Major General Tim Hanifen, Marine Corps Aviator (Full Interview)

our guest this week on Veterans Chronicles is retired US Marine Corps general Timothy C Hannifin he joins me now to talk about his distinguished career in service to our country and sir thank you very much for your time today thank you for being here honor well let's start where we usually begin where were you born and raised there well I was born in Helena Montana but grew up in California and Baltimore from age 12 to 17 and then went to the Naval Academy at 17 and it really was the service sense so I really call it Baltimore home more because of that those formative years what was the extent of military history in your family well thank you for asking my my grandfather was actually was fabric repairmen on Jenny and spatty aircraft during World War one my father was a marine went to boot camp in 1945 as they were preparing for the invasion of Japan developed a medical issue unfortunately didn't finish training and was just medically discharged as the war wound down my uncle was a career Navy patrol maritime patrol pilot joined as a cadet right out of high school and worked his way to retiring as a captain and flew all of the Navy's maritime patrol aircraft including the p3 Orion now my family I was also unusual because the next generation my three brothers and I are all Academy graduates my older and younger brother are our Air Force Academy graduates my older brother Dan is USOF a class of 75 my younger brother is you saw a class of 82 I'm Naval Academy class of 78 as is my cousin first cousin son of uncle bud and aunt Joanne is a classmate class of 78 and his sister Christine spent a career as a navy nurse and retired as a Navy captain and so that's the extent of our so how much Academy superiority banter is there with you and your brothers well there was a great distinction there was a great deal of a rivalry but my mother quickly put that to a stop that at one point all of us were either at the Academy or just after and we're home on Christmas visiting them and she got tired of it and basically said look I'm the commander in chief here there is no inner service rival you're all the best because you're my sons and at that point we can claim that we were joined before joint was cool and that's how it was in our family with each of us appreciating the lives that each other we're pursuing and the careers well you had an older brother who went the service route ahead of you why did you choose the Naval Academy well I chose the Naval Academy to be a Marine actually actually I'm a little unusual in that I knew at a very young age early age and I'm unusual relative to my contemporaries I just knew that I was going to be a military officer in the service of my country for the longest time I thought I was going to West Point and we're going to go under the army and and that was the case all the way until my junior to senior summer when I was invited up by the I was I was a star athlete at my Catholic High School in basketball they the cast service academies were looking at me for to join their teams it was 1970 for most Vietnam and and I was interested and so I went out to visit West Point and after thinking dreaming I knew read everything there was to know about West Point I could tell you all about its traditions I get up there and I walked the ground and I saw it and I came back home and I was confused because it didn't feel right and then I heard about these guys called Marines and the Naval Academy and began to look in that direction you're aware of the the Academy selection process but I I also knew that I could probably find a career in any of the service and so I applied to all the academies and ROTC programs and in hopes of joining the military and becoming an officer and fulfilling my dream unfortunately I had to turn down appointments to the Air Force and they and the West Point before the Naval Academy came in which was really uncomfortable but on the dice right well I rolled the dice but I also did it based on a heart check again following God's grace and and that inner sense of where you need to go and to be and so I hung in there and and coach Smalley and the Naval Academy came through and I was not a primary from my state I went into a pool of candidates and the Academy was able to work me towards a an appointment that from congressman Michaelson and Illinois at the time and and that's how I entered the Naval Academy how did the four years at Annapolis change you well I think that they rounded out the edges on me except I have to tell you I was a history major at an engineering school of 144 credits needed to graduate over a hundred our math science and engineering and you're talking to somebody who did ten fifty on his SATs with with 550 being being verbal than 500 math and so I found the Academy very challenging we also did 21 to 23 credit hours and went to class six days a week when I went and my maximum effort for six straight semesters was at 233 with a D and a 4 credit our engineering or science course and that was all the way until my senior year when I I got into more of my history major and then I I popped up pretty fast 301 and had a little bit higher my second semester so I found the Academy challenging but it was also fulfilling it was everything that I had dreamed it would be and it was the perfect springboard for where I wanted to go a regular commissioned in the service of my country and in this case the Marine Corps I was fortunate to join the Marines and also get a flight slot out of the Academy to go to flight school and so where did you go to flight school well all Marines first go to the basic school and the basic school is six months training where you level set all your Marine officers we all learn the same we also learn basic infantry leadership through the platoon level and that that prepares you to be able to lead 42 Marines on the ground first and so completed that I then had an opportunity there was a delay or a glut of students going through Pensacola and and Milton in Florida those were the training bases for aviators and I had an opportunity I spent some time as a company training officer at the basic school and then I requested to attend the infantry officers course and trained to be an infantry officer the formal training I did well they actually offered me the opportunity to turn down my my MOS selection as an aviator and take a platoon but I had I'd always wanted to fly I wasn't sure how I'd you enjoy it was it sure it was for me but but I knew again that sense is that that's the direction I should go and so I also figure if I get down in Pensacola see how it goes and if not platoon is waiting for me in Okinawa I was already trained Wow well let's talk about going to Beirut I was obviously a hot spot in the early 1980s many folks will remember the tragedy of the Marines being killed at the barracks in 1983 what was your unit and your mission when you were deployed there I was with hmm 263 the blue Eagles that mag 26 second rain aircraft went on the East Coast and we were supporting the marine expeditionary well at that time it was the marine amphibious unit the mouthes deployments this is also during the time of the Cold War so armed al was training ought to support the northern flank Denmark and Norway operations and then we rolled to Beirut when it comes to Beirut for most Marines of that period it divides between before the barracks bombing and after the barracks bomb you know no we were the second group in the window Marines were committed to the security at Beirut and we were at the Beirut Airport that was my first deployment and then my second deployment we were the very last group we did the final pull out of the marine amphibious unit and and the bulk of the forces when when multinational force Lebanon departed 84 . talk about orchestrating that final pull out being the last unit there well thank you there was a drawdown going going on and so I had the position I was the squadron weapons tactics instructor which meant I was a tactical planner and and as forces withdrew during our deployment the possibility of an extremist noncombatant evacuation occur because adversary forces may may have tried to force may have attacked there was also some special operations underway I don't know if you remember mr. Buckley he was the CIA he was kidnapped and during that second phase dance parties from Delta Force showed up and and I had the opportunity honor to plan with them in both cases and so we planned an evacuation of the forces from the camps up north we had a strong point at the consulate right on the K on the northern end of the city and then we also had the Ambassador his residence was up in that fellow lion Hills and so I did a great deal of contingency planning walking the ground and preparing to to extract either forces or or the Ambassador or mr. Buckland mr. Buckley at one point we had Intel that he was being held in a building and near the center of the Beirut city and at a large part and so a lot of the planning was was a hit to where I would lead a division of four we'd land on the road just outside the building it was expected well Delta would take down the building and then we would