A native of Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, General James T. Conway has served as commandant of the US Marine Corps since August 2006. Conway is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University. He also graduated with honors from The Basic School, the US Army Infantry Officers Advanced Course, the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the Air War College.

 

Conway was commissioned in 1970 as an infantry officer. His company grade assignments included multiple platoon and company commander billets with both the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions; executive officer of the Marine Detachment aboard the USS Kitty Hawk; series and company commander at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego; aide to the commanding general and director of the Sea School.

 

As a field grade officer, he commanded two companies of officer students and taught tactics at The Basic School. He also served as operations officer for the 31st Marine Amphibious Unit to include contingency operations off Beirut, Lebanon, and as senior aide to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

Promoted to lieutenant colonel, Conway was reassigned to the 2nd Marine Division as Division G-3 Operations Officer before assuming command of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines in January 1990.

 

He commanded Battalion Landing Team 3/2 during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Selected for colonel, he served as the Ground Colonels' Monitor and as commanding officer of The Basic School. His general officer duties included Deputy Director of Operations, J-34, Combating Terrorism, Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.; and president of Marine Corps University at Quantico, Virginia.

 

After promotion to major general, Conway assumed command of the 1st Marine Division. In November 2002, he was promoted to lieutenant general and assumed command of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, which he led during two combat tours in Iraq. In 2004, he was reassigned as the director of operations, J-3, Joint Staff, in Washington, D.C.

 

In November 2006, after assuming command of the Marine Corps, Conway told Congress that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were putting too much strain on his men. He noted that Marine units are supposed to receive 14 months of rest once they return to the US before being redeployed. But because of the limited number of troops sent to both war zones, Marines had only been getting seven months of relief. He threatened during the hearing that unless things changed, he might propose increasing the size of the force - a delicate issue that the Bush administration avoided until early 2007 when it ordered more troops to Iraq. Conway’s outspokenness followed his controversial remarks in 2004 when he criticized the handling of the assault on Fallujah (see Controversies).

 

Official Bio

Top Marine: Troops under too much strain (CNN/Associated Press)