Owen West was confirmed on Monday as assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict in a 74-23 Senate vote.

In this role, he’ll serve as a key adviser to Mattis on issues like counterterrorism, unconventional warfare, direct action, special reconnaissance, and information and psychological operations.

He’s the son of Bing West, a renowned Marine Vietnam vet, author and a former assistant secretary of defense himself, in international security affairs, during the Ronald Reagan years.

“My dad, Bing, had his confirmation hearing before this committee in 1981,” Owen West said in a July nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Among the many inspirational lessons he imparted: Government service is the ultimate end state. A military officer’s lifetime responsibility is to take care of our fighting men and women.”

Controversy over a 2016 editorial he co-wrote with his father against the integration of female Marines into combat jobs kept Owen West’s confirmation in limbo, according to Defense News. West apologized for what he called “reactionary” writing.

Owen West served as an infantry platoon commander, reconnaissance platoon leader and combat adviser, where he was twice deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to a White House press release.

He later worked for Wall Street’s top investment bank, Goldman Sachs.

The six-foot-four Harvard University and Stanford Business school grad was dubbed “the most badass banker on Wall Street” by Business Insider while he was at Goldman Sachs.

He rowed crew at Harvard undergrad while on a ROTC scholarship, and has attempted to climb Mt. Everest. He even raced six times on the 500-km adventure “Eco-Challenge” show (including races in Morocco, Utah and Borneo) produced by “Survivor” executive Mark Burnett, and was the only male on the year 2000’s Team Playboy X-Treme, with three former Playmates of the Month.

West knew he couldn’t drop out of that one.

“My God, if the Marine had dropped out and ruined the Playboy bunnies’ chances of finishing, I told my wife, we’d have to move to Australia and set up a small fishing operation,” West told CNN in 2001.

His third book, “The Snake Eaters,” is a nonfiction book about counterinsurgency advisers in Iraq.

West also helped an Iraqi interpreter he befriended gain American citizenship.

“I felt it was my duty,” West wrote in his book. “No one risked more for us than the interpreters. They dressed in American uniforms and patrolled alongside us. … They do it all because there is an ideal that’s drawing them.”

Andrea Scott is managing editor of Marine Corps Times. On Twitter: @_andreascott.

“We’re getting heavier, we’re getting bloated, and it requires more,” Williams said.

The Corps is looking for ways to stay light and ready.  For Lt. Gen. Michael Dana, the deputy commandant of installations and logistics, a top priority is in command and control logistics and information technology.

“To try to modernize that with emerging technologies is his No. 1 priority,” Williams said.

One big “game changer” will be 3-D printing technology, Williams said during Wednesday’s panel. It’s disruptive in a good way and can improve performance and print “obsolete stuff” from older platforms.

It will also allow Marines to manufacture things in a less complicated way.  Where we had five parts before, we may now be able to print in one, he said.

For example, Williams said, there’s a Marine at the tip of the spear who has a drone that goes down.

“In the old days … that thing had to get evacuated. But guess what? I can print one now.”

The 3-D printing technology can improve readiness and response times for the entire supply chain, he said.

A key for all these technologies is “smart logistics” — networking equipment and devices to communicate and “talk” to each other. All the platforms should be in sync, he said, and then they can diagnose and fix problems in optimal time.

A final area is health care for forward-deployed Marines, he told Marine Corps Times after the panel, and finding ways to evacuate folks using cutting-edge technology.

Right now, teams of Marines and civilians are doing experiments and exercises, and looking to the private sector to find ways to optimize technologies and to continue to improve readiness.

“Boy, there are some exciting things going on out there,” he said.