try to extract it a couple of challenges there were the fact that that we had the element of surprise going in but the area was inundated with Hizballah forces and so that was one of the big debates that we had in discussion and frankly they have they asked my opinion they the Delta advanced force and I looked at the marina like oh sorry I can guarantee I can get you in if it goes hot I'm not sure about getting me out will land but but if you it was a it was a city center covered my high buildings we had to come in there were high trees that were lampposts and so we would be down in a gully so anybody that was up in a building could could shoot down on helicopters helicopters are only lately onwards but and that led to additional planning where it became went from a smaller operation to actually the Mao plan to land a company on a beach about two klicks away to provide a safe so so they went in and it got shut down and we I could also guarantee him that we would try but if we if they shut down the zone or though the helos got shut down and then all of us would extract those two kliks city and then be extracted by the by the rest of the marines contingency plan but it was pretty thoroughly and then we we did all the walkthroughs that we could out at sea for the ambassador's residence it was he was up on a hill overlooking our ravine and we had to basically fly up there the shield security would have to take down some of the trees there and we'd end up landing doing a two-point landing on the back of his terrorists to extract him and then back down and out and all all could be done easily well relatively easily all could be done and accomplished the main challenge we faced at the time I don't know if you were night-vision goggles there's a flying tubes well at the time those were just coming into the force and they were full face plate at that time full face plate looks like a little box that she would like this completely covered and he had two tunes and you had to focus one tube outside and one tube on your instruments because you couldn't see beneath them and and at the time we only had a small number of people actually trained on PBS fives and so I was authorized and it wasn't until I was much more senior to understand the the risk-taking that my squadron commander very Canada did but he authorized me to train air crews at night at sea on PVS fives on the backend of amphibious transport dock ships those are two spot ships and we to get the the needed crews trained on goggles I took the individual each of those pilots and flew training off spot two on the ship to mine to my knowledge that's the it was necessary but it's the only time that we've ever really done that kind of training at sea the chip had to because the ship had red lighting red lighting interfered with the goggles so they were completely black blackened down and except for for what we could see on there on the goggles so we were able to train our our division worth that's four aircraft a cruise on on PBS fives and and we were all set to go what they called as you know with mr. Buckley he was moved out of Beirut and eventually tortured and died and so they Delta lost track of him they departed and then we were just on contingency during that timeframe as to the extract will from the K there was a sea wall and out from the sea wall was a space of about about sixty yards and we planned either land along the seawall and at low tide we could actually land on rocks next to the seawall with sufficient distance between the rotor blades and then our marine reinforcement Marines could climb the seawall reinforced and then push out the perimeter so that we can do the extract again another in extremis extract but we actually the infantry battalion actually built the scaling ladders the type of which you saw down in China I mean if you see that great picture where they they're in the landing craft and they're carrying homemade wooden ladders we actually had them stacked up against the wall on the lph she'd that continuously happen so long story short obviously didn't have to do that when when we did do a final extract it was from that Kay and I was in the last wave we had worried that maybe some would try to strike us but but it didn't happen my my memory from that day is looking over and watching the mayor of Beirut walk up to to our mao commander break open a bottle of champagne and two glasses pour one they had a drink and he walked on board the last wave and we took off it was pearl Harrington last question on Beirut how did you feel how did the other Marines feel about the decision to leave after the barracks bombing was there a sense that there needed to be the fight needed to be pressed to Hezbollah or was it simply a matter of following orders at that point well I can't speak for for everyone I hadn't thought about that in a long time so I think I think this is a case of we trusted our leadership and the decision we are we were there to serve and to fly and to fight in the win and and the president and and our chain of command said the job was done so now we weren't going very far because at the time we maintained a marine amphibious unit three ship armed with a battalion landing team out at sea so so let's leave him Beirut and going back to sea just meant that we were staying in the area and if anything happened we were there for crisis response and for presents and we would come back as swiftly and easily as we left general let's take a quick break we'll be right back with more of your amazing story on Veterans Chronicles we're back on Veterans Chronicles I'm Greg karumba honored to be joined today by retired US Marine Corps Major General Timothy C Hannifin and we just talked about his time in Beirut and sir a little bit later in the 1980s you decided to leave active duty explain why and what you did then well well thank you following my deployments with 263 I was offered an opportunity to attend the marine aviation weapons training squadron one out of months you know in Arizona Mott's one was the elite weapons tactics instructor school what I'd done on the cruise is as we were we were undergoing these plans and we were planning for combat search and rescue recovery of downed aviators if air strikes were things like that I'd kept a regular correspondence and so every WTI does back to the training school they offered me the opportunity to come and instruct there however when I was married had a daughter three years old at the time and we took a look at the assignment great assignment great honor that's where the future commanders and the Corps go however I had been of my first thousand days in the fleet I'd been deployed over 700 M and in either overseas deployments deployments training deployments now that's not unusual for the time if you remember this was this was the President Reagan on the build up we were going in the Marine Corps most ready when the nation was least we were committed to Norway we're committed Europe around the world and it was a high tempo of operations as was Matt's water they were instructors were on the road 280 out of 365 days of the year and in Franklin wasn't sure my marriage could survive that so he took an assignment to as an aircrew training officer and ended up with the additional duty of rear security officer at Fleet Marine Force Pacific headquarters and he had Honolulu Hawaii not a bad second choice I take that now and we went to little makalapa unfortunately my wife developed health issues as a result of environment and probably was stress and unhappiness with the Marine Corps lifestyle as a as it was she she longed to be where she was from Baltimore Maryland and after into the somewhere in the furture first year her her health was declining or she was having more and more issues so moved her off the island but that meant that I was Geographic Bachelor because I had to fulfill the assignment if I was going to was a three-year assignment if I was going to continue my career at the Marine Corps and so I ended up moving into a BOQ down about about three miles from Camp Smith Camp Smith sits up on a giant finger hill virtually almost all of it uphill and I was within running distance and so that's I ran to work and ran back and during that time I had an opportunity or in the evenings I don't know if you recall the mv-22 Osprey tilt-rotor air well that was going to be the new medium with replacement I was enthralled with and so while I was the aircrew training officer and in the evenings since my family wasn't there I had lots of time on my hands and Boyd bars around Honolulu was not a good option so I would go back to work and I wrote a series of three articles on future employment taking what I learned from from my deployment experience and has a WTI and then projecting how it might be used with the new longer range higher speeds capabilities of the v-22 and and so wrote a series of three articles those articles eventually about a year later served the basis I was giving the first of three Roy s Geiger best aviation articles of the Year award by the Marine Corps Association I mentioned that because at plays and later in my career of that connection with the v-22 program so painful conversation with my wife