Lieutenant Colonel James W. Hammond III, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), a 1982 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, served in Operation Desert Storm and commanded an artillery battery with the 15th MEU during the amphibious landing into Mogadishu, Somalia, in December 1992. Before retiring in 2005, he was an analyst in Headquarters Marine Corps’ Strategic Initiative Group and director of the Commandant’s Staff Group. He currently works as a DoD analyst and consultant. He won Second Prize—Rising Historian Category in the 2017 CNO Naval History Essay Contest.

Articles by James W. Hammond III

Marine

U.S. Marine Corps in Review

By Lieutenant Colonels James W. Hammond III and John T. Quinn II, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
March 2023
In early May 2022, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General David H. Berger, released the second update to March 2020’s Force Design 2030.
A Marine Corps MV-22 from Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268

U.S. Marine Corps in Review

By Lieutenant Colonel James W. Hammond III, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
March 2022
Overall, 2021 was a year of change that witnessed important milestones in shifting the ship’s rudder and placing the Marine Corps on course toward the Commandant’s objective force.
Amphibious assault vehicle

U.S. Marine Corps in Review

By Lieutenant Colonel James W. Hammond III, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
May 2021
For the Marine Corps, 2020 was defined by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the initiation of Commandant of the Marine Corps General David H. Berger’s decisions for “sweeping changes."
MARINES IN SWEDEN DURING BALTOPS 19.

U.S. Marine Corps in Review

By Lieutenant Colonel James W. Hammond III U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
May 2020
A new Commandant begins taking the Marine Corps out of the desert and toward greater naval integration—the most profound attempt at change in a generation.
A Marine posts security after disembarking a CH-53E Super Stallion in Gjora, Norway during an air assault in support of Trident Juncture 18, Oct. 31, 2018

U.S. Marine Corps in Review

By Lieutenant Colonel James W. Hammond III, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
May 2019
Consistent themes throughout 2018 were the changing operational challenges and the increasingly contested maritime environment resulting from emerging competitors.