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They are busy. They are engaged. They want to be exactly where they are — and if not there, then in the fight, says a man who should know. Lt. Gen. John Kelly commands the largest force in the
Marine Corps, Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES). Kelly entered the Corps as a private at Parris Island, S.C., and knows command under fire. His last job was com- manding general, I Marine Expeditionary Force [I MEF] (Forward). He and his Marines spent a year as Multi- National Force — West in the Al Anbar and western Ninewa provinces of Iraq. In the mid-1990s, he served as the Corps’ liaison to the Senate and later headed all leg- islative efforts for the Marine Corps. His ease both lead- ing a force at war and finessing the Corps’ needs on the Hill make him unusually well-qualified for the challenges of his current position. Kelly, a towering but disarmingly humble man, demurs
at the suggestion of unique qualifications. Though he is the first active component officer to take the MARFOR- RES helm in nearly eight years, he insists there was cer- tainly a reserve general as qualified for the job. He credits his predecessor, now-retired Lt. Gen. Jack W. Bergman, for leaving him a superbly run and organized force. Kelly divides his time between the bustle of Wash-
ington, D.C., and MARFORRES headquarters in New Orleans. Originally from Boston, Kelly was prepping for his first Mardi Gras when he spoke with Military Officer. This interview has been edited for space and clarity.
You are coming from a career in the active compo- nent. What differences do you see between active duty and reserve Marines?
5 0 MI L I T A R Y O F F I C E R AU G U S T 2 0 1 0
WITH MORE THAN 100,000 MARINES SERVING at 183 sites from Alaska to Puerto Rico, the reserve force of the U.S. Marine Corps has reached a level of proficiency the nation has not enjoyed in more than 50 years. n Though reserve units across the services saw duty on a large scale during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm from 1990-91, to- day’s Marine reservists are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa, where many have headed into harm’s way more than once in the past eight years. They have served in countless operations worldwide.
First, and I say this to my counterparts regardless of component, my Marines are Marines. They are as much Marines as those in the active component. I told the commandant [Gen. James T. Conway] just last week [in February 2010], my Marines are full members of the Marine Corps. They are fully engaged in the mission and want to be in the fight like any other Marine.
What differences do you see between the two components themselves? The primary difference is a complicated bureaucracy on the reserve side. This has been discussed openly, so I’m not revealing any dark secrets. Currently, there are 29 separate categories into which a reservist can fit. That’s 29. I suspect this large number came as a result of legisla- tion over the years.
How does this affect MARFORRES? Administration can be complicated enough, but these categories make reserve administration all the more complex. We sometimes become more involved with this bureaucracy than we like. A predecessor of mine, [now-retired] Lt. Gen. Arnold
Punaro, studied this situation. He took a holistic view of the reserves and recommended we cut to two or three categories.
How would you do that? First, we’d look at our Marines and put those on active duty in one category and those not in another. There are two important delineations right there. Another category is to look at reserves by the amount of time they are on active duty. The reserves are now a full-time part of the
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