Battlefield Fallujah Warriors: Lieutenant Colonel James Vohr, USMC

Commanding Officer, Headquarters Company, Marine Service Support Group, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MSSG-31)

Episode 3
Interviewer: Chief Warrant Officer William Hutson
Camp Fallujah, Iraq - November 12, 2004
Courtesy of the Department of Defense and the U.S. Marine Corps History Division

I’m a Naval Academy graduate. I graduated in 1988. From there, I went to The Basic School [TBS], which I graduated from The Basic School in July of 1989. I went form The Basic School to Twentynine Palms, California, where I served with 1st FSSG [force service support group]. During that time, I spent nine months in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. I came back from that, I went to the 2nd Marine Division [MarDiv] in October 1991, where I served as the logistics officer for 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, for two years, and logistics officer for 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance [LAR] Battalion. I then attended the Army’s Combined Logistics Officer Advanced Course where I graduated in November of 1994. I spent three years at Marine Corps Systems Command [MARSYSCOM] as the assistant program manager for logistics working on the truck programs; the MVTR [medium tactical vehicle replacement], the new HMMWV, some of the LVS [logistics vehicle system] programs. Completing that, I went down and I served at 2nd FSSG where I was a company commander, then operations officer for a battalion. I was a battalion executive officer [XO].

I commanded a 500 Marine combat service support detachment [CSSD] doing disaster relief operations in Puerto Rico, and I served for four months as the battalion commander of 8th Motor Transport Battalion [MTB] while my battalion commander was deployed doing disaster relief operations in Central America. I left there in 2000 and I attended the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. Following Command and Staff College, I attended the School of Advanced Warfighting and graduated from the School of Advanced Warfighting in 2002. I went from there to the MAGTF [Marine air-ground task force] staff training program where I served for two years, and during that time period, I spent six months with the Enduing Freedom Combat Assessment Team [MSTP], doing combat assessment during Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF] I. I left MSTP in June of 2004, and PCS’d to 3rd FSSG, Okinawa, Japan, where on the 25th of June, 2004, I took command of MSSG-31. In August we deployed over here to the central command AOR [area of responsibility] and Iraqi Freedom II.