Gen. John Allen formally stepped into retirement Monday, moving on after more than 30 years in the Marine Corps with a ceremony at the Naval Academy. Allen already had been described as “retired” numerous times, but he was still on active duty through this week, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out yesterday. Likewise, Gen. James Mattis has turned over his post as the head of U.S. Central Command to Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, but Mattis won’t formally retire until June. Marine Corps Times profiled him last month. Allen’s actual retirement ceremony seems to have been conducted outside the limelight.…
Browsing: John Kelly
Lt. Gen. John Kelly will soon become the new four-star commander at U.S. Southern Command, a post that will require him to oversee the fight against drug trafficking, natural disasters, humanitarian crises and cyber warfare in central and South America. As the Long War Journal points out, Kelly delivered a powerful 30-minute speech on Tuesday to the American Legion National Convention in Indianapolis. He addresses the extremist nature of the threat the U.S. faces from terrorists and how difficult it is for a family to deal with the loss of a loved one in a war zone — something he…
Could another Marine soon be leading the war in Afghanistan? A report in The Wall Street Journal this morning suggests that the frontrunner to replace Gen. John Allen as the next head of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan is none other than Gen. Joseph Dunford, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reportedly recommended him to the White House for the job. From the story: Defense officials said Gen. Dunford is a firm supporter of the Afghan war strategy of Mr. Obama, who has called for continued drawdowns of U.S. forces through the end…
