Re: Citadel Marines

Lieutenant Colonel McTernan, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired),
Sir, as always, thank you for this message - I particularly enjoyed reading the updates regarding different El-Cid alumni, and such.

A correction I saw on the Roster concerns Maj. Bryan Mangan, 0302, whom you've listed twice in the 1992 and the 1993 sets. I was fortunate to be Bryan's classmate at the M.C. Command & Staff College in 2006/07, and to know him well at El Cid. Bryan is a graduate of the Class of the 1993; also, he lat-moved over to the 0202 MOS, when he was a Captain.

I'm sorry I cannot help you with additional biographical data regarding my 1994 Classmates "Christopher Malmquist," "Edward Medeiros, Jr.," and "Robert Wylie." They were good buddies, whom I've lost touch with, after we were Lieutenants.

Some additional notes concerning a member listed within the Class of 1995:
"Major Haytham Faraj, USMC(Ret.)"
    My good friend and mentor Haytham (cc'd) is a real success story. He has served as:
        an 0341 Mortarman; at one point he was a Marine Security Guard; when he was a Sergeant, he was accepted into the MECEP program and became a Day-Student (as he was still on Active-Duty) at The Citadel (we met during my 3rd Class Cadet-year). He was promoted to Staff Sergeant while still a Citadel Day-Student before he graduated in 1995. He carried me through Infantry Officer Course (IOC), in the Spring of 1996. Following his initial Lt-tour, during which he was elevated to the position of the 81mm Mortar Platoon Cmdr in his Infantry Battalion's Weapons Company, he served at ANGLICO as the OpsO. Sometime after that he was accepted into the Funded Law Program; he eventually rose to the position of the Lead Military Defense Counsel at Camp Pendleton [perhaps, it may have been all of MCI-West(?)]. He retired from the Marine Corps with 24[?] years of service; and, he is now a partner in the very successful and expanding Law Firm of Pucket & Faraj, in Alexandria, Virginia.

"Captain Stephan Pritchard"
    He is now a Major, and most certainly a LtCol(Sel.) (if he hasn't been promoted already).

Ted
(760) 696-0136

From: "McTernan, Walter F. Civ USMCR USF-I ITAM-MoD/INTEL/Taji" 
Sent: Sat, July 2, 2011 9:32:57 AM
Subject: Citadel Marines

UNCLASSIFIED

Gentlemen,

    Greetings from Taji and happy 4th of July to you and yours.  I hope
you are well wherever you are. I have corresponded with many of you before,
but to most I am a stranger.  I am a '72 Cid grad and retired Marine . As
alcohol is not allowed us here, during the last year or so while on a long
deployment, I have taken to researching The Citadel - Marine Corps
connection, of which you are all a part, as a pastime.  Ours is a long and
proud tradition, largely under-appreciated and under-reported - but one that
would hopefully be of interest to all addressees.  It has been a lot of fun
and very educational to work on in my spare time.  For a small school like
our alma mater, we have produced a disproportionately large number of Marine
graduates and some super stars of the history of our Corps.

    Attached is a roster I
 have compiled over the last year plus through
countless hours of painstaking research awh, trying to ID all alumni who
have served in our Corps, or at least as many as possible: regular or
reserve; officer, enlisted, or both; career Marine or short service; etc.
This roster is what I have come up with.  I thought y'all might like to see
the attachment.  I have captured many names, to be sure, but I am equally
sure I have missed a lot of our fellow Citadel Marine Double Dawgs.  So I
would appreciate it very much if anyone has any corrections and/or additions
to make this document more complete.  Nobody - not the College, the
MONROTCU, the Columbia OSO, HQMC or Quantico has a complete roster.  I am
trying to create one as best I can, and so I am turning to the subject
matter experts = you all, for additional input.  This partial roster of
"Double Dawgs" remains a work-in-progress. 
 Please help me update it, if you
can.  Thanks to those of you who do provide some feedback!  Please feel free
to further dissem to alcon who may be interested.  Also, the attachment is
the latest updated version. (For the benefit of previous correspondents who
have seen earlier iterations.)

    While I have you up on the net, our senior active duty Citadel
Marine, Major General Mike Regner, USMC ('76) relinquished command of the
fabled Blue Diamond 1stMarDiv (our nation's most decorated division) last
week, and is currently en route PCS to the ROK as the C-5/CG MARFORK.  (The
NKPA had better watch themselves, for he is no one to mess around with.)  A
couple of weeks ago there was a good article in the Mid-East "Stars and
Stripes" (our hometown newspaper out here, as so many of you know firsthand)
about the exploits of Captain Mike Regner, USMC ('02), currently
 serving
ably and well as a rifle company skipper in A-stan. There are many other
desert deployed dawgs serving in Agfhanistan at present, from CG's on down
the chain.  From the banks of the Ashley to the slopes of the Hindu Kush
they are on watch.

    Last week Colonel Mark Vanous, USMC (Ret.) ('81), retired from
active duty with 30 years' service.  Colonel Vanous' dad, Colonel Fred
Vanous, USMC (Ret.) ('55), was the Director of AWS when I went through back
in 1980-1.  Both Colonels Vanous are among our Corps' most accomplished helo
drivers.

    In January '11 Leatherneck Magazine published a feature article on
The Citadel - Marine Corps connection (in case you have not seen it yet).
Several members of The Citadel Alumni History Council have a couple of other
articles about Citadel - Marine Corps history in the production -
publication chain with Leatherneck.
 Hopefully they will be published in the
not too distant future, if all works out as hoped.

    A couple of weeks ago, The Citadel Club of Greater WDC (CCGW), the
largest CAA chapter outside of S.C., I believe, had its monthly breakfast
meeting at The Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle/Quantico.  Colonel
Walt Ford, USMC (Ret.) - the Editor/Publisher of L'neck, was the guest
speaker and gave a personally guided tour of the Museum to the group.  All
the feedback I got from attendees was that it was a great event!  Thanks to
Col. Ford and Bravo Zulu to LTC Randy Brooks, USA (Ret. ('76), President of
the CCGW, for coordinating this memorable event.  I really wish that I could
have been there!

    That's it.  Thank you all for your own service to our great country
and Corps.  Please advise if I can ever be of assistance to you or to
 any
Marines.  Happy 4th of July and God bless.  Semper Fi, Go Dogs and

                   Very Respectfully,

                         Wally '72

                   Walter F. McTernan III  
       Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)

        Professor of Intelligence and Security
     USF-I, Iraq Training & Advisory Mission - MOD/Intel
  The Iraqi Intelligence and Military Security School (IMSS)
            Building 106, Room 205
                Taji, Iraq

Work:  DSN
 318-834-1118
NIPR: walter.mcternan@iraq.centcom.mil
SIPR: walter.mcternan@s-iraq.centcom.smil.mil    

"A Veteran, whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve, is 
someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable
to The United States of America" for the amount of 'up to, and 
                   including his life".