Trinity is welcoming retired Colonel Patrick Gough, USMC to speak on “The Core of the Corps: How the Values of the US Marine Corp Address the Challenges of our World.”

Join the event on Monday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m. at Trinity Classical Academy.

Colonel Patrick J. Gough USMC had a distinguished career for 30 years, and as Commanding Officer of Marine Aircraft Group 39, he was equivalent to the Chief Executive Officer of the Marines largest Air Wing numbering 600 aircraft and 15,000 personnel. He was also the Operations Officer (G-3) for I Marine Expeditionary Force (1 MEF), responsible for over 96,000 Marines during combat operations in Iraq.

Colonel Gough graduated from California State Fullerton in 1980 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps and became a Naval Aviator in 1981. He has served as an AH-IT Cobra Attack helicopter pilot and Aviation Ordnance Officer, and Forward Air Controller/Air Officer in the Western Pacific.

In 1987 he served aboard the USS Okinawa in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Earnest Will as Squadron Tactics Head, Flight Leader mission planner. In 1988 he served as AH-1 Weapons and Tactics Instructor and later deployed again to the Persian Gulf in 1990 during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He later was deployed to Kuwait as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In August 1996, he was assigned as the US Special Operations Command Team Chief, responsible for managing numerous classified programs addressing Information Operations, Information Warfare, and Command and Control Warfare in support of special operations training and “real world” requirements. Concurrently, he founded, developed, published, and edited the first of its kind periodical on Joint Information Operations called “Cyber Sword.” In 2005, Colonel Gough assumed command of Marine Aircraft Group 39 at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton. In 2006, he served his 8th deployment to the Al Anbar province in Iraq, flying daily combat sorties.

Colonel Gough has attended the US Air Force, Air Command and Staff College and graduated with Distinction from the Naval War College receiving a Master of Arts Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. Lieutenant Colonel Gough was the first Marine to be named to the prestigious Mahan Scholars Program at the Naval War College. As such, he was tasked with developing the “Marine Corps’ Component of the Maritime Strategy in the Global War on Terrorism in 2015” for the Chief of Naval Operations and the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Colonel Gough has achieved over 3,800 flight hours, and has been awarded the Legion of Merit with two Gold Stars, the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with Gold Star, the Air Medal with the Numeral 2, the Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal with two Gold Stars, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon and numerous other unit and personal awards.