it became clear to me that she could not support a career in the Marine Corps and so I requested to resign I documented her illness and I am a documentary realness and my desire that I would have stayed and the Marine Corps and had I been able to do so but my family wouldn't support it needed to stabilize my family and take care of them Marine Corps offered me a reserve Commission with a flying squadron out of out of Norfolk so and they allowed me to resign except a reserve Commission I moved back to tomorrow and I took a job as a as a gs-13 with with first and an Air Force agency and then eventually ended up over in the State Department as an aspiring diplomat no no less so got back home but I have to unfortunately I need unfortunately probably within six eight months my my wife stated she she did not desire to be married and so at that point I continue to pursue now my career with with the State Department which actually actually I was I was selected to to potentially go to well to either learn Arabic Farsi or dari and I got asked what how do I get selected for that and and the first question I said well you're a marine and you know those are kind of hard living areas but we think we think you'd adapt okay I go okay and at the time I was living I was writing a room up in MacLean there was a room of a lady who's who also was divorced and she had boarders and so there were two of us there and it was a 15 year old daughter's room had lime green wallpaper with little daisies on it and matching bedspread and but but it was good it was good for the time and she was kind and and so I I was living there and I go well okay so hard live and what are you talking about oh well you know you'll be in the capital and but you'll have your own house and in most of these locations probably took maybe a gardener and on the house maybe they'll even be a pool and I'm going hard live at house okay oh and because it is hard you'll get a twenty eight percent pay increase over here kind of essentially gs-13 pay I'm gone mmm okay let's let's see about that I will also say though so I was out I was preparing to pursue this career for a couple years so yeah I liked it but I also made an application to go back on to active duty at that time and if you don't mind I am gonna tell you the major strong story okay so my ear group was closed I looked up the order I called headquarters Marine Corps and I'll call a major strong he was he was the aviation major in charge of process he gonna say captain your groups closed I'm not taking anybody back not gonna not gonna allow don't even bother to fill out to pay for okay well thank you we know right about it thought about it again followed followed my gut and I filled out the paperwork and I sent it in and I sent it in with the return receipt required and then I got three days later I call him up and he was a little exasperated with me and he goes just captain I told you your groups closed we're not gonna take anybody back I'm not even gonna allow your record to go before the board all right sir thank you went back thought about it prayed about it and I decided that I would write to comment on the Marine Corps in a secretary of Navy I would not ask I was not writing to ask to be selected I get a package together I just want her to compete and be allowed so I did right right the comma not gray at the time al gray at the time and Secretary of the Navy and and then I get a phone call from major strong all right captain he's mad I guess your your groups clothes we're not bringing anybody back but your record is going to be allowed to go I went all right sir thank you I kind of did the hands-off thing okay done all I can do God's hands I'll leave it go and and so I'm sitting in my office at work and I get a call from my reserve unit handed me telling me to call this number at headquarters Marine Corps and they really need to talk to you and I go oh okay sir and recognized it so I dialed it up get although its major Strong's private number he goes captain you were selected you were the only one of 495 applicants being brought back on active duty this year and so when do you want to come back on active duty tomorrow I went tomorrow I don't even know how to resign for my organization cuz you've been telling me for six months there was no way this could happen he goes well you better figure it out I I still wasn't sure and I said I'm gonna take a day of vacation and come over and see you well good I need you to come over inside and paperwork anyway so I went over visited him signed paperwork and then and then resigned from from the State Department and came back on active duty went out to Motz and and refresh my flying skills because a little I'd been in a reserved Ian flying I hadn't been doing a high end planning large-scale that that the active duty had been doing and then reported to New River that then joined hmm 266 the fighting Bruins and that's not too long before oh man let me let me I forgot to add one over there this is what I think actually happened I was the only one in 495 brought back but I think I think the board the board of my fellow Marines looked at my resignation letter the reasons for my resignation and the fact that I I said that I was no longer constrained by those and that if given the chance I would like to resume a career in court I had I had performed very well and I had lots of red letters a recommendation but but what I think most probably was the Marines on those boards thinking about and going that they would have made a similar choice to take care of their family exit the service if they had been required and then and they were creating an opportunity for me to come back I was offered a three-year standard written agreement a swag three-year swag is a agreement that basically said I'm a reserve officer on active duty and I get to looks at promotion from captain to major if you make major in the Marine Corps you're automatically a regular officer and you can continue your career otherwise at the end of three years the Marine Corps and I would shake hands they'd say good job well done and no harm no foul right and so that gave me two looks as major when I got back on active duty with 266 I was eventually selected for major and became so when you came back in I believe 1988 is when you came back yes that's right so just a couple years later is when Operation Desert Shield launches where were you at this point and what responsibilities do you have well thank you time I was still with hmm 266 the fighting Griffins Lieutenant Colonel Jack Benton was the squadron commander and at the time with the invasion of Kuwait hmm 365 was the medium lift and 263 out of may 29 were called to join mag 40 and the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade they had been preparing for a northern European training detachment as a brigade level about 16 ships and a 15,000 marine force they need to be rounded out we also at the time had experienced a rotor head problem in 246 where the whole community was down and we were leading replacements so what Jack Patton did lieutenant colonel Patton did was the 8th best rotor heads that we had he put them on aircraft we test fluid and instead of ground turning our ground taxing our way over to them we flew the aircraft so that they knew that they got full of grounds and I joined hmm 365 and became their tactical plans officer and that brigade 4th mAb mag 40 under Colonel Burgess then left for Desert shield/desert storm during the defensive face when were you deployed with them shortly in that August 1990 timeframe and how did you prepare for the hostilities to come well again we need to break it into two phases one is the Desert Shield portion US forces got into the major port facility of algae bio that was the 82nd Airborne Division the maritime all three brigades of the maritime pre position force and one map were offloading through that port there and then fourth bab with the 14 ships was at sea as a called a flexible force during that defensive phase should the Iraqis had have attacked Saudi Arabia and come south then we we were good at her take one of the more challenging jobs of of an amphibious assault across lines of communication and then a fighting retrograde because of the desert terrain these sinkholes Sabra areas there were some lines of communication and supply that would be vulnerable to an attack from the sea and that was going to be fourth brigades under Major General Harry Jenkins job to interdict that during that so we did a number of sea soldier exercises land landings an amphibious exercising and training to to do this with the battalion the Iraqis also had built forts lager forts defensive positions we we practiced vertical assault takedowns of those combination of combined arms with with airstrikes and artillery ceasing probably 30 seconds before the aircraft landed I was a tactical plans officer so I was immersed in all of these contingency plans we also were planning for extensive casualties the USNS mercy and USNS comfort hospital ships were sent over and and it was the first time in a long time but we were potentially looking at mass casualties there's possibility mikhyl bio weapons as well as massed artillery and