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Senate confirms Amos as next CMC
Dunford confirmed as assistant commandant, gets 4th star
Staff report
Posted : Monday Oct 4, 2010 11
48 EDT
The Senate has confirmed Gen. Jim Amos to become the Marine Corps’ 35th commandant.
Amos, 63, is scheduled to be sworn in during a “Passage of Commandants” ceremony Oct. 22 at Marine Barracks Washington, according to Marine officials at the Pentagon. That event also will mark the retirement of Gen. James T. Conway, a 40-year officer who has held the Corps’ top post since November 2006.
Lawmakers approved Amos by a voice vote Wednesday evening. They also OK’d a fourth star for Lt. Gen. Joe Dunford, currently the commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., who will replace Amos as the Corps’ assistant commandant.
The two will inherit a Marine Corps poised for considerable change as Defense Department leadership looks to rein in spending across the services. A comprehensive force structure review is underway to assess the Corps’ size and capabilities once combat in Afghanistan comes to an end. That should be complete in December.
During his confirmation hearing Sept. 21, Amos told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that he is well aware of the challenges that face the military post-Afghanistan, saying the Corps needs to be “the nation’s crisis response force — light enough to get there rapidly and fast enough to carry the day.”
Like Conway, Amos is an advocate of returning the service to its maritime heritage. He told an audience at the Naval War College over the summer that “the disorder we see in today’s world … and the world we anticipate operating in during the next two decades … necessitates that we continue to make our investment in sea control and power projection capabilities.”
A jet pilot for most of his 38-year career, Amos will be the first aviator to serve as commandant. He is no stranger to Washington, however, having served as the ACMC for the last two years; deputy commandant for combat development and integration from 2006 to 2008; assistant deputy commandant for plans policies and operations from 2001 to 2002; and assistant deputy commandant for aviation from 2000 to 2001.
Amos has not led troops in ground combat, but as commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force from 2004 to 2006, he oversaw the training, equipping and deployment of thousands amid ongoing operations in Iraq. He commanded 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Iraq from 2003 to 2004.
Amos and Dunford will make a sound air-ground team, observers have said, noting the pair’s longtime friendship. They worked together in Iraq during the early stages of the war and again, most recently, at the Pentagon during Dunford’s tenure as deputy commandant for PP&O from 2008 to 2009.
“There’s a chemistry there,” Amos told Marine Corps Times earlier this month. “He and I kind of play off one another.”
Dunford confirmed as assistant commandant, gets 4th star
Staff report
Posted : Monday Oct 4, 2010 11
48 EDTThe Senate has confirmed Gen. Jim Amos to become the Marine Corps’ 35th commandant.
Amos, 63, is scheduled to be sworn in during a “Passage of Commandants” ceremony Oct. 22 at Marine Barracks Washington, according to Marine officials at the Pentagon. That event also will mark the retirement of Gen. James T. Conway, a 40-year officer who has held the Corps’ top post since November 2006.
Lawmakers approved Amos by a voice vote Wednesday evening. They also OK’d a fourth star for Lt. Gen. Joe Dunford, currently the commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., who will replace Amos as the Corps’ assistant commandant.
The two will inherit a Marine Corps poised for considerable change as Defense Department leadership looks to rein in spending across the services. A comprehensive force structure review is underway to assess the Corps’ size and capabilities once combat in Afghanistan comes to an end. That should be complete in December.
During his confirmation hearing Sept. 21, Amos told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that he is well aware of the challenges that face the military post-Afghanistan, saying the Corps needs to be “the nation’s crisis response force — light enough to get there rapidly and fast enough to carry the day.”
Like Conway, Amos is an advocate of returning the service to its maritime heritage. He told an audience at the Naval War College over the summer that “the disorder we see in today’s world … and the world we anticipate operating in during the next two decades … necessitates that we continue to make our investment in sea control and power projection capabilities.”
A jet pilot for most of his 38-year career, Amos will be the first aviator to serve as commandant. He is no stranger to Washington, however, having served as the ACMC for the last two years; deputy commandant for combat development and integration from 2006 to 2008; assistant deputy commandant for plans policies and operations from 2001 to 2002; and assistant deputy commandant for aviation from 2000 to 2001.
Amos has not led troops in ground combat, but as commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force from 2004 to 2006, he oversaw the training, equipping and deployment of thousands amid ongoing operations in Iraq. He commanded 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Iraq from 2003 to 2004.
Amos and Dunford will make a sound air-ground team, observers have said, noting the pair’s longtime friendship. They worked together in Iraq during the early stages of the war and again, most recently, at the Pentagon during Dunford’s tenure as deputy commandant for PP&O from 2008 to 2009.
“There’s a chemistry there,” Amos told Marine Corps Times earlier this month. “He and I kind of play off one another.”
Well we knew it was going to be him. Congratulations General! You are the first Air Wing to become the Commandant. I hope you will lead these Marines to more success both CONUS and OCONUS.
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