General David Berger
Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps
David Hilberry Berger was born in December 1959 in Woodbine, Maryland. He earned an undergraduate degree in engineering from Tulane University and two master’s degrees in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and military studies. He has graduated or been certified from several other military education platforms. He was commissioned into the Marine Corps as an infantry officer through the ROTC at Tulane.
He served as platoon and company commander and was a battalion operations officer during Operation Desert Storm. He also saw deployments in the Gulf War, Operation Secure Tomorrow, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. He served as an instructor at Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One, as an instructor at a Special Operations Training Group, and also served on the Joint Staff as a policy planner.
Berger was nominated by President Donald Trump to become Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. He was confirmed by the Senate and took command in July 2019.
In the News…
Marine Corps Commandant General David Berger issued a directive to senior staff that all paraphernalia related to the Confederacy be removed from military bases around the globe. His directive included a list of initiatives that he is “prioritizing for immediate execution.” It is unclear if he set a deadline for removing the Confederate symbols.
The move comes as the presence of Confederate memorials and statues continue to spark fierce debate in the U.S. The military has also been at the center of that discussion, with ten Army bases named after military leaders of Confederate states.
A recent congressional hearing focused on a rise in extremism in the military. More than a third of all active-duty troops say they have personally witnessed an example of white nationalism or ideologically driven racism from another person within their ranks in recent months.