aviation so there were concerns about that and part of medium the 46s mission is cazza macca well it been a long time since we had had to move large number of casualties and there were fleet gonna be fleet hospitals in saudi arabia but but if we ended up going further north it was the hospital ships and so one of the jobs I did was went to the hospital ships and walked the deck and they had one landing spot per helo and because of our experience of split aargh split Amphibious Ready Group operations and operating multiple 46s off of the back end of those two spot ships we laid out we went from one to five landing spots that we could work for on the deck itself in the four corners and then on the housing behind the behind there little control tower was would bear the weight of a Huey and so we wrote up the I wrote up the procedures and the medical regulating procedures we also we also set up a system of casualty collection and so we basically turned it into a conveyor belt so that was uh that was part one that was all part of the defensive that carried over in the part two part two there were a total of five major exercises the second one was actual assault into Kuwait at first we were going to land in the South would practice that to see some key terrain see some see some roadways and that also would then go north to cut off the forces and that and we practice that so during the defensive frame phase the it it always included a fighting retrograde and I curtain a fire and air strikes as you're withdrawing and the offensive phase I had two battleships seven naval gunfire ships at all the air power the two carriers could give me and the other planners to lay down a curtain that we were coming ashore and stay on the shore with all that now as you know happily the the marine map the Arab Corps driving up along the coast and the army with its left hook they after all the pun line they had taken from air strikes there was no need for us to to land instead we did an effete landing to the north during the during the second day of the war a turn away where there's something planned and orchestrated where we flew up as if we are landing north giving the signature of electronic signature of a much larger force and holding the five divisions up there to give the army more time to swing the left to close the back door on them and they those five to seven divisions added to to the divisions that were decimated as they were trying to withdraw later and that was the second day of the war yes the ground campaign was extraordinarily quick and extraordinarily successful 100 hours and hard to hard to beat that yeah it was unexpected we had we had actually expected a tougher fight these divisions and these soldiers were veterans of eight years of war with Iran they had they had good reputation particularly the Republican Guard units so so we didn't we went into it knowing or thinking that was not gonna be easy so where do you go after Desert Storm - one of the best years of my life I looked at Newport Rhode Island I was while I was I was at sea for eight or nine months with the Amphibious Ready Group but I got I was notified that I was selected for the Naval War College in Newport Rhode Island and and so I went up there and I I was fortunate I got back in April to New River stayed with 365 I did not go back to my home squadron stayed with 365 until about June I went up to Newport Rhode Island and I found and rented an 18th century townhome newly renovated in the center of Newport Rhode Island stumbling drunk distance from every bar in downtown new Newport Rhode Island and and and then I went to the Naval War College during that year and I showed up actually I didn't know I they kept me orders so that I went up July and I showed up probably 3040 days early I've been at sea and coming off the war and the senior marine was Stan Pratt Stanley Pratt I will always say God bless Stanley Pratt because I showed up and and he didn't know what to make of me because from from his timeline I wasn't supposed to show up for another six weeks that I was there with orders and he didn't really have anything for me and so he goes as well get something moved in and you know check in with me and I didn't know about every other day and so I did that I didn't realize at the time what he was doing but I do now and then and then the next week he goes all right well check in with me next week and I'll which know if I have anything for you and I went okay sir will do I call them up and and I made your Hannifin sir right and what do you want and I go up sir even he told me to to check in I guess oh yeah I was gonna see if I had anything yes give me a second puts the phone down Russell's all these papers and then he goes nope nope I don't think I've got anything for you I'll tell you what if you leave town I do need you to notify me I know that major I'll see you on 13 August which was the report day for everybody else and so god bless damn print I had five weeks Newport Rhode Island I notified him when I left the city to go go sightsee someplace but I got my house in order and I understood what he was doing he was testing to see whether or not you know what kind of guy was I was I was I at least going to check in and keep him informed that was the little test those first couple of weeks and after that free rein so god bless stamp right after the Naval War College more focused on the Osprey pretty controversial in the 90s there have been some accidents along the way but it ultimately became one of our great transport vehicles so explain your role in Osprey debates of the 90s thank you I mentioned the articles so that that showed my interest and some of my innovative thinking about him additionally I had a good friend Gary Jesolo who was the b22 medium left officer then of course Marine Corps aviation hallway you have to be selected by the deputy commandant for aviation and his team and it's another one of those key billets to have for a longer term career and gary was required to to submit three fully qualified people and and I called him up and asked if I could be one of them and and so I was selected I became the ch-46 sea knight requirements officer and a v-22 requirements officer in aviation pure chemical weapons eventually I moved over at aviation plans and policy as the v-22 Norway officer so I was 1992 to 295 now shortly after well within that year after we had two accidents and I lost good friends flying flying the Osprey in both of those one in Quantico and one at New River and the aircraft went on probation but the people have worked the program and you need to understand the the design and of the v-22 is true rocket science it's an amazing aircraft and and it was you know everything at that point were hand-built prototypes for all those years until we got to the rate of national production so great aircraft and operationally everything so the aircraft went on probation I worked through that and but but for the Marine Corps to get it it was all hands on deck and the Marine Corps through the Commandant and all the support of Congress to eventually gain a low rate of initial production decision and we did that after three constant operational effectiveness evaluations those are studies that look at the cost benefit of different types of fleets and I led that effort on the staff doing those analyses and also doing the detail support work to show the cost benefit the effectiveness of for the ground scheme maneuver in modeling modeling was much more basically so we we had to come up with a way to model how the speed range difference made operationally to a tempo and we did that I was asked my thoughts I said well we probably need a tactical situations in other words break up break up the maneuver into segments model each of those segments that we could and then accumulative result would show show the advantage and so I had a great deal of input on setting up the tactical situations Colonel Bob Magnus later Assistant Commandant general bog Magnus was head of a ppm he was running those studies and so we the combined combination of the performance of the aircraft program itself in come that from the accidents implementing the fixes and safe operations plus the compelling data of showing the cost benefit of the capability versus the cost of larger or more numerous fleets one that day and so in in 1994 we Marine Corps was given low rate of initial production procurement government decision and then they never looked back the aircraft actually today and it's it's hard to tell when you google it it is this it's the highest demand most safe aircraft in the inventory yes highest demand most safe aircraft in the inventory because of the speed range capability and ours it flies like 130 when it's in the airplane mode and it lands like eight and feels like a ch-53 echo Super Stallion when you're in the landing and and so it's a great aircraft it's it's working on it's still working on availability challenges that it has but performance wise what it does for us forces the difference it makes it and we just barely scratched the surface what we're going to be able to do at that platform I love flying I have over 3,000 hours and almost about 3400 hours and you