Commanders
During the Iraq War, the Marine Corps regularly rotated command of MNF-W between the 1st and 2nd Marine Expeditionary Forces.
| MEF | Commander | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| I MEF | James T. Conway | March 2004 | September 2004 |
| I MEF | John F. Sattler | September 2004 | February 2005 |
| II MEF | Stephen T. Johnson | February 2005 | February 2006 |
| I MEF | Richard C. Zilmer | February 2006 | February 2007 |
| II MEF | Walter Gaskin | February 2007 | February 2008 |
| I MEF | John F. Kelly | February 2008 | February 2009 |
| II MEF | Richard Tryon | February 2009 | January 23, 2010 |
For convenience, these changes of command are listed below and the Marine command in MNF-W is simply referred to as "MEF":
| I Marine Expeditionary Force March 2004 – February 2005 (James T. Conway/John F. Sattler) March 2006 – February 2007 (Richard C. Zilmer) February 2008 – February 2009 (John F. Kelly) |
II Marine Expeditionary Force March 2005 – February 2006 (Stephen T. Johnson) February 2007 – February 2008 (Walter Gaskin) March 2009 – January 2010 (Richard Tryon) |
As the Marine Corps withdrew from Anbar Province, by September 2009 they were replaced by a single brigade, the 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. The brigade was bolstered with an additional 16 advisers, though this did not reach the 48 assigned advisors that were supposed to be part of an 'Advise and Assist' brigade.
Read more about this topic: Multi-National Forces West