Unusual changes in the Corps:
The commander of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit was removed from
his position on Wednesday, less than a week after the force’s
subordinate units were first brought together to deploy in 2014, Marine
officials said. Col. James Christmas was relieved of command by
Maj. Gen. Raymond Fox, the commander of II Marine Expeditionary Force,
out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., after the general lost confidence in
Christmas’ ability to continue commanding the Marines and sailors of the
22nd MEU,” said Capt. Binford Strickland, a Marine spokesman. No
additional explanation was given for the decision….At least six other Marine officers have been
removed from command since mid-March. In each case, Marine officials
have provided little explanation for why the decisions were made, saying
a general officer had lost confidence in that commander’s ability to
lead his personnel.
I don’t even have a crazy conspiracy theory here, I just know that seven reliefs of command in four months appears to be out of the ordinary.
UPDATE: Talk of “purges” is considerably overblown, in my opinion. Now, this is a purge: “Of 90 generals arrested, only six survived the purges, as did only 36 of
180 divisional commanders, and just seven out of 57 army corps
commanders. In total, some 30,000 Red Army personnel were executed.”
It occurs to me, however, that there is one time when it would make very good sense to replace MEU commanders, and that is when new military action is at hand. When one considers how the Syrian rebels appear to have failed in their bid to overthrow Assad and the recent army coup in Egypt, I find myself wondering if this might be an early sign of expanded American military intervention in the Middle East.