know ch-46 sea knight the battle frog was my aircraft I was prepared to fly and fight but I have to tell you I love a v-22 just wanted to you know what I just throw up and I touch it like a little child the beach it is a great airplane and we are just at the beginning of what that aircraft's going to continue to do for us horses I've got a very good friend who flew two tours of Ospreys in Iraq US Marine Corps and so I'm a little familiar but to hear that history and background of how it became the the absolutely essential craft that it is now is really really interesting well I had the honor of being the wing forward commanding general over with oversight for that first combat deployment of vmm 263 so there's there is there's linkage between from from them and other decisions on that fantastic let's talk about 1997 you're a lieutenant colonel and a squadron commander of h MN 261 operation noble obelisk what is that about first colonel later Lieutenant General Sam Holland was the - to MU commander and his mu which consisted of three ships and transport dock amphibious dock and a LHD sole carrier also support aircraft carrier had to cover Black Sea operations as well as deploy early for potential African noncombatant evacuation operations out of first Kinshasa it's a year and then noble obelisk we actually deployed early to prepare for that and pre-staged into or Brazzaville opposite from kim sasha and then as we we weren't coldly for that contingency operation that once we boarded the ships then sierra leone erupted noble Ovilus was was a noncombatant evacuation and it was the largest since up to that time period since the faction from saigon but i will say it was eventually eclipsed in 2006 by the beirut evacuate was done so it was actually three three separate noncombatant AK evacuations in less than five days moving over ten thousand Allied and US citizens out of Sierra Leone and under the ship through processing and then up to the airport at Conakry where they were then flown to Western Europe or or the United States the first two the first two non-combatant evacuations in the landing zones were were not opposed the third one we were told that the rebel army was gonna take us on and so that one we expected to be be hot I think I think that they may change their mind because we came ready ready ready to fight but it was it was ten thousand people in less than five days three separate operations we at one point a gunboat started hitting for our elk attacks out at sea just one of the one of the stories and I was out of orbiting and so I went over over to that and I called over one of my cobras Randy Smith was the aircraft commander and we didn't know what they wanted but they kept closing on the elk act and the elk act tried to fire up its engines and installed and so this gunboat is continuing to bear down at a steady eight or ten knots but but they weren't Manning their guns with in the end what I give you the end first in the end they probably were just curious because they'd never seen an air-cushion vehicle many Americans we didn't know that we didn't know what side their which side were they government rebels and so cold-blood Smith over and he flew tried to turn him away by flying to interposing and then finally I wanted him to come into a hover between between the L CAC and the ship and don't know zon prepared to engage them at that point captain realized what was going on that we weren't when we were being friendly we were turning them away and and he sailed off merrily and decided he was only curious message received yes but his amazing operation and that was in the first month of a six-month deployment and in the Mediterranean you know campaign season really is is that summer season but surprisingly it was quiet most of the deployment and we came back safely didn't lose anybody where were you on 9/11 and how did you process that event thank you for asking well after my command Tora selected for the National War College I was then I did well and then I was selected to go to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the j7 training and joint vision transformation division and so a 911 meet a general leader Lieutenant General Henry J asthma and Marine Corps was the to start boss and I was in the joint vision transformation division and had a night of television new new spaces and I had a television up and I watched the watch the first plane hit and then was watching the second walked over to general Osman and said hey or serve they're going to call the way the crisis action because on the Joint Staff we were all part of 24-hour cycle for crisis Action Teams that that would do planning and supported the chairman and president down the road and and he said just stand by be sure you know where people are and and so I walked back into my space and right then an announcement over the 1mc we've had an incident we've had an incident a potential security breach we've had an incident now just days previously we had an intruder somebody dressed up and I get an army uniform and tried to come into the Pentagon and they had called away security a similar one and and I'm looking at the screen and I'm watching I'm watching the building and and what I'm watching actually is the choice of those hundreds of people that had to choose to step off the edge of the building or and and one in particular was was two Americans a lady and an african-american gentleman who reached out took each other's hands and then stepped off and so I'm watching that this announcement goes off and then a minute later the phone rings better pick it up and Colonel Hanif and joint transformation division and and it's my wife and she goes are you okay are you okay and I go I go I'm fine and right then up on the screen aircraft impacts the Pentagon flashes now my wife is lives in Springfield and she goes I'm coming to get me tickets no dear thank you I'm okay I don't know when I'll be home but but I'm okay I've got a camp for my people and then we have to we'll be here as long as we need to be here and right then they called away the evacuation of the Pentagon building where was your office okay well the aircraft came in on Navy and Marine Corps spaces headquarters Marine Corps spaces and we actually had some of our joint j7 training spaces on the ground floor but abla and then there was the courtyard which has the Ground Zero cafe and then right across so in a direct line with where the aircraft impacted but across the courtyard now there are people and that I I know the people on that side of the building felt a shudder there are others that say they felt shutters or I was in my my very secure Joint Chiefs of Staff spaces there are no windows I didn't really I didn't really feel a shudder I heard the noises in the announcement from the announcements so had the aircraft hit the center of the and continued forward then yeah it would have been right into our spaces so we had actually practiced the evacuation several times as a building and at the time there are about 38,000 people that were working with Pentagon on the side where the aircraft struck yes chaotic counting for people the rest of the Pentagon it was very orderly we walked out everybody grabbed grab their bags I checked we locked ourselves we did everything as you would expect and then walked out and mustard and then we're all standing out and the word comes if there's another aircraft airborne don't know whether it's going to come to the Pentagon or or another target and so they they tell everybody - they want us to go so I walk up general husband and I say sir what what do you want call away which which watch section things like that he said I've got to walk in and do that but I've called the way the first one the rest I want everybody else to go home except all the other agencies had done the exact same thing so the subways were shut down no trains were running and because they were what they were worried about his bombs and the in the subways blowing up a tunnel and then all of the people had hit the streets and roads at the same time so so they were my friends and I walked - we didn't know that at the time as we walked away from the Pentagon towards Crystal City and NAVSEA that FC buildings as the restaurants we saw the traffic was jammed and that was by this time was about 1 o'clock and I turned to the two officers I was with and said I think we got to get some lunch because we're not going anywhere and we walked into right across from us was a Chinese restaurant and the owner comes running up and goes are you the NAVSEA party of 40 and I looked up over the bar TV wasn't on and I go I think you should turn on your TV and I don't think they're coming today are you still serving because yes okay eventually the boys ran and everybody got home we had a recall roster and then everybody was told to show up the next day now on the news that night I don't know if you recall the you know some enterprising newsmen went to the Taliban up in Afghanistan and they were all talking about being safe in their mountains Mountain stronghold you know yeah yeah try and come get us I tell you in the Pentagon it was almost Cathedral like Church like you know in my view in the days of like