USA — Amos Confirmed as Marine Corps Commandant

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2010 — The Sen­ate yes­ter­day con­firmed Gen. James F. Amos as the 35th Marine Corps com­man­dant, to replace retir­ing Gen. James T. Con­way who has served in the post since Novem­ber 2006.

The voice vote makes Amos the first career avi­a­tion offi­cer to hold the top Marine post. He is slat­ed to be sworn at an Oct. 22 cer­e­mo­ny at Marine Bar­racks Wash­ing­ton, offi­cials reported. 

The Senate’s con­fir­ma­tion vote makes Amos, who has served as assis­tant com­man­dant since July 2008, a mem­ber of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

The Sen­ate yes­ter­day also con­firmed Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Joseph Dun­ford, com­man­der of I Marine Expe­di­tionary Force, to serve as Amos’ deputy. 

Dur­ing his Sept. 21 con­fir­ma­tion hear­ing, Amos vowed to make win­ning the war in Afghanistan his top pri­or­i­ty. Amos added that he’ll be forth­right in assess­ing the Marine Corps’ needs. 

“I am keen­ly aware of the chal­lenges our nation faces today, and like­ly will face in the future,” he told the Sen­ate Armed Ser­vices Com­mit­tee. “And, I under­stand the crit­i­cal role of our expe­di­tionary forces.” 

In the biggest head­line-mak­ing com­ments dur­ing the hear­ing, Amos told ques­tion­ing law­mak­ers he per­son­al­ly oppos­es repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that pro­hibits gays and les­bians from open­ly serv­ing in the mil­i­tary. He vowed, how­ev­er, to ensure that what­ev­er is decid­ed regard­ing the law, he would ensure that it is enforced. 

Amos cred­it­ed Con­way with pro­duc­ing what he said are the best Marines in decades. 

“Our Marines have nev­er been bet­ter trained, or bet­ter led,” he said. “They are sim­ply magnificent.” 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

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