NEW YORK --  Lt. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, Commander of United States Marine Corps Forces Command, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic, United States Marine Corps Bases Atlantic, and United States Marine Corps Forces Europe, spoke on the role of the Marine Corps as it relates to the future of American security strategies, Feb. 14, at a roundtable discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations. Hejlik mentioned often that the Marine Corps' strength is as a pre-positioned Naval force-in-readiness not as a second land army. "We are light enough to get there quickly, but heavy enough to carry the day upon arrival...We are ready to respond whenever the nation calls, wherever the president may direct," he said. He also illustrated how the 20,000 Marines deployed to Afghanistan affect nearly a quarter of the Marine Corps with 20,000 Marines training to go to Afghanistan, 20,000 serving in country and another 20,000 redeploying back to garrison commands. Hejlik, a native of Garner, Iowa, had served as a Marine Corps fellow at the CFR earlier in his career. (Official Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Randall A. Clinton / RELEASED)
110214-M-4003C-008.jpg Photo By: Sgt. Randall A. Clinton

Feb 14, 2011
New York, NY - NEW YORK -- Lt. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, Commander of United States Marine Corps Forces Command, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic, United States Marine Corps Bases Atlantic, and United States Marine Corps Forces Europe, spoke on the role of the Marine Corps as it relates to the future of American security strategies, Feb. 14, at a roundtable discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations. Hejlik mentioned often that the Marine Corps' strength is as a pre-positioned Naval force-in-readiness not as a second land army. "We are light enough to get there quickly, but heavy enough to carry the day upon arrival...We are ready to respond whenever the nation calls, wherever the president may direct," he said. He also illustrated how the 20,000 Marines deployed to Afghanistan affect nearly a quarter of the Marine Corps with 20,000 Marines training to go to Afghanistan, 20,000 serving in country and another 20,000 redeploying back to garrison commands. Hejlik, a native of Garner, Iowa, had served as a Marine Corps fellow at the CFR earlier in his career. (Official Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Randall A. Clinton / RELEASED)


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