thedrifter
08-14-06, 06:17 PM
August 14, 2006
I MEF changes hands
Sattler leaves for Pentagon post; Mattis takes command
By Gidget Fuentes
Staff writer
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — With thousands of its Marines and sailors deployed and fighting in Iraq, command of the West Coast-based I Marine Expeditionary Force changed hands Monday morning.
During an hour-long ceremony held on the grassy parade grounds at Camp Pendleton’s headquarters, Lt. Gen. John Sattler handed over the helm of the 50,000-member combat force to Lt. Gen. James Mattis.
Sattler heads to a new assignment at the Pentagon, where he will be the director for strategic plans and policies of the Joint Staff. Mattis, who most recently led Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va., will lead I MEF and take on the secondary command of Marine Corps Forces-Central Command.
Sattler, a former commander of the North Carolina-based 2nd Marine Division, took command of I MEF during a September 2004 ceremony at Camp Fallujah, Iraq, where he replaced now-Gen. James Conway, the incoming commandant. Two months later, Sattler led forces during the brutal, house-to-house retaking of the insurgent-held city of Fallujah.
The changeover comes as I MEF’s subordinate units, many of them on seven-month combat tours, are rotating in and out of Iraq.
Most recently, combat operations in Iraq’s Anbar province, particularly in the provincial capital of Ramadi, have made noticeable gains against the insurgency and in training Iraqi security forces to assume a greater role, Sattler said.
“They have moved the city of Ramadi in the right direction,” he said, speaking with reporters after the ceremony.
In remarks during the ceremony, Sattler gave credit to the thousands of men and women with the MEF, “many who are forward-deployed today in harm’s way.”
The three-star general also thanked his wife, Ginny, and the volunteers and groups that are helping Marines, sailors and their families, as well as his senior enlisted leaders, Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent and Navy Command Master Chief Raphael Sanchez, who often joined him in visits to Marines and sailors in and around Iraq.
Mattis praised Sattler, whom he called “one of the most admired leaders,” and added, “I am humbled to follow in your footsteps.”
Mattis told the crowd that the MEF “stands between our country and some very bad people out there.”
His new assignment is a homecoming of sorts and a return to the combat forces. The plain-spoken officer led a task force into Afghanistan in 2001 and later the 1st Marine Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its subsequent 2004 re-deployment.
“I’m so happy I could cry,” he said, to some laughs in the crowd.
Gidget Fuentes is the San Diego bureau chief.
Ellie
I MEF changes hands
Sattler leaves for Pentagon post; Mattis takes command
By Gidget Fuentes
Staff writer
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — With thousands of its Marines and sailors deployed and fighting in Iraq, command of the West Coast-based I Marine Expeditionary Force changed hands Monday morning.
During an hour-long ceremony held on the grassy parade grounds at Camp Pendleton’s headquarters, Lt. Gen. John Sattler handed over the helm of the 50,000-member combat force to Lt. Gen. James Mattis.
Sattler heads to a new assignment at the Pentagon, where he will be the director for strategic plans and policies of the Joint Staff. Mattis, who most recently led Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va., will lead I MEF and take on the secondary command of Marine Corps Forces-Central Command.
Sattler, a former commander of the North Carolina-based 2nd Marine Division, took command of I MEF during a September 2004 ceremony at Camp Fallujah, Iraq, where he replaced now-Gen. James Conway, the incoming commandant. Two months later, Sattler led forces during the brutal, house-to-house retaking of the insurgent-held city of Fallujah.
The changeover comes as I MEF’s subordinate units, many of them on seven-month combat tours, are rotating in and out of Iraq.
Most recently, combat operations in Iraq’s Anbar province, particularly in the provincial capital of Ramadi, have made noticeable gains against the insurgency and in training Iraqi security forces to assume a greater role, Sattler said.
“They have moved the city of Ramadi in the right direction,” he said, speaking with reporters after the ceremony.
In remarks during the ceremony, Sattler gave credit to the thousands of men and women with the MEF, “many who are forward-deployed today in harm’s way.”
The three-star general also thanked his wife, Ginny, and the volunteers and groups that are helping Marines, sailors and their families, as well as his senior enlisted leaders, Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent and Navy Command Master Chief Raphael Sanchez, who often joined him in visits to Marines and sailors in and around Iraq.
Mattis praised Sattler, whom he called “one of the most admired leaders,” and added, “I am humbled to follow in your footsteps.”
Mattis told the crowd that the MEF “stands between our country and some very bad people out there.”
His new assignment is a homecoming of sorts and a return to the combat forces. The plain-spoken officer led a task force into Afghanistan in 2001 and later the 1st Marine Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its subsequent 2004 re-deployment.
“I’m so happy I could cry,” he said, to some laughs in the crowd.
Gidget Fuentes is the San Diego bureau chief.
Ellie