Gen Peter Pace nominated as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

[Bill Murray]

I realize this is not a big deal to many on the board, but Gen Pace is the first Marine to ever head the military side of our Department of Defense. I have been privileged to meet Gen Pace on two/three occasions when visiting my Dad and he is quite impressive.

Maybe now SecDef Rumsfeld will finally get his "high mobility-strike force" military establishment. After all, the US Marines have been just that for over 200 years.
Bill

[Jon Skagfeld]

Hi, Bill:

Did Pace get his ticket punched as Commandant at 8th and I, in DC?

[Bill Murray]

Evening Jon:

No, actually, he seemed to avoid a lot of the typical "ticket punching" posts rather similar to Gen Eisenhower.

I am not good at posting links, but a Google search for Pace, Peter will give you several bios.

As I understand it, he is a sort of cerebral warrior as opposed to an in the trenches warrior but a warrior nonetheless.

He did, apparently, have the posting of CO of 8th & I but only as the CO of the rather small resident unit that supported the Commandant. That as a light colonel as I remember.

His decorations are very much in the area of good "administrative actions" as opposed to out and out personal bravery which I personally think may be a good choice given the complexities of the battlefields of today.

As a side note, as much as I love and admire my own Dad, I never thought he would be happy as the Commandant of the Marine Corps, let alone the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs even though there were many who championed him for one or both of those posts now these almost 30 plus years ago.

Funny, Gen Pace had his first assignment of importance the same year my Dad retired.

Bill