Samuel T. Helland

Samuel T. Helland

Samuel T. Helland (* 1947/48) is a former Lieutenant General of the US Marine Corps and was the Commanding General of the I. Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) from November 2007 to the end of 2009 .

Military career

Samuel T. Helland holds a BS from the University of Minnesota at Duluth and a MS from Troy State University . He is also a graduate of the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at National Defense University .

Helland began his military career as a soldier in the US Army in 1968, the height of the US troop concentration in the Vietnam War . He served three years in the US Army Special Forces Command , including a round of service with the 5th Special Forces Group (ABN) of the Military Advisory Command (Special Observations Group) in Vietnam. In 1973 Helland graduated from the Officer Candidate School of the US Marine Corps and was trained as a naval aviator on the CH-53 "Sea Stallion" in 1974 .

Its subsequent uses include service rounds with amphibious units , air combat elements and joint task forces . During this time Helland also gained combat experience in Operations Desert Shield / Storm . After graduating from the US Marine Corps Command and Staff College in 1987, Helland was transferred to the headquarters of the US Marine Corps and served there as a staff officer in the department of aviation and there in the department of aviation programs and weapons. In 1990 he was transferred to Marine Aircraft Group 26 and served there as a logistics officer. Shortly thereafter, Helland was transferred to the Persian Gulf to serve as an operations officer in Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 461 of Marine Aircraft Group 40 .

After returning to the United States , he took command of the 461st Squadron in June 1991 and led it until June 1993. He then graduated from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces of the National Defense University . After graduating from that college, he was transferred to the Department of Defense , where he served in the J-7 Department of Operations, Operations Planning and Interoperability of the Joint Staff in the Conventional War Plans Department. In this department he then served as Joint Staff Officer until 1996 . In August 1996, Helland took over command of the troops with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and led the association for two rounds of service in the Mediterranean region. During this time, the MEU carried out five successful emergency operations, including the Joint Task Force Nobel Obelisk under the command of Helland in Sierra Leone in May 1997.

In April 1999 Helland took over the post of deputy commander of the Joint Task Force Shining Hope , which provided humanitarian aid to Albanian refugees from Kosovo in Albania and Macedonia . When he was back in the United States in July 1999, he was transferred to Norfolk , Virginia , where he served as director of operations and planning at the US Joint Forces Command under Admiral Harold W. Gehman, Jr. In August 2001, Helland became Deputy Commanding General of Marine Forces South / Fleet Marine Forces South in Miami , Florida . From August 2003 to May 2004, Helland served as assistant assistant commandant for aviation at the US Marine Corps Headquarters. In May 2004 Helland took command of the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa in Djibouti in the war on terror within Operation Enduring Freedom . On August 5, 2005, Helland was transferred as a major general to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar , California , and served there as commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing .

In July 2007, he gave the command off to the in Camp Pendleton , California, stationed and in the Iraq war set I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) the post of Deputy Commanding General under James Mattis to take over and thus also well to lead the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade .

On November 5, 2007, Helland then took over the post of Commanding General of the I MEF from Mattis and took over command of the Marine Corps Forces Central . Helland von Mattis also assumed responsibility for some of the outstanding decisions in the military trials of the Marines charged with war crimes in Iraq .

He gave command to Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. in late 2009 and eventually retired.

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1. ↑ Helland nominated for lieutenant general (NCTimes.com, September 19, 2007; English)

Web links

• Official Biography (English)