Marine 3-star Kelly chosen to lead SOUTHCOM - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Marine 3-star Kelly chosen to lead SOUTHCOM

Marine Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly has been nominated for promotion to four-star general and assignment as commander of U.S. Southern Command, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Friday.

Kelly has been the senior military advisor to the defense secretary since March, when former Defense Secretary Robert Gates chose him for the job. Before that, Kelly served two years at the head of Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North in New Orleans.

One of the military’s nine unified combatant commands, Southern Command is located in Miami. It is a joint interagency command responsible for maintaining relationships in Central and South America.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kelly will succeed Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser.

Kelly was assistant division commander for 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif., from 2002-04, and deployed repeatedly to Iraq before becoming legislative assistant to the commandant in Washington until 2007.

He also commanded I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) in Iraq for a yearlong tour in 2008.

On Nov. 9, 2010, one of Kelly’s sons, 1st Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, was killed by an IED blast while on a foot patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was a member of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines.