**FILE** Gen. James F. Amos is commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. (Associated Press)
** FILE ** Gen. James F. Amos is commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
associated press MORALE BOOSTER: Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos says the increase in attacks is a sign that the U.S. is defeating the Taliban.
Gen. James Amos, the Marine Corps commandant, says the increase in attacks is a sign that the U.S. is defeating the Taliban. (Associated Press)
President Obama speaks during a news briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012, to discuss defense strategic guidance. From left are Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, Army chief of staff; Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta; Gen. James F. Amos, Marine Corps commandant; Navy Secretary Ray Mabus; Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, chief of naval operations. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
FILE - In this July 29, 2011 file photo, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos speaks with reporters about the Marine Corps need for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. Amos, the U.S. Marines' top general, sprinted up and down the Helmand River Valley in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, visiting frontline Marines at nine remote outposts to share Thanksgiving and applaud their gains against the Taliban in a region where al-Qaida hatched the 9/11 plot a decade ago. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
In this photo taken July 29, 2011, Marine Corp Commandant Gen. James Amos speaks with reporters the at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. Since the lifting two months ago of a longstanding U.S. ban on gays serving openly in the military, Amos said U.S. Marines across the globe have adapted smoothly and embraced the change. ìI'm very pleased with how it has gone,î he said in an Associated Press interview during a week-long trip that included four days in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
**FILE** Gen. James F. Amos is commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. (Associated Press)
In this Aug. 25, 2011, file photo U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Lane Edward Morrow,of Susanville, Calif., of the 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3/4 Marines, guards a vehicle checkpoint in early morning in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. "We need to get back to our bread and butter" Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James F. Amos, told Marines Nov. 23 at Camp Lawton, a U.S. special operations base in Afghanistan's Herat province. That begins, he said, with moves such as returning to a pattern of continuous rotations of Marines to the Japanese island of Okinawa, home of the 3rd Marine Division formed in the early days of World War II. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
