Gordon Keiser is Senior Fellow at Potomac Institute

The Potomac Institute welcomes Col Gordon Keiser, USMC (ret) as a Senior Fellow.  Prior to joining the Institute, he was at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, Quantico, VA, and worked at the U.S. Naval Institute.

He retired from the Marine Corps as an infantry colonel in 1989.  After retirement, he worked from Jan. 2006 to Nov. 2012 as a senior engineer/analyst at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, VA. From April 2000 to May 2005, he was Senior Editor, Proceedings magazine, and Deputy Seminar Manager at the U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD. From Sep. 1989 to March 2000, he was Director of Operations and Deputy Seminar Manager at the Naval Institute.

In 1959, he received a BA in history from the Virginia Military Institute and was commissioned as a Marine Corps second lieutenant. Later, while serving on NROTC duty at Tufts University in Medford, MA, he received an MA in political science in 1971.

His military training included: the Army Airborne, Navy SCUBA, and Army Ranger Courses; Military Assistance & Training Advisory Course; Amphibious Warfare School; Armed Forces Staff College; and the National War College. He served two combat tours in Vietnam, one with the Vietnamese Rangers and the second with the Vietnamese Marines.

Late in his military career, he served as the first Officer-In-Charge of the Special Operations Training Group at Camp Lejeune, NC,  and later as Commanding Officer of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable). He retired from the Marine Corps as an infantry colonel in 1989.