Our January speaker is Col. Daniel H. Wilson, USMC.  He is the Commander of the Weapons and Field Training Battalion, Marine Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C.

            Col. Wilson joined the Corps in July, 1981.  After several years of enlisted service in which he served as an Electronic Intelligence Analyst (ELINT), he was selected for the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP).  He then attended the University of Arizona, graduated and received a commission in 1988.

            Among his numerous and various assignments, he was deployed to Saudi Arabia in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  Subsequently, he served two tours in Iraq and was a member of 1 Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) in Iraq (2004) during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  He has a Master of Science Degree, National Security Strategy from the National War College.

            As Commander, Weapons and Field Training Battalion, Col. Wilson is in charge of entry level marksmanship training, re-qualification training and, significantly, the Crucible, the exhaustive 54 hour field exercise which is the culminating event of the 13 weeks boot camp experience.  Col. Wilson will discuss recruit training, current ops and the future direction of the Corps.