Major General Clifford L. Stanley is currently serving as the
Commanding General, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California.
General Stanley is a 1969 graduate of South Carolina State University. He
received his M.S. from Johns Hopkins University in 1977. His formal military education
includes Amphibious Warfare School (1978), the Naval War College (1983), U.S. Marine Corps
Command and Staff College (1984), and National War College (1988).
After completing The Basic School at Quantico, VA., Major General Stanley served
as a supply and fiscal officer both in overseas and continental United States commands.
Upon being redesignated an infantry officer, he completed tours of duty as a platoon
commander and later Commanding Officer, Company M, 3d Battalion, 8th Marines; Commanding
Officer, Headquarters Company, 4th Marines; Executive Officer, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines;
and Commanding Officer, 1st Marine Regiment. Major General Stanley maintains the secondary
military occupational specialty of parachutist, and has served in the following
assignments outside of the Fleet Marine Forces: psychology and leadership instructor, U.S.
Naval Academy; Executive Officer, Marine Corps Institute and Parade Commander at Marine
Barracks, Washington D.C.; Special Assistant and Marine Corps Aide for the Assistant
Secretary of the Navy; and as a desk officer in the Office of the Assistant Secretary Of
Defense, East Asia and Pacific Region, the Pentagon. Other assignments include: Depot
Inspector and Commander, First Recruit Training Battalion, Parris Island; White House
Fellowship Program where he served as Special Assistant to the Director of the FBI; Fleet
Marine Officer, 2d Fleet, USS Mt Whitney, LCC-20, Norfolk, VA; Assistant Deputy Chief of
Staff for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, (Manpower Plans & Policy), and Director of
Public Affairs, Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington, D.C.
He assumed his current assignment on June 10, 1998. General Stanley was selected for
promotion to Major General on December 22, 1998.
His personal decorations include: the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal;
Meritorious Service Medal with Gold Star; Navy Commendation Medal; and Navy Achievement
Medal.
