General James L. Jones will close out a distinguished 40-year career as a Marine early next year, though the Jones family tradition of continuous service in the Corps going back nearly seven decades will remain intact. The general's son, Captain Greg Jones, having completed two tours in Iraq, currently commands the same ceremonial rifle company his father did some 30 years earlier at the Marine Barracks in Washington.
A towering, ruggedly built six-foot-five, General Jones has seen more than ceremony. He led a rifle platoon and rifle company in Vietnam; he commanded U.S. forces that protected the Kurds from a vengeful Saddam Hussein following the first Gulf War; he was chief of staff of Joint Task Force Provide Promise for operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia in the early 1990s. Promoted to general in 1999, he was named the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Those august assignments routinely conclude with retirement for a chief of staff of any service. Not for General Jones. In January 2003, he became Commander of the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), leading Allied Command Europe (ACE), which comprises NATO's military forces in Europe. He is the first Marine to wear the two hats of SACEUR/EUCOM commander.
As EUCOM commander, General Jones is one of nine combatant commanders and the only one deployed outside the United States. According to the EUCOM Web site, the command's area of responsibility (AOR) covers more than 21 million square miles and includes over 90 countries and territories. This territory extends from the North Cape of Norway, through the waters of the Baltic and Mediterranean seas, most of Europe, parts of the Middle East, to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. In all, the AOR has 1.4 billion inhabitants, or 23 percent of the world's population.
Mr. Timberg is Editor-in-Chief of Proceedings.