Shaffer
01-14-03, 08:54 AM
With thousands of his troops heading off for a possible war with Iraq, Gen. Michael W. Hagee took over as Marine Corps commandant Monday confidently proclaiming his forces are ready for whatever lies ahead.
Hagee came to the Marine Corps' top post after commanding the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif. About 7,000 Marines from that command and a similar number from the East Coast-based 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force have left or are preparing to leave for the Persian Gulf as part of a massive build-up of U.S. combat forces.
Hagee, 58, became the 33rd commandant in a tradition-rich ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he started his career upon graduating in 1968. He went on to command an infantry platoon and a company in combat in Vietnam and later commanded a battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20030113-1535-n61582.html
Hagee came to the Marine Corps' top post after commanding the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif. About 7,000 Marines from that command and a similar number from the East Coast-based 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force have left or are preparing to leave for the Persian Gulf as part of a massive build-up of U.S. combat forces.
Hagee, 58, became the 33rd commandant in a tradition-rich ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he started his career upon graduating in 1968. He went on to command an infantry platoon and a company in combat in Vietnam and later commanded a battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20030113-1535-n61582.html