John M. Paxton, Jr.
John M. Paxton Jr. ( born June 25, 1951 in Chester, Pennsylvania) is an American general and since December 2012 Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps.
Military career
Training and first years of service
After Paxton 1974, the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York had with the degree of Bachelor of Science and completed a Master of Science in Civil Engineering, he entered the service of the U.S. Marine Corps and went through the cadet program of the Officer Candidate School and was in the same year to the Second promoted Lieutenant. After the completion of the Basic School at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, he became the Airborne training at the Airborne School of the U.S. Army to Fort Benning, Georgia, mixed, and then in 1975 as a platoon leader of a platoon of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd U.S. Marine Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 1st Marine Brigade, Kaneohe, Hawaii, used. He served two years in the Bravo Company, at the end as its executive officer. In 1977, he became the fourth U.S. Navy infantry regiment of the U.S. 3rd Marine Division in Okinawa, Japan, treated and served as a regimental training officer and then as Executive Officer of the golf and the Headquarters Company of the 2nd Battalion.
In October 1978 Paxton returned as First Lieutenant returned to the United States and served in the Marine Barracks Washington as a platoon leader of Alpha company and then as Barack officer in the headquarters company. 1979 Paxton was promoted to Captain and took over until 1981 the post of company commander of Bravo Company. In 1981 he was again transferred to Fort Benning and graduated from the Infantry Officer Advanced Course of the U.S. Army. Subsequently, he became the first U.S. Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California, treated and served as company commander of Lima Company, and then as operations officer ( S-3) of the 3rd Battalion, 5th U.S. Marine Regiment. While this use, he completed another foreign assignment with the U.S. 3rd Marine Division.
Service as a staff officer
After he was promoted to Major, he took over from July 1985 to 1988, the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office in New York City. In July 1988 he received his transfer to the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College in Quantico, Virginia. From 1989 to 1991 was followed by another foreign assignment. Paxton served two years as amphibious operations and executive officer of the crisis response team of the Combined Forces Command Korea, the U.S. Forces Korea in South Korea.
1991 Paxton was to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, added and took over, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, the post of staff officer for operations ( G3) of the II Marine Expeditionary Force.
From April 1992 to June 1994, he commanded, also at Camp Lejeune, the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Marine 2nd U.S. Marine Division, which served as the Battalion Landing Team of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. His battalion was together with the aircraft carrier battle group of the USS America as landing troops of the U.S. 6th Fleet ( LF6F 2-93 ) and Joint Adaptive Task Force 93-2 in support of operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and later as a rapid reaction force ( Quick Reaction Force, QRF ) of the United Nations in Mogadishu, Somalia, used.
Back in the United States was Paxton 1994-1995 Federal Executive Fellow for the Study of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution.
From June 1995 on, he headed the department of strategic planning in the planning, strategy and operations at Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps Department and served from June 1996 as executive assistant and Marine Corps Advisor to the Under Secretary of the Navy (Eng. about Navy Undersecretary of State ). In this use, he served until 1997 and was promoted in this period to the Colonel.
Then Paxton served three years in the U.S. 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton. From June 1997 to June 1998 he served as Assistant Chief of Staff of the Division, in charge of operations ( G3). In June 1998, he took over until June 2000, the command of the 1st Marine Infantry Regiment.
After this command troops, he studied for a year as a U.S. Marine Corps Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. In July 2001 he took over the post of director of the Programs Division in the Office of the Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps for programs and resources at the headquarters of the U.S. Marine Corps in the Defense Ministry, a position he held until August 2003.
Service in the rank of general
In August 2003, he took over as Commanding General of the Western Recruiting Region and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, responsible for the basic training of all Marines, which are west of the Mississippi recruited.
On 8 August 2006 Paxton took over the post of Commanding General of the U.S. 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton. This command he was then on 22 May 2007 surprise to his deputy Brigadier General Richard P. Mills branch to take up the post of chief of staff of the Multi- National Force Iraq ( MNF -I) under General David H. Petraeus in Iraq.
On 13 March 2008 Paxton was for the post of Director of Strategic Planning and Policy ( J -5) nominated in the Joint Staff and will detach after promotion to Lieutenant General John F. Sattler on this post. The post of Chief of Staff of the MNF-I gave it a little later on to Major General Kenneth J. Glueck, Jr.. In July 2008, he finally took the new post of Sattler. Shortly after assuming his post as Director of J -5, he was nominated but the director J-3 (operations), since this budget was released by the transport of Carter F. Ham. In September / October 2008, he handed over his post to Vice Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr., who had previously commanded the Allied Joint Command Lisbon NATO, and later held the post of director of operations. A post he will deliver to Major General Robert B. Neller in the fall of 2010.
Paxton will eventually take over the command of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, thus acting as commander of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Africa at the same time.
His awards include, among others the Legion of Merit with Gold Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with Gold Star, the Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal with gold star, the Navy Unit Commendation with Bronze Star, the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation with Bronze Star, the National Defense Service Medal with bronze star. He was also a Marine Corps Fellow at the Seminar XXI of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.