marines with diverse occupation specialties. "It's a great microcosm of the Marine Corps," said Lumalcuri. "I consider myself fortunate to be able to come out here and serve with CBIRF. It's different in a very fundamental way from other Marine units in that the mission is purely life-saving. We put all the members of this command through the CBIRF Basic Operators Course to give every Marine the capability of fulfilling that role as a basic life-saver. Every Marine is still a rifleman here, but the main focus of CBIRF is life-saving."
Lumalcuri completed that training in June and is now settling into the region with his wife, Lois, and their three sons. "You can't beat the location," said Lumalcuri, who moved his family into base housing. "It's a beautiful and big house. we're very fortunate. We're enjoying getting to know Indian Head and the Capitol region."
Much has changed since Lumalcuri's last stint in the area, when he attended the Command and Staff College at Marine Corps University in Quantico. He is already planning family trips around the region, such as the Sunset Parade at the Marine Corps Iwo Jima Memorial. "I haven't done that for probably 20 years," said Lumalcuri. "It's time to go back and show the kids what I saw."
Lumalcuri cites two off-time activities as hobbies, though both give him away as a Marine. "I like getting out and doing all kinds of PT," he said. The other hobby is keeping up his '84 CJ-7 Jeep. "I just always liked classic cars. My Jeep probably isn't a classic per se, but I always wanted to build a car and a Jeep is pretty easy to build."
As for leadership philosophy, Lumalcuri focuses on competency. "I like to be low maintenance and no drama," he said. "I think I try to strive to do those things and I look for them in the folks I lead and serve with. That's always been a recipe for success for me."
Though he's been on the job less than a month, Lumalcuri is impressed with what he's seen. "What I'm seeing around here are pretty good indicators. I think it's going to be a good tour."