thedrifter
02-02-09, 08:40 AM
General gets acquainted in Cobb
Published: 02/02/2009
By Marcus E. Howard
mhoward@mdjonline.com
MARIETTA - Maj. Gen. Doug Stone has fond memories of briefly living in Marietta during the mid-1950s as a youth.
"We went to Kennesaw Mountain with these graters," he recalled. "We would dig the dirt and get all the rounds from the Civil War."
On Friday, he returned to the city; this time as the next commander of U.S. Marine Forces Reserve.
Not only will Stone be promoted to lieutenant general when he officially takes the command - which is expected to be within a month - he will also be responsible for about 94,000 Marines on reserve in the Marine Corps' largest command.
"It is to train, equip and staff Marines," Stone said of his new job. "We predominantly provide forces to the active duty units as they deploy or as they might say is appropriate."
In addition to heading the New Orleans-based Marine Forces Reserve, Stone's simultaneous role as director of the reserve component of the Marine Forces Reserve will require him to spend a considerable amount of time in Washington, D.C.
On Friday, he conducted a town hall meeting at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta to introduce himself to local Marine units, their families, veterans and others; and to inform them about what's happening in the Marine Corp. He said it will become a monthly activity for him around the country.
"It's an opportunity to both chat with them - and my wife will chat with them from her perspective today and I'll do the same in some brief remarks," Stone said. "And then we're going to answer some questions."
Stone, 58, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1973. He holds advance degrees from Stanford, Pepperdine, the U.S. Naval War College and the University of Southern California.
He and his wife, Kathy, have been married for 36 years. Together, with their two daughters and eight grandchildren, they make their home on a sprawling ranch in northern California.
After serving five years on active duty after graduating from the Naval Academy, Stone helped establish or turn around three Silicon Valley high-tech companies while on reserve. In 2003, he returned to active duty as a brigadier general, serving in Pakistan.
Five months ago he returned from Iraq.
In April 2007, Army Gen. David Petraeus, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq, had tapped him to serve as his deputy commander for U.S. interrogation and detention. As commander of Task Force 134, he was responsible for conducting more than 30,000 interrogations and detainee operations in Iraq.
He is credited with making vast improvements in the detention operations system in Iraq, which to most Americans became infamous in 2004 after reports of the horrific treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
"Abu Ghraib was a failure of leadership," Stone said.
"For the greater Ummah, the body of Islamic believers, when they saw what was degrading and disrespectful conduct to individuals, they correlated that - particularly given that it was in the same prison Saddam Hussein used for torture - as no different than the last administration."
Stone said his most important improvements included separating interrogation from detention, removing extremists from the general population and providing prisoners with education and jobs skills to lessen their chances of joining terrorist organizations upon release for economic reasons.
Overall, the war in Iraq has been a success compared to life under Saddam Hussein, said Stone.
"From my perspective, what I saw was a very changing government. One that was beginning to stand up and get its legs," he said.
"It has once again established a form of cultural, individual rule. It has begun to distribute the wealth of the nation back out to the people. It has once again reinstated local leadership that had been torn down by Saddam Hussein. Fear and intimidation, that was clearly there before, has been replaced by a genuine rule of law."
"It will be to the Arabic people - the Iraqis themselves - to articulate whether that's what they want."
Ellie
Published: 02/02/2009
By Marcus E. Howard
mhoward@mdjonline.com
MARIETTA - Maj. Gen. Doug Stone has fond memories of briefly living in Marietta during the mid-1950s as a youth.
"We went to Kennesaw Mountain with these graters," he recalled. "We would dig the dirt and get all the rounds from the Civil War."
On Friday, he returned to the city; this time as the next commander of U.S. Marine Forces Reserve.
Not only will Stone be promoted to lieutenant general when he officially takes the command - which is expected to be within a month - he will also be responsible for about 94,000 Marines on reserve in the Marine Corps' largest command.
"It is to train, equip and staff Marines," Stone said of his new job. "We predominantly provide forces to the active duty units as they deploy or as they might say is appropriate."
In addition to heading the New Orleans-based Marine Forces Reserve, Stone's simultaneous role as director of the reserve component of the Marine Forces Reserve will require him to spend a considerable amount of time in Washington, D.C.
On Friday, he conducted a town hall meeting at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta to introduce himself to local Marine units, their families, veterans and others; and to inform them about what's happening in the Marine Corp. He said it will become a monthly activity for him around the country.
"It's an opportunity to both chat with them - and my wife will chat with them from her perspective today and I'll do the same in some brief remarks," Stone said. "And then we're going to answer some questions."
Stone, 58, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1973. He holds advance degrees from Stanford, Pepperdine, the U.S. Naval War College and the University of Southern California.
He and his wife, Kathy, have been married for 36 years. Together, with their two daughters and eight grandchildren, they make their home on a sprawling ranch in northern California.
After serving five years on active duty after graduating from the Naval Academy, Stone helped establish or turn around three Silicon Valley high-tech companies while on reserve. In 2003, he returned to active duty as a brigadier general, serving in Pakistan.
Five months ago he returned from Iraq.
In April 2007, Army Gen. David Petraeus, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq, had tapped him to serve as his deputy commander for U.S. interrogation and detention. As commander of Task Force 134, he was responsible for conducting more than 30,000 interrogations and detainee operations in Iraq.
He is credited with making vast improvements in the detention operations system in Iraq, which to most Americans became infamous in 2004 after reports of the horrific treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
"Abu Ghraib was a failure of leadership," Stone said.
"For the greater Ummah, the body of Islamic believers, when they saw what was degrading and disrespectful conduct to individuals, they correlated that - particularly given that it was in the same prison Saddam Hussein used for torture - as no different than the last administration."
Stone said his most important improvements included separating interrogation from detention, removing extremists from the general population and providing prisoners with education and jobs skills to lessen their chances of joining terrorist organizations upon release for economic reasons.
Overall, the war in Iraq has been a success compared to life under Saddam Hussein, said Stone.
"From my perspective, what I saw was a very changing government. One that was beginning to stand up and get its legs," he said.
"It has once again established a form of cultural, individual rule. It has begun to distribute the wealth of the nation back out to the people. It has once again reinstated local leadership that had been torn down by Saddam Hussein. Fear and intimidation, that was clearly there before, has been replaced by a genuine rule of law."
"It will be to the Arabic people - the Iraqis themselves - to articulate whether that's what they want."
Ellie