Things do not always go as planned. When that happens, it does not necessarily mean it is a bad thing.

 

Take former city resident and 1992 Bridgeport High School graduate Matt McKinney. You may remember him?

 

After high school, McKinney received and accepted an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. All seemed set. It was not.

 

After two years, McKinney requested permission to resign and was granted it. He would end up going to – and graduation from – West Virginia University where he played baseball, the same sport where he earned all-state status at during his time with the Indians.

 

From there, he ventured south. Actually, extremely south as he ended up in Tampa, Florida where he worked at a Bally’s Health Club.

 

Things seemed set for a Sunshine State lifestyle. They were not.

 

Once again, he headed back to Morgantown where he got a year of law school under his belt before going back into the armed forces, this time with the Marines. The now 48-year-old McKinney would come out commissioned from Officer Candidate School in the summer of 1999 at Lieutenant Matt McKinney

 

“I knew when I was done, I owed the government four years and, honestly, that was what my plans were to be,” said McKinney. “Twenty-three years later and some change, I’m still here.”

 

Not just still in the Marines, but a very high-ranking member of the United States Marines. Earlier this year, on August 1, Lieutenant Colonel Matt McKinney became Colonel Matt McKinney.

 

“What was really special about it was that we were able to do the promotion at my house and my entire family came in for it,” said McKinney.

 

Doing the honors of promoting McKinney was General Kyle B. Ellison, the commanding general of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. The choice was not by chance – Ellison was the McKinney’s company commander as a captain when McKinney was still fresh as a lieutenant.

 

“That was a big day that I never envisioned back when I first got in. I figured four years and then, next thing you know, there is a war in Iraq in 2005 and after that I appreciated what I was doing and wanted to stick around," he said.

 

As he stuck around, he rose through the ranks. In 2001, he became a First Lieutenant. In 2005, he was promoted to Captain and then, in 2010, he earned the rank of Major. The last step, prior to his most recent elevation in status, was to Lieutenant Colonel in 2016 where he was the Service Officer of the United States Marines Barracks in Washington D.C. The location is known as “8th and I,” for the streets that intersect on the Marine Barracks.

 

The ”8^th and I” is the oldest continually serving post in the Marine Corps. The key responsibility is for sacred and ceremonial duties in support of the President of the United States and the Marine Corps. He was also in command of Combat Logistics Battalion 26 and was the Commanding Officer for Troops of the USS Oak Hill LSD (Landing Ship Dock) 61, an amphibious ship named in honor of President James Monroe’s home. The 600-foot-long Oak Hill housed a crew of 350 and 400 marines from the 26^th Marine Expeditionary Units.

 

“We were in the Arabian Gulf awaiting an Iranian response for an American rocket attack on General Qassem Soleimani,” said McKinney of the key Iranian military leader killed by the U.S. at the Baghdad airport.

 

There ended up being no response. There also ended up being no time off the ship. For six months, during the COVID spike, McKinney could not get on or off the ship along with the rest of the crew.

 

“You did it all, eat and sleep, on that ship,” said McKinney.

 

One might think the situation would have led McKinney to call it a career. Instead, the longer he stayed, the more he wanted to follow in the leadership tracks set before him, including that of his father Douglas who was a veteran.

 

“When I think about it, there is nothing else I’d rather do, and promotion is part of it. You get promoted or you retire. I could have retired,” said McKinney.

 

He did not. Instead, he opted to be considered for promotion as he put himself on a list of eligible candidates knowing, at most, only 15 percent of the individuals eligible would advance to the next ranking.

 

“I got lucky one more time,” said McKinney.

 

Now, Colonel McKinney is the Chief Operations Officer for Capability Prototypes. He works for the undersecretary of defense for researching and engineering in Washington, D.C. The promotion and working with young marines are not the only good parts of his latest jump in rank.

 

“I get to go home for dinners on most nights, which rarely happened before the promotion,” said McKinney.

 

The other times? A few times in 2013 and 2014 during a professional military education stint and a time frame in war college in 2020-21.

 

“Outside of that, I’ve never had what people consider a regular schedule. I usually have weekends off too,” said McKinney.

 

That is good news for the father of three along with his wife Kelsey Gregis McKinney of Bridgeport. They are the parents to 21-year-old Maddie, a senior at Appalachian State; Haley, 19, who is in college in Charlotte; and their son Killian, 6, a first grader in Alexandria.

 

Of course, the regular life will be changing once again by summer. McKinney will be heading to the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Ga., and will leave in June of 2023 for a three-year commitment. After that, like his plans prior, nothing is set.

 

“Beyond that and from when I was just promoted, it is four or five years to even become eligible for promotion to the general zone. That is a 1 percent chance, and, at that point, I’ll have been in for more than 27 years,” said McKinney. “That’s a long time. I’ve been fortunate to be involved and see a lot.”

 

McKinney has been in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to name a few places where active military operations were taking place. He also has been back throughout the world and, of course, back to Bridgeport, most recently in 2021 to watch his brother Sam’s BHS soccer team and to do a whitewater rafting trip with his father-in-law.

 

He is not sure when he will be back, but the son of Dr. Douglas and Sue McKinney, who are living in Lewisburg, still loves his hometown.

 

“That will always be home, and I love getting back there even though when I was younger, I never planned on leaving,” said McKinney. “I guess you can feel comfortable and call a few places home.”

 

Even if his plans have never unfolded as thought, Matt McKinney has certainly found a home in the United States Marine Corps. And he’s currently residing there as a colonel.

 

Semper Fi my friend.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Matt McKinney, far left, at Officer Candidate School graduation on August 13, 1999 with his father Doug, brother Sam, sister Meg, and mother Sue. In the second photo, General Kyle B. Ellison swears in McKinney as Colonel Matt McKinney. In the next photo, McKinney and his wife Kelsey as he is set to assume command in 2019. In the fourth photo he is shown with a large portion of his family following his promotion to Colonel. In the fifth photo, McKinney, on right, shakes hands with the late U.S. Senator John McCain as he receives him before an evening parade at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C. All photos courtesy of Matt McKinney.