the halls were filled with smoke the fire had gone up into the rafters and I was built in the 1940s had metal roof all those rafters all those years were Kendall it was what wood framed and so you could walk to the a quarter passageways look across and you'd see the firemen fighting the fires across on the roofs and in the buildings continue and smoke for several days but but everybody it was quiet not not fearful mad resolved people talking to each other talking among ourselves going yes we're gonna climb those rocks and we're gonna take you out hand grenades and satchel charges more than 3,000 Americans were killed more than at Pearl Harbor yeah you'll see us again and that's how it was and people were I'd say it took three four days after the fire went out for the smell of smoke to go away and then and then everybody started rounding up rounding up work planning execution things of that nature on the joint joint staff country going to war and later later that year I found out I was selected for for command of Marine Aircraft Group 42 j7 also had the war plants division next door and during those days I had a chance to help Colonel Jim Laster later Lieutenant General Jim Laster Marine Corps look at some of the war plans I also found out I was going to command a reserve air group and so I dug into to see where my air group was and they were pretty high on the other list of units that got to go I wasn't scheduled until till to take over till July but I knew that that they they were among the first aviation reserve aviation units that wouldn't be activated to come that's July of 2002 and July 2002 is when I took command in Atlanta Georgia of Marine Aircraft Group 42 so 2002 Operation Enduring Freedom is already underway and the anticipation and build-up for Iraqi Freedom is is beginning what does that mean for you well for for my reserve units the 2002 was Enduring Freedom but it wasn't me we did not go to stability operations until the 2003 timeframe so I can talk about a during freedom my reserve outfit I'm sorry the preparations for the run-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom that I took a look and then I came to the air group really determined to get them ready to go and so I came commander's guidance which basically we would be ready to we'd be capable of mobilizing and pack out within five days of notification and that's what we practiced it which is an unheard of figure four reserve units but but my staff Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Holder there was a Excel Lieutenant Colonel Ken Fischler captain Ron Higgins my counter my eighth commander and deputy commander was a colonel Reserve Colonel John Crowley who was a American Airlines pilot but also a reserve colonel was in charge of our ace and so John and I got together and we laid out all the plans to get the reserve units ready so that we we would be able to meet that five day mark shots medical records dental gear on hand we also did a couple innovative things and that we crosswalk their civilian life skills earning skills and their military skills and particularly for the ACE for the air combat element staff that I had which would be capable of running an air group would crosswalk them and got them training to be able to augment both active-duty Air Wing active duty group and MEF staff slots and once we had that laid out and we had them trained or we got them additional funding to train them and John and I'm John I and Jenna Colonel Kim Fischler went out to third Marine Aircraft wing the then Major General leader commandant Jim Amos was the Wing Commander and and sat and talked with each of his air group CEOs and laid out both the capabilities of my units because they would likely go to that wing as well as their qualifications and you have to understand reservist when they get off active duty often are all the patch wires they've got extensive deployment combat experience their instructors they've chosen to transition but they stayed active in the reserves so whereas many of my cockpits had 2,000 hours of experience in it whereas active duty might be eat under the house all of my planners had have been in planning exercises for 10 years and working we also did another thing because of the nature of the war and the speed of which and we thought it would more to happen we trained to really security elements within each of the squadrons basically platoons of Marines and very security so they could provide their own internal security well we went out to to the active duty and they wanted everybody we could give when they called us away and that's what happened my holy staff when they when they moved to deploy for Iraqi Freedom my 149 of my my officers in the West were activated and the first to go my aviation logistics elements was activated and went to the West Coast replacement mouth 16 was deployed into country so they they backfilled and then they rotated people back and forth in the theater and and then I I got the rest after this after we moved to stability operations it was clear that they were gonna need everyone we were gonna rotate and brought everybody back after that first year what I want to tell you two amazing things are a story of the dedication of your citizen marine to remain reservist okay so we're watching the spin up you know everybody's spinning up getting ready to go and my reservists I've been telling them all along get ready and and I went to them and I basically said look I think that we're going to be activated I'll give you the opportunity to go to the individual Ready Reserve to leave the unit this was I took over in July this was September if you go now nothing to be sad if you show up for drill on in September and after that I'm gonna hold you accountable on that and and so the September came rolling around I had 2500 Marines and in three different locations and when we took muster zero I left now you have to understand your reserve us many are small business owners many are in businesses that that can't take gaps yes there's a law that says that that employers can try you know employers to hold those positions and they if they unless they have to downsize and in many cases they do and get rid of the positions because they can't afford to keep them so so they all volunteer knowing that they probably will not have a job I think the major corporations Home Depot god bless Bob Nardelli they do they hold it they did amazing things they maintained some cases they gave him their pay and benefits basically said if you here here by September as I as I mentioned then when we took muster zero everybody was in now after after those units had been deployed and augments we've been given apartments regularly we did a couple things that were also innovative when they came back they didn't come back as a group like they left we had little welcome-home ceremonies where we fell out with the colors and and did did a hand salute and welcomed him back home so every small group of could be one deaf one to ten out of those large welcome home ceremony if you remember after the of' one marine started to withdraw and then they went back in and then they were going to be in to augment for stability operations for the for the duration at that point it was going to take everybody and I could see that so one of the weekend drills I had everybody in the hangar deck it was in the winter and I had all the units standing by and I walked from unit to unit and I talked to him about what was coming and that they would likely be activated for up to two years that was my guess I did ask their opinion would it be better to be activated here come off or and then activated you know will come off for two years and then activate it again and and hands down they all said it's better that we be activated to continuous years and then have the five off before her next activation war contingency and so that was what I reported back in more Flores and was a strong advocate and eventually that became not because of my testimony because of the feedback from the reserves that became part of the policy but but that was what my reserves I walked around now and I basically said gonna be activated for two more years I know many of you have already been a year away I'm asking you to stay I'm asking you to stay and to serve the country needs you your fellow Marines nature needs to go home talk to your wives I need you to go home and then come back and and if you can't and I'd like to talk with you and next drill I'll see everybody next row and I went around and saw I had Marines and in New Orleans as well as in Norfolk and I would rather saw those units on that weekend as well same same discussion so second time same question okay how did we lose 0-0 2,500 of all those that are didn't have those several hundreds that are had been deployed and of those that had already seen the deployment of what it meant and knew it nobody developed you know injuries nobody avoided all those great Americans did I answered the call of their country why don't what I did and I and I have to tell you the businesses around Atlanta Publix Bob Nardelli home Home Depot coca-cola Pepsi major corporations that everybody worked for they they did their best to hold