Lt. Gen. Michael E. Langley poses July 18 in the Russell Senate Office Building. He is considered the head of the military’s Africa Command and, if promoted, would become the first black four-star officer in the Marine Corps. (Louie Palu/Agence VU)
Lt. Gen. Michael E. Langley, whose confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday, has been selected to lead US forces in Africa.
July 20, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. EDT
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In the late 1980s, Maj. Ronald Bailey met a young Marine who he knew had promise. Michael E. Langley was a powerlifter who dominated flag football games, an intellectual who set records for the number of training courses he wrote, and a problem solver whose bosses frequently called on him to arbitrate workplace disputes.
Langley, then a First Lieutenant, was also one of the few young Black Marines stationed at the prestigious downtown DC barracks.
Bailey, who later became a three-star general, took notice. He said he offered advice to Langley based on his own experience and that of the Black Marines who had mentored him. “You’re going to live under a microscope,” Bailey recalled as he told Langley. “You always have to set standards.”
More than three decades later, Langley comes under scrutiny again after being appointed chief of US Africa Command to lead all US forces in Africa. His Senate confirmation hearing is Thursday, and if confirmed, Langley would become the first black person to receive four stars since the US Marine Corps was founded 246 years ago. During that time, more than 70 whites have advanced to the senior ranks of the Marines.
Aside from Bailey, a handful of black men have gone on to become three-star generals in the Marine Corps. Other black officers have achieved four stars in the Army, Air Force, and Navy. But in the Marine Corps, Black soldiers in the upper echelons did not see anyone who resembled them, and sometimes questioned whether this was possible.
“As you looked at the horizon, you saw the end,” said retired Lt. Gen. Walter Gaskin, the fourth black man to be promoted to three-star general. “You didn’t see what was over the horizon because nobody was there.”
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Langley has served in Afghanistan, Somalia and Japan. He has held top positions in the Pentagon and led the US Marine Corps forces in Europe and Africa. He currently oversees the naval forces on the east coast. Gaskin described him as no-nonsense, deeply competent and not the table-banging kind of Marine.
“You have all the credentials in the world,” Gaskin told Langley. “No one can doubt that you deserve this.”
But there were others that also deserved a fourth star, Gaskin said. He said Lt. Gen. Frank Petersen, who became the first Black Marine to become a three-star general in 1986, was an example of someone who “without a doubt” should have been elevated to a four-star general.
That’s why this moment isn’t just a moment of deep pride, Gaskin said. It is also a reminder of the obstacles that prevented it from arriving earlier. He said he told Langley directly, “You carry the legacy … the weight of all those who came before you who didn’t have the same opportunities.”
Retired Lt. Gen. Willie Williams, the third Black Marine to receive three stars, said that “the commitment to determination and perseverance” shared by Langley and so many other Black Marines led to his promotion.
“Even now, I get chills just thinking about it,” said retired Lt. Gen. Ronald Coleman, the second Black Marine to receive three stars, of Langley’s promotion.
Langley declined an interview for this story, with a spokesman saying the general is focused on the Senate confirmation hearing.
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If confirmed, Langley would be based in Stuttgart, Germany, and would take control of about 6,000 US troops in Africa, including about 1,300 in West Africa and about 3,500 at a base in Djibouti, a spokeswoman said. He would replace Army General Stephen Townsend, who is retiring.
The US armed forces are primarily engaged in training African military personnel and helping to build their capacities. Direct combat is rare, but deadly attacks on US soldiers in Niger and Kenya in recent years have drawn increased scrutiny from US lawmakers the mission. Hundreds of special operations troops are to be sent to Somalia again this year under President Biden. President Donald Trump withdrew all US troops from Somalia before leaving office.
Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the US military in Africa faces “unique challenges”. Rather than addressing a single threat, the US is focused on helping governments address a variety of challenges related to climate change, population growth, and political instability. Uprisings in the Sahel and the growing presence of Russian mercenaries are of paramount concern to the United States.
According to O’Hanlon, the question Langley and other leaders should be asking is, “Where can you make a meaningful difference without investing tons of effort or incurring liabilities?”
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Briefly stationed in Stuttgart, Langley headed US Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa as of November 2020 after his predecessor was removed following allegations of racially abusing black Americans in front of troops. Langley declined to comment on the allegations against his predecessor at the time, telling Stars and Stripes in an interview that the military, like society in general, is still “evolving” when it comes to racial issues.
Retired Gen. Robert Neller, commander of the Marine Corps from September 2015 to July 2019, said Langley is often reserved but can also be engaging and warm-hearted and attract others. “He gets things done and people like working for him,” Neller said.
Among generals, Langley is known as a “quiet professional” who “listens more than he talks,” said retired Lt. Gen. H. Stacy Clardy III, who has worked with Langley at various locations, including at the Pentagon. Clardy counted Langley among the people he could rely on, saying he found Langley’s “judgement flawless.”
One of Langley’s most defining experiences growing up, he told friends and mentors, was his father’s decision to retire from his post as an Air Force corporal. Willie C. Langley did so after being told by his superiors that he needed to be reassigned overseas. This move would have taken him away from Langley and his siblings, for whom he was the primary caregiver following the death of their mother. Langley tells this story frequently and realizes that if it weren’t for his father’s decision to put his children ahead of his career, he wouldn’t be the person he is today, Bailey said.
When Langley learned years later that he had become a general and earned his first star, his first reaction was, “I can’t wait to tell my dad,” Bailey recalls.
In May, Langley met with many other three-star generals when an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer was to be stationed at Pearl Harbor in honor of Petersen, the Black Marine’s first aviator and three-star general, was commissioned. Rumors circulated about Langley’s nomination, said Williams, the third Black Marine to receive three stars, but it was too early to speak openly about the possibility.
Instead, Williams said he reflected on the past that made this moment possible, starting with Gilbert “Hashmark” Johnson, who was one of the first black men to enlist in the Marines after the armed forces began integrating in 1942 . Williams thought of the future, and how many young Marines could see themselves at Langley and dream bigger. And he thought of the responsibility that Langley and other Black Marines still bear.
“We live on the shoulders of those who have gone before us,” he said. “And then we offer others shoulders to stand on.”