“I don’t mind breaking my own back,” said Gen. Eric Smith, who is both the acting and assistant commandant. “It’s just, I have to make good decisions.”
Once a young man from rural Maryland, who didn’t meet a Marine until college, retired Gen. David Berger joined the Corps in the wake of the Vietnam War.
Gen. Eric Smith and his wife won’t be moving their boxes into the "Home of the Commandants" quite yet, but he will have powers of a confirmed top Marine.