those jobs or said if we can't hold it then they kept them in many cases like Home Depot I know for a fact he maintained all the medical benefits or maintained medical and salary for the families so that they didn't have a lifestyle impact for example I had that small business owners that were were making six figures as computer their own and you know with their clients well they get activated they're making corpus pay and so there were businesses that were that were helping to make sure those businesses prosper or or at least those families had had didn't suffer to crate so just very grateful to the people of Atlanta they were supportive of all the families it's a very military oriented but they also were supportive of Toys for Tots for example my my unit was the was responsible for for the Marine Reserve Toys for Tots program across the 22 counties of the Greater Atlanta area that it takes a great deal of effort out of the active duty and the reserves but they were going to deploy and I went to business leaders actually the general manager of fox5 pulled in major business leaders and called the meeting and I basically said this is what's coming my units are going to deploy I don't know if I can sustain Toys for Tots for the children of Atlanta if I don't get augmented I don't get help and and I can look house watch them all shift and I go don't worry we're gonna do the work what I'm really asking for at that time they had rolodex of stills I'm asking for for you you know through your your introductions to people that may be willing to help her to donate and volunteer and then we'll do the work that's our job do to work with who we have here and and the community did an amazing job for example and I didn't realize there were so many Christmases culturally I want to just let you know that but Toys for Tots runs from day after Thanksgiving until about mid January and and in that time both the years we went from zero to three hundred eighty-five thousand toys collected and distributed from about it eight hundred sites in that time period as well as nearly four thousand dollars in donations that we had to double account for and and ensure that the money one where it was supposed to go some of that money is used to go to people like Big Lots who will sell large contingencies of toys because what happens is people dharm generously donate toys but but the ages vary so much so yeah everybody gives little kits nobody gives much to fourteen to sixteen to seventeen year olds and so you can use that cash sometimes it goes to the Toys for Tots Foundation and then you tell them what they need and then oh I'll cut the check to the business itself and that's kind of how it works so so and we had volunteers to who did Toys for Tots across those counties it was it was amazing amazing Home Depot donated $50,000 in shelving Bob Nardelli and his team they sent a team out there and they visited us our first year and we were sorting the toys in a donated warehouse that the individual donated and but we had giant bags of you know glad banks filled with toys by age group and they walked out - and walk down saw us and said alright we know what you need and the next day delivery $50,000 worth of collapsible shell that that you could reconfigure and rearrange I had a Chief Warrant Officer Pam Ryman I had a was in charge of our our our team of Marines and volunteers her her sister mrs. Weatherly a lieutenant colonel marcia place handled our peo that year a corporal named Dustin Wilks wrote the theme song that went national called one toy at a time so it was adopted he actually later with the Nashville and has pursued a a country country music career they traveled around the country doing that and it was amazing second year Bob Nardelli you know they go they always come up and sing what do you need you're not allowed to ask for anything it's well whatever you like like to do frankly that's that's how it is and I go okay got it Home Depot public Home Depot again donated all the trucks that went around all those sites gas and insurance Publix set up locations that every one of its stores and then donated to buy toys for their own age groups that didn't do it Pepsi and Coke we're looking for sponsorships Fox 5 News made their own commercial using Atlanta Marines and we had a volunteer Santa that don't get to look like Santa and and very blessed very blessed Governor Perdue signed a proclamation designating you not only designated ring from the micro birthday but a second one for Toys for Tots advocating that everybody across the state support Toys for Tots and truly grateful to to the Patriots and the Greater Atlanta area and all that they did for that program and their treatment of us it's a wonderful program and the fact that it was remained a high priority even with all these other commitments speaks well at the core and certainly if you and those that you worked with as the war continued in Iraq 2005-2006 that area and even beyond it came from the most difficult fighting and one of the most difficult spots for that Ln Bar province and that's where your group ended up yes well thank you so I left I left command in 2004 I went to Quantico was in work for general mattis and the capability development directorate general mattis recently the sec death but a legend leader in the Corps and i work for two two brigadier General's and then I was the deputy director under him on capability development Directorate he I never saw anybody work as hard as general mattis he he works the work of two men yet he's courteous and thoughtful of everybody around him I know everybody hears Mad Dog but but he's a true gentleman and worried about the working hours of those people around him he had to perform but if you're performing and he was worried that you're wrong is doing doing that and so had the opportunity to work under him Brigadier General Tom Conant and was the capability tour director I was the deputy down at Quantico handling day-to-day and we were we were figuring new equipment for the Marines getting them the the battle gear that they needed particularly to combat infantryman there and and I worked on requirements and meeting those those programs during those years I was very blessed that I I was I was up for Brigadier General and was not selected my first time but I was very blessed to have another opportunity and the second time and I was selected in general mattis I was working for general mattis at the time and and then was selected to become the assistant Wing Commander and go forward into Iraq in 2007 a lot of opportunity there I went to his second aircraft wing under major and then Major General later lieutenant general can't Gluck as the Wing Commander and then in January 2007 I went forward as the air wing commander and the base commander at al-assad second Marine Aircraft wing at that time was 6,000 marine and sailors about 128 aircraft it grew to the surge occurred during that 2007 2007 was a turning point in Al Anbar and in all of Iraq he had the surge in Baghdad with General Petraeus and clear and hold approached Al Anbar was an economy a force but it was also a turning point in that it was world 12 tribes 12 sheiks of sheikhs Sunni tribes who were the centerpiece of a lot of the resistance Major General Walt Gaskin later lieutenant general and his deputy was Brigadier General John Allen John Allen later General John Allen who John's job was to work their relationships with with the Sunnis and with the government for LA and Barr province and he did that by what we termed a helicopter diplomacy we were at his service if he told us he needed to go someplace anytime anywhere John Allen got got it and my my team knew that's what they had to do to [Music] January I went over in January of 2007 and I had never been to Iraq I I did not deploy I'd stayed and taking care of the families of all my units and gotten them ready in 2002 to 2004 I went over early and I did a battlefield reconnaissance at the time the second model for did their battlefield reconnaissance several months earlier I had not joined the wing yet and the combat also had not joined have not made his decision to go with a full up marine air-ground Task Force with everyone at the same with with general officer commanders of the air ground combat ground combat element and logistics elements the a since time was a was run by Colonel Michelob who did a superb job and so I came over early and in the battlefield circulation I spent some time with hmm 364 under Lieutenant Colonel Shawn Killeen purple foxes they were flying castle back and they were the castle back distant named squadron at out of Takata Muirfield and at the time fighting was pretty heavy and from from that January all the way until early September of seven and I know it we eventually built a level 3 facility at al-assad and we were running 25 to 50 casualties of weight through there from the engagements so they're very busy squadron and I spent time walking walking with the units and and in particular I spent some time with with a one of the Picasso vac air crews captain Jennifer Harris was the squadron WTI I always when I visited my squad room visits I sit with commander in the sergeant major and then I if I