MajGen Jarvis Lynch, USMC (ret.)

Major General Lynch, a native of Glassboro, New Jersey, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy on 1 June 1956 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps. Upon completion of The Basic School at Quantico, Virginia, he was designated a Marine Infantry Officer.Major General Lynch, a native of Glassboro, New Jersey, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy on 1 June 1956 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps. Upon completion of The Basic School at Quantico, Virginia, he was designated a Marine Infantry Officer.

During subsequent years, General Lynch served in a variety of billets typically assigned to infantry officers…. from rifle platoon leader to assistant division operations officer… both in the U.S. and overseas. During the period from July of 1968 to August of 1969, he served in Vietnam as the operations officer of a Marine infantry battalion and also as the operations officer of a Special Landing Force. Both organizations conducted a series of amphibious operations along the northern coast of South Vietnam.

In 1979, General Lynch was assigned duties as the executive officer of the 8th Marine Corps District. In 1981, he was designated the district’s commanding officer and served in that capacity until 1983. The 8th District’s headquarters is located in New Orleans at the NAval Support Activity on the West Bank. At the time, the district was responsible for Marine Corps recruiting in an area ranging from the Rio Grande to North Dakota and from the Rockies to a boundary generally tracing the course of the Mississippi River.

After leaving New Orleans, General Lynch assumed duties as the Chief of Staff, Headquarters, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, located in Hawaii. In 1985, he was selected for promotion to the grade of Brigadier General and assigned duties with Headquarters, Allied Forces, Northern European Command, NATO’s northernmost headquarters then located near Oslo, Norway.

Leaving Norway in 1987, the General Lynch moved to Camp Lejeune to assume command of the 2nd Force Service Support Group. In 1988, General Lynch was selected for promotion to the grade of major general and late that year assumed command of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island and the Eastern Recruiting Region. As such, he was responsible for all Marine Corps recruiting east of the Mississippi and for the recruit training of all male recruits form that region as well as all female recruits from throughout the nation.

During his career, the general attended the Marine Corps Command and Staff College at Quantico, Virginia, graduating with honors, and the Naval Warfare College at Newport, Rhode Island, graduating with distinction.

Retiring from the Marine Corps in 1991, General Lynch has pursued one career in writing and another in providing military consulting services. In 1995, General Lynch was designated the U.S. Naval Institute’s, “Distinguished Author of the Year.” He is now on the staff of the National Center for Maritime and Port Security. The center is part of SRI, St. Petersburg, located in St. Petersburg, Florida.