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Hayne Palmour/Staff Photographer

Marine Lt. Gen. Michael Hagee, left, and Lt. Gen. James Conway switch positions after Hagee handed over the command of the 45,000-member I Marine Expeditionary Force during a change of command ceremony at Camp Pendleton on Friday.
Local Marines welcome newest leader

GIDGET FUENTES
Staff Writer, North County Times

CAMP PENDLETON ---- With a handshake and a pat on the back, Lt. Gen. James T. Conway on Friday took the helm of the Marine Corps' West Coast-based combat force and sent Lt. Gen. Michael W. Hagee on his way to the Marines' top job in Washington, D.C.

About 1,000 Marines, sailors and guests watched the ceremony changing the top commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, a three-star position at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base.

The 45,000-member force includes infantry and ground combat battalions, helicopter and jet squadrons, and combat support units at four major military bases in Southern California and Arizona.

Military marching tunes, 15-gun salutes and precision drills marked the hour-long ceremony, held under sharp blue skies and warm Santa Ana breezes as 500 camouflage-clad Marines stood in formation to represent the forces' senior commands.

Midway through the ceremony, Sgt. Maj. William T. Kinney, the expeditionary force's top enlisted Marine, gave Hagee, 57, the unit's battle flag. In the symbolic change of command, Hagee handed the flag, topped by dozens of battle streamers and combat decorations, to Conway before both men switched their standing positions on the parade field.

Hagee and his wife, Silke, later left for the nation's capital, where he will become the 33rd commandant of the Marine Corps ---- and the first to become the service chief from a command post at Camp Pendleton.

Conway, 54, was promoted to the three-star rank of lieutenant general earlier in the day. He has been serving as the deputy commander of the Marine forces in the U.S. Central Command region, which includes the Persian Gulf region, since he left the 1st Marine Division as its commander.

Expeditionary force leaders have been preparing for a new boss as they also send more men and women overseas to join in the U.S.-led war on terror. "Several hundred" Marines and sailors with the force's command headquarters are leaving this month for a U.S. military exercise in Kuwait and an expected longer stay for potential conflict with Iraq.

"Most of you know that we are in the process of deploying a certain segment of the (expeditionary force) to the Gulf right now," Hagee told the crowd, which included top local Navy and Marine Corps commanders, the commandant of the Republic of Korea Marine Corps and 28 of his classmates in the U.S. Naval Academy's class of 1968.

Hagee, who will be promoted to the four-star rank of general when he becomes the service chief in January, also thanked local communities for supporting the troops, especially in time of war.

"When we push away from the shores here, we feel comfortable (knowing) that our families and friends are going to be taken care of," he said.

As his wife, Annette, and relatives looked on, Conway thanked Hagee for his "good generalship" and turned to the formation of Marines. "I will work long and hard to earn your confidence and your respect," he told them. "I promise you that I will."

"I can't tell you what the near-future holds," he said. But the expeditionary force "will be somewhere in the middle of it."

"Take care ... and be ready for whatever taskings the president may direct," he added.

The expeditionary force includes the 1st Marine Division and 1st Force Service Support Group, both based at Camp Pendleton, and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing based at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

Contact staff writer Gidget Fuentes at (760) 901-4072 or gfuentes@nctimes.com.

11/16/02

Sempers,

Roger