was going to fly with them I'd ask him to you know put me if I didn't want to fly with with senior officers I'm wanted to fly with the up-and-comers people whose names I should remember and who will one day command and I showed up and Shawn King says Jennifer Harris is one of our two WTI's and she's the night she's on night medevac sort of aren't you walking over and I go it's ok I can find my way and walked over and I spent time and i was WTF and so the vti is always that one another you're a patchwork how good are you really how much do you know really this was their second combat tour and so we start talking it starts out very very friendly but I'm I'm really interested because I'm thinking of my aviation scheme maneuver and so I start peppering her and first lieutenant and land actor it was you who is their co-pilot you know their questions and and finally she she take a size it says sir would you like come in my office and we'll talk because I was asking her really in-depth and she recognized it wasn't going to be a short conversation and we covered the battlespace from her perspective they have spent probably an hour and a half talking tactics her callsign by the way was a tiller not because of all the negatives associated with Attila the Hun but because of her aggressiveness she she was a sound aggressive thoughtful pilot and leader and that's what I walked away from and then walked over and spent time with the calves of a corpsman and and actually talked to all the aircrew as well and got their perspective flight operations altitudes things like that that becomes important because that aircrew was was morphine one to four days after I took command and Alomar Jennifer Harris was on a casa vac mission to pick up blood and Baghdad and on her way back home and they flew into a ambush a laid ambush with heavy machine guns that got her braking and a perfect one of a kind up the rear end missile shot that struck the aircraft and turn the back in into flames and and she and the crew weren't at 1500 feet per my orders because our aviation survivability equipment was good against the missiles that we had at about 125 feet the the drivetrain system in the back disconnected and the aircraft fell I had I had had the opportunity to meet all but corporal Sabre who was the he was on an orientation flight one the news squadron was coming in and Cobra Sabre was from 262 Deborah Harris and the crew and and to to her credit she died doing what she loved doing she also to her credit and had come off nights to fly days she could have stayed five nights but she came off the flight days to give some of the other air crews a break because she had been on nights for a while she and first she and her aircrew were also the four days away from being on the advance party to go home so I was it was tough loss tough loss for the purple foxes Colonel clean and in for us and but I'm also grateful that I had a chance to meet and shake the hands and thanked every one of the people except except the one that I had about him I had an opportunity to meet beforehand but that kicked off the first week of my command tour in in Iraq is CG sucker my lord and also CG al-assad a lot of you can imagine there was a lot of discussion I had moved everybody out of a lot to tactics not to higher altitudes so we went back over over the reasons for doing that and they were still sound it just turned out to be one of those lucky shots that the survivability Crooklyn didn't get and no one saw actually for a longest time we thought it was a hydraulic fire that had a hydraulic leak that had combusted we thought that for over a week until the insurgents posted a video actually animating so we adjusted our tactics and said goodbye and the purple foxes had to do what I told them was their expectation now one of my speeches when units when I met units for the first time and when I when I met me and it's coming in because they were rotating on seven-month employments I was there over over a year I was basically told them I can't guarantee you won't have you won't have an aircraft loss you won't have an accident you won't lose comrades but I can guarantee what you'll do the next day you'll get up you'll climb in your cockpits and you'll go fly and fight better than you did the day before I said our ground brothers and sisters getting their Humvees every day they go on their Parral patrol routes they get shot up they get blown up they go back to base camp I get up the next day and they do again we will show no less courage we will show no less dedication so that's what you're gonna do you'll have a chance say goodbye here and then you'll have another chance to say goodbye when you we get home but that's our expectation and and God bless every I only had to two units was losses second one was dry ice 41 there was a army in up ch-47 at 2500 feet on a test top they had their transmission seized toward toward self out the aircraft fell 2500 feet and we lost five great soldiers as an example of that though that unit had their memorial service that night and the minute that ended they had to walk out and do a company vertical assault on night-vision goggles in support of a takedown of an insurgent housing complex great soldiers we all we have well another arrest we also know were there to do or duty and whatever fight were they did when they were to make sure that my friends and comrades that lose their lives don't lose it for no reason so and and I can I can say at least during my time frame was the turning point al-anbar that wasn't wasn't just the reawakening yeah it was the reawakening but that was built on years of everybody's efforts thousands of Marines and Marines leaders multinational force less and general Gascon and all of us had the privilege of being there to watch that come to fruition to contribute to it watch it come to fruition as we close here general Hannifin I'm guessing he'll probably reference what you just mentioned about the quality of the men and women who you served with but when you look back at essentially 35 years in uniform plus your additional years at the Academy what comes to mind most what are you most proud of when it comes to the service you've given to our country thank you there's a long list of accomplishments I will have to say that year interacting in command of a combat wing and two airfields five for operating bases and al-assad probably is the high point of my my personal command for my units the state visit by the President of the United States which helped Anbar the turning point my wing my wing general Gaskin called me up basically said May 1839 is going to show up on your show up on your flight line let him in let him land and then you meet with them those the advance party from the White House in four days we put together a state visit that include the National we planned an executor to state visit all the support operations were for both president and the national chain of command needed to do at the tower at the base of the tower of the al-assad and we had the president of Iraq Prime Minister the president of Kurdistan all coming to meet and discuss the twelve shakes up to that point we had been fighting pretty hard as I mentioned probably 25 to 50 casualties a week and I was averaging about 50 airstrikes a week the President had that meaning the sheiks decided to join the government and join the government forces and Anbar turned or night I did eight the airstrikes the rest of September after the president left and nothing 0 from October to February I was turning over every before I was used on every sortie fixed-wing sortie I had I was then turning him over to to general Major General hurdling who was eminem north to the direct support of first tanks first tank division up there but what I'm most proud is is as I said in four days we put together this state visit all the security required the whole national chain of command flying in from around the world Secretary Rice as the Sachdev the chairman of the Joint Chiefs general pace and we planned it I'm very blessed that that my g3 was Colonel caveman Holsworth and his team of planners did such an amazing job my staff sat in my aide-de-camp worked which was Janine garner and Jamie Brandt were key and handling all the protocol for for this and setting up those arrangements we accomplished all that all the press including Katie Kirk got a great Katie Couric story oh I'll tell you sometime if you want to hear it and and all of that in four days we didn't drop a drunk a combat sortie and would protect the president United States and in the end that helped contribute to to the success that we enjoyed in Al Anbar I'm most proud of that general we can't thank you enough for your time today and we thank you most of all for your tremendous service to our country thank you sir very much thank you retired US Marine Corps Major General Tim Hannifin I'm Greg caramba this is Veterans Chronicles

Channel: American Veterans Center

Views: 51,062

Keywords: AVC, American Veterans Center, veteran, veterans, history, army, navy, air force, marines, coast guard, military, navy seal

Id: C3hRZZFipP4

Length: 106min 58sec (6418 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 09 2020