Lawyer Gets the Call to Take Camp Pendleton Command

San Diego lawyer Michael I. Neil, a brigadier general in the Marine Corps Reserves and a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, has been called to active duty, and on Friday will take command of Camp Pendleton, the Marines said Wednesday.

Neil, 50, will take over for Lt. Gen. Walter Boomer, who became Camp Pendleton’s new commander a month ago but was almost immediately sent to command the Marine force in the Middle East.

A prominent San Diego attorney who served as an infantry platoon commander in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart, said Wednesday that he has been at Camp Pendleton “on a regular basis” over the past year to learn how to run the base.

Neil said he was notified Tuesday night that he was being called up and would command Camp Pendleton for an indefinite period. “It depends on what occurs on the world scene,” he said.

Though the base has experienced its biggest mobilization since the Vietnam War, Neil also said there “are still a lot of Marines on board” to oversee at the base.

The camp normally has a complement of 36,000 Marines as well as several thousand dependents and civilian employees. The Marine Corps refuses to say how many have left for the Mideast.