Top Marine general returns to work, 4 months after cardiac arrest

The top Marine general returned to full duty status Tuesday, a little more than four months after he experienced a cardiac arrest that scrambled the Marine Corps’ leadership.

Gen. Eric Smith , the Marine commandant, hadn’t been performing the Corps’ top job since he was hospitalized from a cardiac arrest on Oct. 29, 2023. But he repeatedly had signaled he intended to get back to work once he had recovered.

Three weeks after his hospitalization, Smith appeared in a brief video to reassure Marines, “I’ll bounce back from this.”

In January, he underwent a successful open-heart surgery to repair the congenital heart abnormality that the Corps said caused the cardiac arrest, and he reiterated he planned to return to full duty status once he could.

In recent weeks, Smith has made visits to the Pentagon and listened in on meetings in preparation for his return to the job, the Associated Press reported.

“General Smith and his family appreciate the full support of Congress, the leadership at the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, the Joint Force, and all who extended them their well wishes during his recovery,” the Marine Corps said in a news release Tuesday announcing Smith’s return to full duty status.

This will be the first time since July 2023 that the Marine Corps’ top two positions have been filled by leaders on full duty status.

When Gen. David Berger retired as commandant that month, the Senate hadn’t confirmed Smith as his successor thanks to a hold on nominations by Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who refused to confirm senior military nominees through the usual unanimous consent process, in protest of a Pentagon policy facilitating troops’ travel for abortions.

Smith, then the assistant commandant, took over the role of commandant in an acting capacity. The Senate confirmed him as commandant by individual vote in September 2023.

Without a Senate-confirmed assistant commandant, Smith still was doing the equivalent of two jobs at once , he told reporters two days before his cardiac arrest.

Smith’s hospitalization briefly left Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, the most senior general in Marine Corps headquarters, in charge of the service. Days later, the Senate rushed to confirm Gen. Christopher Mahoney as the assistant commandant, who would perform the duties of commandant.

Tuberville, who insisted the blame for the military’s leadership gaps lay with Senate Democrats and Pentagon leaders, relented on his hold on hundreds of military nominations in December 2023.

Since his confirmation, Mahoney had been in a situation similar to the one Smith previously faced: performing the top two jobs in the Marine Corps at once.

Irene Loewenson is a staff reporter for Marine Corps Times. She joined Military Times as an editorial fellow in August 2022. She is a graduate of Williams College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper.

海军陆战队最高将领周二恢复了全部职务，此前他因心脏骤停发作，导致海军陆战队领导层混乱，距今已有四个多月。

海军陆战队司令埃里克·史密斯将军自 2023 年 10 月 29 日因心脏骤停住院以来，一直未能履行海军陆战队最高职务。但他曾多次表示，一旦康复，他打算重返工作岗位。

住院三周后，史密斯出现在一段简短的视频中，向海军陆战队员们保证：“我会从这次打击中恢复过来。”

1 月，他成功接受了开胸手术，修复了先天性心脏畸形（海军陆战队称该畸形导致了心脏骤停），他重申，一旦身体允许，他计划恢复全部职务。

据美联社报道，最近几周，史密斯多次前往五角大楼，并旁听会议，为重返工作岗位做准备。

“史密斯将军及其家人感谢国会、国防部、海军部、联合部队领导层以及所有在他康复期间向他们表达美好祝愿的人们的全力支持，”海军陆战队周二在一份新闻稿中宣布史密斯将军恢复全部服役状态时表示。

这将是自 2023 年 7 月以来，海军陆战队两个最高职位首次由处于全职服役状态的领导人担任。

当大卫·伯杰将军于当月卸任司令官一职时，由于阿拉巴马州共和党参议员汤米·图伯维尔拒绝通过通常的一致同意程序确认高级军事提名人选，以抗议五角大楼一项为士兵堕胎提供便利的政策，参议院尚未确认史密斯接任他的职务。

时任助理司令的史密斯以代理司令的身份接任司令一职。2023年9月，参议院以个别投票的方式确认他正式就任司令。

史密斯在心脏骤停前两天告诉记者，由于没有参议院确认的助理司令，他仍然同时承担着两份工作。

史密斯住院期间，海军陆战队司令部最高级别将领卡斯滕·赫克尔中将短暂代理司令职务。几天后，参议院迅速确认克里斯托弗·马奥尼将军担任助理司令，由他代行司令职责。

图伯维尔一直坚称军队领导层缺失的责任在于参议院民主党人和五角大楼领导人，他在 2023 年 12 月放弃了对数百项军事提名的扣押。

自获得任命以来，马奥尼一直处于与史密斯之前所面临的类似情况：同时担任海军陆战队的两个最高职位。

艾琳·洛文森是《海军陆战队时报》的专职记者。她于2022年8月加入《军事时报》，担任编辑助理。她毕业于威廉姆斯学院，曾担任该校学生报纸的总编辑。