‘I’M STILL IN THE FIGHT’

Top Marine Says He’s Recovering From Cardiac Arrest

Since there was no Senate-confirmed assistant commandant, Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl took over Smith’s duties.

The commandant of the Marine Corps told Marines on Tuesday that he was recovering from cardiac arrest in a video that marked his first public appearance since his hospitalization last month. “I’m still in the fight; I need you to be in the fight,” Gen. Eric Smith said in the clip posted to Instagram. “It’s not the first time I’ve been knocked down. When I was shot in 2004, I bounced back from that. I’ll bounce back from this.” In the caption, Smith wrote that although “the world is uncertain.. As Marines, we must be certain of one thing–that we’ll always have each other.” The Marine Corps Times reported that Smith went into cardiac arrest on Oct. 29, and the Marine Corps announced last week that he had been discharged from the hospital and was getting ready to undergo surgery to repair a bicuspid aortic valve in his heart. The newspaper also said that since there was no Senate-confirmed assistant commandant, Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl took over Smith’s duties. Marine spokesperson Maj. Josh Larson wrote in a Tuesday statement that Smith was not yet ready for full duty.