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thedrifter
05-07-04, 11:33 AM
May 06, 2004

Mattis selected for promotion to lieutenant general

By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer

One of the Corps’ most combat-tested leaders, Maj. Gen. James Mattis, has been nominated for a third star, Pentagon officials announced today.
Mattis, who is deployed to Iraq as commander of the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based 1st Marine Division, is slated to take control of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico, Va.

As commander of Task Force 58 during the war in Afghanistan, Mattis spearheaded the Nov. 25, 2001, Marine operation to seize a forward operating base near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. The seizure mission and subsequent operations ashore marked one of the deepest inland assaults in Marine Corps history, taking the leathernecks more than 400 miles inland from ships off the Pakistan coast.

Tapped for a second star after the Afghanistan operation, Mattis took command of 1st Marine Division in August 2002. At the helm of the “Blue Diamond” division, he led Marine ground forces during the major combat phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom last year, pushing his units past Baghdad and into Tikrit, 600 miles north of their bases in Kuwait.

Mattis returned to Iraq this spring when a force of 25,000 Marines with I Marine Expeditionary Force deployed to relieve elements of the 82nd Airborne Division.

He is expected to take over MCCDC this fall from Lt. Gen. Edward Hanlon. It is unclear whether Hanlon will retire this fall or take over another command in the Marine Corps, according to Marine officials.

The appointment to lieutenant general must be confirmed by the Senate.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/content/editorial/editart/050604mattis.jpg

Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, Commander of the 1st Marine Division, visits the operating base for the 1st Battalion/ 5th Marine Regiment, April 14, 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. Mattis has been selected to pin on a third star. — M. Scott Mahaskey / Marine Corps Times

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-292925-2894643.php

Ellie

kentmitchell
05-07-04, 04:38 PM
Damn right!!! Promote him ASAP and then bump him up to Commandant when the time comes.
A great, great general.

Oorah

MUDMARINE
05-09-04, 07:58 PM
You can bet your bottom dollar he is the next Commandant. He is AJ squared away.....

bobpage
05-10-04, 12:19 PM
He definitely WON'T be Commandant. Look for Gen. Conway.