United States Marine Corps:
Brigadier General Timberlake By Robert Voris
B
rigadier General Craig Timberlake enlisted into the United States Marine Corps in 1977 at age 17 with a pretty basic
goal: “I knew that I wanted to get out of Kentucky.” Oldham County, Kentucky, specifically, a quaint collection of Louisville suburbs and small country towns on the border with Ohio. It worked. Timberlake’s duties in the Marines have taken him
to both coasts of the United States, and across both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. In his 34-year career, he has trained recruits as a Drill Instructor (NOT a “drill sergeant,” which is an Army term), gone through officer training, commanded forces in Iraq, over- seen exercises with allies in the Pacific and, recently, been pro- moted from Colonel to Brigadier General. Timberlake graduated from high school having lettered in
football, basketball and track and field, but he felt that he lacked the discipline to go to college. His uncles had served in the Army, but he felt that the Marine Corps would offer a greater challenge. He had only one request when he enlisted: normally Marine re- cruits from east of the Mississippi River are assigned to basic training at Parris Island, SC – however, this was not sufficiently far away from Kentucky, so Timberlake requested that he be sent to San Diego. The Marine Corps obliged. Having accomplished his first goal, leaving his home state be-
hind, Timberlake sought a new achievement. He was stationed at Cornwall Air Force Base, just south of London, England, when he conceived the next challenge he would meet. First Sergeant Lon- nie Long had just arrived at Cornwall after serving as a Drill In- structor. Timberlake was a newly promoted Sergeant. In the First Sergeant, Timberlake found a role model and realized that he wanted younger Marines to feel that same way about him. In 1980, Timberlake returned to San Diego to train recruits as a Drill Instructor. After two years he was meritoriously promoted to Staff Sergeant, and reassigned to Officer Candidates School in Quantico, VA. In a sense, Timberlake had been promoted again – now he helped train potential Marine Officers. Quantico process- es fewer officers in a year than San Diego trains recruits each month, and Timberlake utilized the extra time to continue his edu- cation. One day a captain who also trained the officers took the staff sergeant aside and asked him about his future. “I notice you’re taking college classes,” the Captain said. “I thought about seeking a commission,” Timberlake said. Staff Sergeant Timberlake stayed in Quantico in 1984, but be-
came a candidate in the school where he used to train. “The guys I was going to be under, I had just finished running them through PT,” he remembered. “Everybody knew candidate Timberlake.” Everybody knew him and everyone supported him and everyone counted on him. Only 5-10% of the candidates come from the enlisted ranks, and the instructors lean heavily on those men to reinforce the team ethos from within. SgtMaj Long told his for-
Colonel Toth, Commanding Officer of 353 Special Operations Group (USAF), Brigadier General Timberlake and Lieutenant General Glueck, Commanding General III MEF, at a press conference at the American Consulate in Okinawa, Japan.
mer protégé that he figured Timberlake would go the officer route. He was proud. Since earning his commission as an officer in 1984, Timberlake
has finished his baccalaureate. “Sociology was my primary focus, but really it was about the degree,” he said. “Before you become a Captain, you have to have a baccalaureate.” He served as an Inspector Instructor, preparing reservists for
combat in Iraq. He helped lead 1000 reservists into Iraq, and the Marine Corps rated their performance as admirable, not only for re- servists, but for the Corps generally. He is married to Belinda Vasquez-Timberlake, a retired Chief
Warrant Officer. Their kids, “My two/her two/our two” as Timber- lake refers to them, range in age from 32 to 5. His daughter is in the midst of a second combat tour in Afghanistan and his son recently completed his second combat tour in the Army, although Timberlake doesn’t hold that against him. “My son went into the Army because he wanted to pursue a med-
ical career,” Timberlake explained. “And unfortunately, the Marines don’t have their own corpsmen, they get them from the Navy.” Despite all these experiences, Timberlake’s fondest memory of his life in the Marines happened just after he was commissioned as an officer in the mid-1980s. “The best thing in the world is when you’re in infantry and your company commander gives you your platoon assignment. That is the greatest and most humbling experi- ence you can have as an officer.” As for the future, well, Timberlake will naturally serve wherever
the Marines tell him to. If given a choice, though, “it would be great to one day be back on a recruit depot, since that’s where it all began.” San Diego is lovely this time of year. Much better than Oldham County, Kentucky, certainly.
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