thedrifter
04-26-07, 07:34 PM
24th MEU commander leaving Lejeune for D.C.
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 26, 2007 16:15:53 EDT
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A Marine Corps colonel who commanded the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which helped invade Iraq and evacuate Americans from Lebanon, will be promoted to general this week.
Col. Ron Johnson has commanded the unit for the past four years but will turn over command to Col. Peter Petronzio on Thursday, a unit spokesman said. The promotion will move Johnson to Washington, D.C.
Johnson, of Duxbury, Mass., has spent most of his 28-year Marine career at Camp Lejeune, a base on the central North Carolina coast. He was nominated to become a brigadier general and the Corps’ director of operations.
Petronzio has been operations officer for the Marine Corps’ Special Operations Command.
Marine expeditionary units have 2,200 personnel and are based aboard ships that carry aircraft and amphibious ground vehicles for landings by sea or air.
The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is among three such units at Camp Lejeune that generally spend six months aboard ships in the Mediterranean and Middle East.
The unit was part of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, along with other Marines from Camp Lejeune, and returned to Iraq in 2004. The unit also helped with recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and its Marines evacuated Americans from fighting in Lebanon last summer.
The unit returned to Camp Lejeune in December and is scheduled to deploy again in early 2008.
Ellie
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 26, 2007 16:15:53 EDT
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A Marine Corps colonel who commanded the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which helped invade Iraq and evacuate Americans from Lebanon, will be promoted to general this week.
Col. Ron Johnson has commanded the unit for the past four years but will turn over command to Col. Peter Petronzio on Thursday, a unit spokesman said. The promotion will move Johnson to Washington, D.C.
Johnson, of Duxbury, Mass., has spent most of his 28-year Marine career at Camp Lejeune, a base on the central North Carolina coast. He was nominated to become a brigadier general and the Corps’ director of operations.
Petronzio has been operations officer for the Marine Corps’ Special Operations Command.
Marine expeditionary units have 2,200 personnel and are based aboard ships that carry aircraft and amphibious ground vehicles for landings by sea or air.
The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is among three such units at Camp Lejeune that generally spend six months aboard ships in the Mediterranean and Middle East.
The unit was part of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, along with other Marines from Camp Lejeune, and returned to Iraq in 2004. The unit also helped with recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and its Marines evacuated Americans from fighting in Lebanon last summer.
The unit returned to Camp Lejeune in December and is scheduled to deploy again in early 2008.
Ellie