Leaders
Training and Education Command Official Unit Logo
Training and Education Command
Always Learning, Always Leading
Executive Deputy, Training and Education Command
SES Dennis C. Thompson

Mr. Thompson is the Executive Deputy of Training and Education Command, Marine Corps Base Quantico, responsible for the development and implementation of Marine Corps policy and programs for service-level training, professional military education, unit training programs, and the provision of training capabilities supporting the Total Force.

Mr. Thompson served nearly 30 years in the US Marine Corps in a wide range of command, operational, and staff billets, retiring as a Colonel in 2005.  He commanded at every rank and was designated a Joint Service Officer.  Assignments included duty with artillery, reconnaissance, Marine Expeditionary Unit, combat service support, and communications units.  He also was a Guard Officer at Marine Barracks, Norfolk; the Marine Officer Instructor, Naval ROTC Unit at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Morehouse University and the Director of the Command and Control Systems School, Marine Corps University.  Command tours included three companies, 9th Communications Battalion, and the Marine Corps Communications-Electronics School.  Staff experiences involved duty with two Marine Expeditionary Force staffs, Headquarters Marine Corps, the Joint Staff, and US Central Command.  He attended the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, Joint Forces Staff College, and the Naval War College.

After retiring from active duty, Mr. Thompson became a senior research fellow with the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, a not-for-profit think tank, supporting initiatives related to expeditionary operations, distributed operations, and irregular warfare at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory’s Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities, the Office of Naval Research, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

In 2008 Mr. Thompson became the Director of the MAGTF Training Simulations Division, Training and Education Command.  In 2012 he was assigned as the Deputy Director of the newly formed Training and Education Capabilities Division, with duties including resource sponsorship oversight of live, virtual, constructive, and distance learning training programs and the integration of those capabilities to support home station, formal learning center, and service level training.  He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in May 2014.

Mr. Thompson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Resource Management from the Pennsylvania State University and holds a master’s degree of Public Administration from Golden Gate University and a master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

Marine Corps Training and Education Command