The Deputy Commandant for Aviation (DCA) is the United States Marine Corps' principle advisor on all aviation matters and is the spokesperson for

Marine Corps Aviation United States Marine Corps Aviation (USMCA) is the aircraft arm of the United States Marine Corps. Aviation units within the Marine Corps are assigned to support the Marine Air-Ground Task Force, as the aviation combat element, by providing si ...

programs, requirements, and strategy throughout the

Department of the Navy Navy Department or Department of the Navy may refer to: * United States Department of the Navy, * Navy Department (Ministry of Defence), in the United Kingdom, 1964-1997 * Confederate States Department of the Navy, 1861-1865 * Department of the Na ...

and the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

. DCA is normally the highest-ranking

naval aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...

in the Marine Corps and reports directly to the

Commandant of the Marine Corps The commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) is normally the highest-ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Joint Chiefs of Staff: composition; functions. The CMC reports directly to the secr ...

. The role of DCA is an administrative position and has no operational command authority over United States Marine Corps Aviation forces. DCA tour lengths have varied over the years based on war time requirements and personnel turnover. For the last two decades, typical tour lengths have been approximately three years. The billet is normally held by a

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

. DCA and Headquarters Marine Corps Aviation work out of

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County is a County (United States), county in the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the Washington, D.C., District of Co ...

Responsibilities

The Deputy Commandant for Aviation is responsible for developing, integrating, and supervising plans, policies, and budgets for all aviation assets and aviation expeditionary enablers (aviation command and control, aviation-ground support, and

unmanned aircraft systems An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

) in support of Marine air ground task forces.

History

The Aviation Section, Headquarters Marine Corps was established in 1919. In charge initially was the Officer in Charge, Aviation. He was responsible to both the Commandant of the Marine Corps and the Director of Naval Aviation for all Marine Corps related aviation matters. In 1920, Congress authorized Marine Corps Aviation to maintain a strength of approximately one-fifth the size of the Marine Corps. In 1936 the Aviation Section was renamed the Aviation Division and the billet was changed to the Director of Aviation. In 1962 the name was again changed to Deputy Chief of Staff (Air). The current moniker of Deputy Commandant for Aviation began in Jun 1998.

List of Deputy Commandants for Aviation

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:10 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1917 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1919 Define $now = 2022 Colors = id:cmc value:rgb(1,0,0) legend: DCA id:time value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) Legend = orientation:vertical position:right LineData = layer:back width:0.1 color:time at:1917 at:1920 at:1930 at:1940 at:1950 at:1960 at:1970 at:1980 at:1990 at:2000 at:2010 at:2020 at:2030 BarData = barset:PM bar:Cunningham bar:Turner bar:Brainard #bar:Turner bar:Geiger bar:Rowell bar:Mitchell #bar:Geiger bar:Woods bar:Harris bar:Wallace bar:Jerome bar:Brice bar:Schilt bar:McCaul bar:Jack bar:Munn bar:Binney bar:McCutcheon bar:Carl bar:Anderson bar:Robertshaw bar:Hill bar:Fris bar:Shutler bar:Armstrong bar:Miller bar:White bar:Fitch bar:Smith bar:Pitman bar:Wills bar:Hearney bar:Blot bar:Dake bar:McCorkle bar:Nyland bar:Hough bar:Castellaw bar:Trautman bar:Robling bar:Schmidle bar:Davis bar:Rudder bar:Wise bar:Cederholm PlotData= width:6 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM bar:Cunningham from: 1919 till: 1920 color:cmc text:

Cunningham Cunningham is a surname of Scottish origin, see Clan Cunningham. Notable people sharing this surname A–C *Aaron Cunningham (born 1986), American baseball player *Abe Cunningham, American drummer * Adrian Cunningham (born 1960), Australian ...

bar:Turner from: 1920 till: 1925 color:cmc text: Turner bar:Brainard from: 1925 till: 1929 color:cmc text: Brainard bar:Turner from: 1929 till: 1931 color:cmc text: Turner bar:Geiger from: 1931 till: 1935 color:cmc text: Geiger bar:Rowell from: 1935 till: 1939 color:cmc text: Rowell bar:Mitchell from: 1939 till: 1943 color:cmc text:

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territo ...

bar:Geiger from: 1943 till: 1943 color:cmc text: Geiger bar:Woods from: 1943 till: 1944 color:cmc text: Woods bar:Harris from: 1944 till: 1948 color:cmc text: Harris bar:Wallace from: 1948 till: 1950 color:cmc text:

Wallace Wallace may refer to: People * Clan Wallace in Scotland * Wallace (given name) * Wallace (surname) * Wallace (footballer, born 1986), full name Wallace Fernando Pereira, Brazilian football left-back * Wallace (footballer, born 1987), full name ...

bar:Jerome from: 1950 till: 1952 color:cmc text:

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...

