A third-generation Marine veteran and partner on Wall Street has been confirmed as a right-hand man for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Owen West was confirmed on Monday as assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict in a 74-23 Senate vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this role, he\u2019ll serve as a key adviser to Mattis on issues like counterterrorism, unconventional warfare, direct action, special reconnaissance, and information and psychological operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy dad, Bing, had his confirmation hearing before this committee in 1981,\u201d Owen West said in a July nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. \u201cAmong the many inspirational lessons he imparted: Government service is the ultimate end state. A military officer\u2019s lifetime responsibility is to take care of our fighting men and women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Controversy over a 2016 editorial<\/a> he co-wrote with his father against the integration of female Marines into combat jobs kept Owen West\u2019s confirmation in limbo, according to Defense News<\/a>. West apologized for what he called \u201creactionary\u201d writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He later worked for Wall Street\u2019s top investment bank, Goldman Sachs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The six-foot-four Harvard University and Stanford Business school grad was dubbed \u201cthe most badass banker on Wall Street\u201d by Business Insider<\/a> while he was at Goldman Sachs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 \u201cEco-Challenge\u201d show (including races in Morocco, Utah and Borneo) produced by \u201cSurvivor\u201d executive Mark Burnett, and was the only male on the year 2000\u2019s Team Playboy X-Treme, with three former Playmates of the Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n West knew he couldn\u2019t drop out of that one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy God, if the Marine had dropped out and ruined the Playboy bunnies\u2019 chances of finishing, I told my wife, we\u2019d have to move to Australia and set up a small fishing operation,\u201d West told CNN in 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n