Utter's Battalion

Lt. Col. Alex Lee retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1978 after a twenty-seven-year career. As an infantryman he held commands ranging from rifle and machine-gun platoons and rifle-company-level assignments to a tour of duty as commanding officer of 3d Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. In combat operations in Vietnam, he commanded two rifle companies and a force reconnaissance company. His staff duties included two tours at the Marine Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., during which he implemented new techniques to improve the equipment-acquisitions process and created a doctrine-based combat-readiness evaluation system. A graduate of Stanford University and a fifth-generation Californian, he resides in Alpine, California, with his wife and three sons. He is also the author of Force Recon Command- 3rd Force Recon Company in Vietnam, 1969-70.