COLONEL WALTER G. FORD, USMC (RET)
Marine Corps Association Publisher/Editor, Leatherneck Magazine
Colonel Ford retired from the U.S. Marine Corps effective July 1, 1999, after over 30 years of active service. He then joined the Marine Corps Association staff as editor of one of its two flagship magazines, Leatherneck-Magazine of the Marines, in August 1999, and became the publisher for both Marine Corps Association magazines, the Marine Corps Gazette and Leatherneck, in 2008.
Commissioned in January 1969 via the Platoon Leaders Class program, after completing The Basic School in Quantico, the Field Artillery Basic Course in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and a short period at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., he was ordered to Vietnam. A variety of command and staff positions followed.
His command assignments include Truck Company, 1st Marine Division (1972-73); Battery H, 3d Battalion, 10th Marines (1977-79); Company B, Officer Candidates School, (1983); 2d Battalion, 10th Marines (1988-90); Marine Barracks, Japan (1990-91); Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force, Philippines (1992), as we closed out a history of U.S. military operational presence in the Philippines; and 12th Marine Regiment (1993-1994). He also served as division commander for the Third Marine Division for a two-month period in the spring of 1994.
Colonel Ford’s staff assignments include: Forward Observer, Tracked Vehicle Maintenance Officer and Motor Transport Officer, 2d 155mm Gun Battery, 2d Field Artillery Group, Force Troops Atlantic (1969-70); Executive Officer, USMC Recruiting Station, San Antonio (1974-76); Operations Officer, 3d Battalion, 10th Marines (1979); Recruiting Plans Officer, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps (1979-82); Assistant Naval Attaché, Canberra, Australia (1984-87); Operations Officer, 10th Marines (1987-88); Chief of Staff and Assistant Division Commander, 3d Marine Division (1994-95); Service Planner, Plans, Policies and Operations, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps and Executive Assistant, Deputy Commandant, Plans, Policies and Operations (1995-97); and Head of Officer Assignments, Personnel Management Division (1997-99).
He was awarded the Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association Brigadier General Robert Denig Award for distinguished service in 2006 and is the executive chairman of the National Marine Corps Council.
