Parris Island's new top Marine has Ivy League credential and special ops experience
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island has a new commander — a career infantryman with special operations experience.
Brigadier Gen. James F. Glynn assumed command of the depot Friday during a ceremony inside Parris Island's All-Weather Training Facility, according to a Marine Corps news release.
Glynn was previously deputy commanding general of Special Operations Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve since July 2017. That task force, a multinational coalition, targets ISIS threats in Iraq and Syria, according to its website.
He also spent three years with the Theater Special Operations Command — Africa, in Stuttgart, Germany, and served at the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command’s (MARSOC) Special Operations School at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, according to his biography on Parris Island's website.
Glynn is a Purple Heart recipient who holds the Bronze Star. He has deployed with four Marine Expeditionary Units and served in Fallujah, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II, according to the Corps.
He is married with two children, holds numerous masters degrees and is "a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program," according to the Corps.
Glynn, an Albany, New York, native and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, joined the Marines in 1989.
He was preceded by Brigadier Gen. Austin E. Renforth, who led the depot beginning in June 2016, and who handed Glynn the regimental colors during Friday's ceremony.
Renforth's tenure was marked by fallout in the wake of former recruit Raheel Siddiqui's death in March 2016.
Siddiqui died after a three-story fall from his barracks shortly after being struck in the face by a drill instructor. That instructor, Joseph Felix, was convicted at a November court-martial of recruit abuse and hazing — specifically targeting — Muslim trainees, including Siddiqui.
Siddiqui's family filed a $100-million lawsuit against the Corps and U.S. government in October.
They claim the government was negligent and fostered an abusive culture at Parris Island, and they want the status of their son's death — currently classified as a suicide — changed. The government is trying to have the suit dismissed.
Siddiqui's death prompted a hazing probe that uncovered other instances of abuse and resulted in more courts-martial, including that of former Parris Island 3rd Recruit Training Battalion Commander Joshua Kissoon — Felix's supervisor — who pleaded guilty in March to charges of dereliction of duty, making a false statement and conduct unbecoming an officer.
Since Siddiqui's death, more officers have been added to assist with supervision at the depot, and a new fourth phase of recruit training — one that focuses on better integrating, personally and professionally, new Marines into the Corps — has been implemented.
About 20,000 recruits come to Parris Island each year, according to its website.
All male trainees east of the Mississippi River, and all female recruits, go through boot camp at the depot.
This story was originally published June 20, 2018 at 11:09 AM with the headline "Parris Island's new top Marine has Ivy League credential and special ops experience."