Lieutenant General Samuel T. Helland

Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command

Commanding General, I Marine Expeditionary Force

05 Nov 2007

Lieutenant General Helland earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Minnesota, Duluth and holds a Master of Science Degree from Troy State University. He is a graduate of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the National Defense University, Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

Lieutenant General Helland began his military career by enlisting in the Army in 1968. He served three years with U.S. Army Special Forces, leaving after a combat tour of duty in Vietnam with the 5th Special Forces Group (ABN), Military Advisory Command (Special Observations Group). Lieutenant General Helland graduated from Marine Officer Candidate School in 1973, and was designated a Naval Aviator in 1974. He is qualified as a CH-53 pilot.

His Marine Corps career assignments include tours of duty with Amphibious Units, Aviation Combat Elements, and Joint Task Forces. He participated in exercises and contingency operations ranging from the Arctic Circle, throughout the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, the Persian Gulf, and the Horn of Africa. After graduating from the Marine Command and Staff College in 1987, Lieutenant General Helland reported to Headquarters, Marine Corps to serve as a Staff Officer for the Department of Aviation, Aviation Programs and Weapons Division (APW). In 1990, he was assigned as the Logistics Officer for the Marine Aircraft Group 26 and was the Operations Officer for Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 461, MAG 40. Lieutenant General Helland commanded HMH-461 from June 1991 until June 1993. After graduating from The Industrial College of the Armed Forces, he reported to the Joint Staff as a Joint Staff Officer in the J-7, Operational Plans and Interoperability, Conventional War Plans Division. Lieutenant General Helland assumed command of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) in August 1996 and led the MEU through two Mediterranean deployments. During which, he was designated Commander, Joint Task Force Nobel Obelisk, Sierra Leone, Africa, for evacuation operations. In April 1999, he was assigned as the Deputy Commander JTF-Shining Hope providing humanitarian assistance to Albanian Kosovo refugees in Albania and Macedonia. In July 1999, he was assigned to US Joint Forces Command, Norfolk VA, as the Director for Operations and Plans. Leaving US Joint Forces Command in August 2001, he reported to US Marine Forces South, Miami Florida as the Deputy Commanding General, Marine Forces South and the Commanding General, Fleet Marine Forces South. From August 2003 to May 2004, he served as the Assistant Deputy Commandant for Aviation. In May 2004 Lieutenant General Helland assumed command of Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa based in Djibouti, Africa. From August 2005 to July 2007 Lieutenant General Helland commanded the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, MCAS Miramar San Diego, California. In July 2007, he assumed duty as Deputy Commanding General I MEF, Camp Pendleton Ca before assuming his present assignment as Commanding General IMEF; Commander, Marine Corps Forces Central Command on 2 November 2007.