Gen. Eric Smith, Marines commandant, hospitalized in medical emergency
Gen. Eric Smith, the Marine Corps’ top officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was hospitalized Sunday night after suffering what military officials said was a health emergency.
The service disclosed his hospitalization, but not a cause, on Monday afternoon, writing in a brief news release that additional information would be released “at a later time.”
Officials have not said where Smith, 58, is being treated or when he could be released. A Marine Corps official told The Washington Post that the general’s family requested that no further details be made public for now.
A D.C. police official linked the incident to the reported cardiac arrest of a man on Sunday evening about a block from Smith’s residence at Marine Barracks Washington. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity, said he had no other information to provide.
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A senior spokesman with the D.C. fire department, Noah Gray, said in a statement that emergency responders treated “a cardiac arrest” on Sunday near 7th and G Streets in Southeast Washington. Bystanders called 911 and began CPR after witnessing “an adult male collapse on the sidewalk while running,” Gray said.
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics transported the man to a nearby hospital, Gray said, adding that he could not comment on or identify the patient.
Smith ascended to the Marine Corps’ top job in late September, attaining Senate approval amid an acrimonious and ongoing political feud that, for much of the year, has halted movement on nearly all other senior military nominations put forward by President Biden. The blockade, imposed by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion policy, has affected hundreds of positions throughout the force.
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Smith was previously the service’s assistant commandant, a post that remains vacant amid the Senate’s ongoing gridlock. That has left the general to shoulder the responsibilities of both jobs since July, when his predecessor retired.
Speaking at a conference days before last month’s confirmation vote, Smith described feeling exhausted by his daily work schedule, which at that time, he said, often began at 5 a.m. and did not conclude until 11:30 p.m. “It is not a sustainable thing,” the general told those in attendance, according to an account by the independent Marine Corps Times.
Share this articleShareSunday was unseasonably warm in Washington, with bright sunshine pushing the temperature up to around 80 degrees. That morning, Smith addressed participants and onlookers gathered for the annual Marine Corps Marathon, according to imagery released by the military. He was taken to the hospital hours later.
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Marine officials said that, for now, Smith’s duties will be carried out by Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, a deputy commandant who oversees the service’s combat training and modernization initiatives.
A spokesman for Tuberville, Steven Stafford, said Tuesday that the senator favors moving ahead with a vote on the nomination of Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney to become the next assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. Mahoney, if confirmed, would then perform the duties of the commandant in Smith’s absence.
With Smith in the hospital, the service has no four-star generals in the Pentagon.
Stafford said the senator will not end his broader blockade on Biden’s military nominees until the administration rescinds its policy of reimbursing travel expenses incurred by military personnel stationed in states that have restricted abortion access. Stafford disputed assertions, made repeatedly by the president, the Pentagon and a range of national security experts, that military readiness has suffered as a consequence of the political standoff.
Tuberville, Stafford said, “is praying for General Smith’s quick recovery, and he is confident in the ability of General Heckl to do the job on an acting basis.”
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