bar:Brice from: 1952 till: 1955 color:cmc text: Brice bar:Schilt from: 1955 till: 1957 color:cmc text:

Schilt The Schilt (2,299 m) is a mountain of the Glarus Alps, overlooking Glarus in the canton of Glarus. It lies south of the Siwellen The Siwellen (2,307 m) is a mountain of the Glarus Alps, located east of Glarus in the canton of Glarus. It lie ...

bar:McCaul from: 1957 till: 1957 color:cmc text:

McCaul McCaul, also spelt MacCawell is an Irish surname, derived from the Gaelic '' Mac Cathmhaoil'', meaning the "son of Cathmhaol", ''descendant of'' being implied. The name ''Cathmhaoil'' itself is derived from ''cath mhaol'' meaning "battle chief". ...

bar:Jack from: 1958 till: 1958 color:cmc text: Jack bar:Munn from: 1958 till: 1959 color:cmc text: Munn bar:Binney from: 1959 till: 1961 color:cmc text:

Binney Binney is surname of Scottish origin. Notable people with the surname include: * Amos Binney, American physician, malacologist and father of William G. Binney * Constance Binney (1896–1989), American stage and film actress and dancer * David Bin ...

bar:McCutcheon from: 1961 till: 1962 color:cmc bar:Carl from: 1962 till: 1962 color:cmc text:

Carl Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

bar:Anderson from: 1962 till: 1963 color:cmc text: Anderson bar:Robertshaw from: 1963 till: 1966 color:cmc text:

Robertshaw Robertshaw is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Andrew Robertshaw, English historian *Calvin Robertshaw, guitarist of British doom metal band My Dying Bride *Chris Robertshaw, Manx politician * Freda Robertshaw (1916– ...

bar:McCutcheon from: 1966 till: 1970 color:cmc text: McCutcheon bar:Hill from: 1970 till: 1972 color:cmc text:

Hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...

bar:Fris from: 1972 till: 1974 color:cmc text:

Fris Fris is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Barbara Fris (born 1956), Canadian soprano and actress *Francesc Gaset Fris (born 1947), Andorran sport shooter *Kristijan Fris Kristijan Fris ( sr-cyrl, Крист� ...

bar:Shutler from: 1974 till: 1975 color:cmc text: Shutler bar:Armstrong from: 1975 till: 1975 color:cmc text:

Armstrong Armstrong may refer to: Places * Armstrong Creek (disambiguation), various places Antarctica * Armstrong Reef, Biscoe Islands Argentina * Armstrong, Santa Fe Australia * Armstrong, Victoria Canada * Armstrong, British Columbia * Armstrong ...

bar:Miller from: 1975 till: 1979 color:cmc text: Miller bar:White from: 1979 till: 1982 color:cmc text:

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

bar:Fitch from: 1982 till: 1984 color:cmc text: Fitch bar:Smith from: 1984 till: 1988 color:cmc text: Smith bar:Pitman from: 1988 till: 1990 color:cmc text:

Pitman Pitman may refer to: * A coal miner, particularly in Northern England * Pitman (surname) * Pitman, New Jersey, United States * Pitman, Pennsylvania, United States * Pitman, Saskatchewan, Canada * Pitman Shorthand, a system of shorthand * Pitman ar ...

bar:Wills from: 1990 till: 1993 color:cmc text:

Wills Wills may refer to: * Will (law) A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person (executor) is to manage the pr ...

bar:Hearney from: 1993 till: 1994 color:cmc text: Hearney bar:Blot from: 1994 till: 1996 color:cmc text:

Blot Blot may refer to: Surname *Guillaume Blot (born 1985), French racing cyclist *Harold W. Blot (born 1938), served as United States Deputy Chief of Staff for Aviation *Jean-François Joseph Blot (1781–1857), French soldier and politician *Yvan ...

bar:Dake from: 1996 till: 1998 color:cmc text: Dake bar:McCorkle from: 1998 till: 2001 color:cmc text: McCorkle bar:Nyland from: 2001 till: 2002 color:cmc text: Nyland bar:Hough from: 2002 till: 2005 color:cmc text: Hough bar:Castellaw from: 2005 till: 2007 color:cmc text: Castellaw bar:Trautman from: 2007 till: 2010 color:cmc text: Trautman bar:Robling from: 2010 till: 2012 color:cmc text: Robling bar:Schmidle from: 2012 till: 2014 color:cmc text: Schmidle bar:Davis from: 2014 till: 2017 color:cmc text:

Davis Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community * Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...

bar:Rudder from: 2017 till: 2020 color:cmc text:

Rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

bar:Wise from: 2020 till: 2022 color:cmc text: Wise bar:Cederholm from: 2022 till: $now color:cmc text: Cederholm

Citations

References

* * * * * {{US Marine Corps navbox United States Marine Corps lists United States Marine Corps aviation United States Marine Corps leadership