Dennis J. Hejlik

LtGen. Hejlik

Dennis J. Hejlik (* in Garner , Iowa ) is a Lieutenant General of the United States Marine Corps and has been in command of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) since July 25, 2008 . Prior to that, he was Commanding General of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command from October 2005 to July 2008 . Until the end of 2005 he was commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade and deputy commander of the I. Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF).

Military career

Hejlik joined the US Marine Corps (USMC) in 1968 and reached the rank of sergeant until his honorable discharge in 1972 . He graduated from Mankato State University in 1975 and returned to the USMC to complete the Platoon Leaders program and then receive the officer license as a second lieutenant .

After he graduated from the US Marine Corps Basic School in December 1975, he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the 5th US Marine Regiment , in which he led a platoon leader and a rifle platoon . In July 1978, Hejlik was promoted to First Lieutenant , transferred to the 3rd Marine Division, where he served as site assistant to the commanding general. In July 1979, Hejlik was transferred to the Marine Barracks Yorktown, Virginia , where he served as a platoon leader and officer on watch. Captain Hejlik also graduated from the Amphibious Warfare School in Quantico , Virginia. In May 1983 Hejlik was transferred to the 3rd Battalion, 8th US Marine Regiment, where he was first used as the commanding officer (CO) of a weapons company and later as the battalion's logistics officer (S-4). Now promoted to major , he was transferred to the US Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico in May 1986 and served as a tactical instructor at the Amphibious Warfare School .

From 1989 to 1990 Hejlik graduated from the US Marine Corps Command and Staff College . After graduating there, he was transferred to the Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC , to be employed in the Department of Crew Operations - Section for Personnel and Reservist Affairs. During Operation Desert Storm , he served as an operations officer (G-3) with the I. Marine Expeditionary Force . From 1992 to 1993 Lieutenant Colonel Hejlik graduated from Naval War College with a Master of Science degree in National Security Strategy. In June 1993 he was transferred to the 2nd Marine Division, where he served as a Personnel Officer (G-1A) until he took command of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd US Marine Regiment in November 1993 and finally the post of First in 1996 Officer (XO) of the 2nd U.S. Marine Regiment.

In January 1996, Hejlik was again transferred to headquarters to serve as a senior military partner in the Committee on Foreign Relations. In July 1997 he took command of the Marine Barracks Washington . He was then assigned to the Commandant of the Marine Corps as Military Secretary in July 1999 . In 2001 he was appointed Senior Director of Special Operations and Counter Terrorism in the Office of the Secretary of Defense Net Assessment (OSD) . In 2002, Hejlik moved to the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), where he was appointed Chief of Staff and Director of the Center for Command Support. In August 2003 he became director of the USSOCOM Policy, Training and Readiness Center.

In July 2004 Brigadier General Hejlik was deployed as commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Camp Pendleton , California , and was thus also deputy commander of the I MEF. In this role he was also involved in the preparation of Operation Phantom Fury to crush the resistance during the occupation of Fallujah . In October 2005, he then took command of the newly established Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) at Camp Lejeune , North Carolina .

This command was a novelty in the history of the US Marine Corps, against which many had long resisted because the establishment of such a command for special operations would have allegedly undermined the elitist reputation of the USMC. However, these considerations were reconsidered in the course of the war on terror and at the end of 2005 the Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Commandant Hagee decided to set up such a unit. Hejlik's promotion to major general was confirmed by the US Senate on March 16, 2006 .

On March 13, 2008 Hejlik was nominated for the post of commander of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) and replaced after promotion to Lieutenant General Keith J. Stalder on July 25 from this post. The day before, on July 24th, he handed over the post of MARSOC commander to Major General Mastin M. Robeson .

On April 7, 2010, Hejlik was nominated for the post of Commanding Officer of US Marine Corps Forces Command , the Marine Corps component of US Joint Forces Command in Norfolk , Virginia . He will replace Richard F. Natonski in this post .

His awards include a .: the Defense Superior Service Medal with oak leaves , the Legion of Merit with oak leaves, the Meritorious Service Medal with double oak leaves, the Navy Commendation Medal and the Navy Achievement Medal .

References

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1. ↑ Article on Military.com (English)
2. ↑ Post on SignOnSanDiego (English)
3. ↑ General Officer Announcements (DefenseLink.mil, March 13, 2008; English)
4. ↑ Former MarSOC chief takes over II MEF today  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (MarineCorpsTimes.com, July 25, 2008; English)  
5. ↑ MARSOC general turns over command ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (MarineCorpsTimes.com, July 24, 2008; English) 
6. ↑ General Officer Announcement (DefenseLink.mil, April 7, 2010; English)

Web links

• Official biography ( memento of March 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )