After 246 years, Marines set for their first Black four-star general

In the late 1980s, Maj. Ronald Bailey met a young Marine he knew had promise. Michael E. Langley was a powerlifter who dominated flag football games, an intellectual who set records for how many training courses he wrote and a problem-solver whose bosses frequently tapped him to mediate workplace disputes.

Langley, then a first lieutenant, was also one of few young Black Marines based in the prestigious downtown D.C. barracks.

Bailey, who went on to become a three-star general, took note. He said he offered Langley advice based on his own experience and that of the Black Marines who had mentored him. “You will live under a microscope,” Bailey recalls telling Langley. “You must always set the standard.”

More than three decades later, Langley will be under the microscope yet again after being nominated to lead all U.S. military forces in Africa as chief of U.S. Africa Command. His Senate confirmation hearing is Thursday, and if he’s confirmed, Langley would become the first Black person to receive four stars since the founding of the U.S. Marine Corps 246 years ago. Over that time, more than 70 White men have risen to the Marines’ highest ranks.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/20/michael-langley-africom-marines-general/