Posted on 09/12/2007 1:44:43 PM PDT by rightalien
Marine Corps' Middle East commander getting new job and fourth star
CAMP PENDLETON -- The Defense Department formally announced Tuesday that Camp Pendleton's Lt. Gen. James Mattis has been nominated by President Bush for a fourth star and appointment to the Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.
Mattis has led the base's 25,000-member I Marine Expeditionary Force and served as commander of Marine Corps forces throughout the Middle East since August of last year.
He also served as the convening authority over war crime cases involving Marines in Iraq, a duty that he will pass to his successor.
The U.S. Joint Forces Command is an integral planning and strategy group that controls more than 80 percent of all U.S.-based conventional forces, assigning those forces to commanders in the field.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization established in 1949 to provide a collective defense against the Soviet Union also has agreed to name Mattis as its supreme commander for transformation. In that role, Mattis will oversee structural changes and modernization requirement to meet Western Hemisphere defense needs.
In line to replace Mattis and a likely nominee for a third star is Maj. Gen. Samuel T. Helland, whose most recent command was head of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
Helland's ascension to the I Marine Expeditionary Force job is expected to be announced in the next few days. He began his career in the Army before joining the Marines and becoming a helicopter pilot.
Mattis, whose combat experience includes the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, is expected to assume his new command on or about Nov. 1. He could not be reached for comment.
His appointment to general is subject to Senate confirmation, a routine step following a presidential nomination.
ping
Watch the Democrats try to block this nomination too...
Isn’t he the one that’s protecting our Marines?
Ask and ye shall receive ‘Ping!’
His appointment to general is subject to Senate confirmation,
“a routine step following a presidential nomination.”
LOL
One in the same!
OK...would you say this is good or not? Is someone trying to get him out of town?
Another Marine/Soldier that has no patience for people that are stuck on Stupid!
Nah, these promotions are on a regular "up or out" timetable.
I think the promotion is a great thing for America and the Corps.
Selfishly, I wish he was staying at Pendleton until the Haditha hearings were over. But, in any event, the decisive voices so far have been the individual lieutenant colonels who are the investigating officers. Gen Mattis has followed their recommendations in every case (at least so far, we're still waiting for a decision on the LCpl Tatum case).
I'm expecting some opposition to this nomination.
I was MajGen Hellands’s Aide-de-Camp on a previous assignment. The article mentions he was in the Army before but leaves out the fact that he was a Green Beret with a tour in Vietnam. He’s one of our great operational thinkers. Perfect for the job.
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