Biography

Lieutenant Colonel Combe assumed command of Region 5, Marine Corps Embassy Security Group on 26 June 2024. Lieutenant Colonel Combe was commissioned in 2006 through the PLC-Law program, and returned to the University of Houston Law School, where he completed his J.D. in 2008. During his first assignment he served as both a Trial and Defense Counsel as well as Senior Defense Counsel, Marine Corps Base Quantico. During this time Captain Combe deployed as a member of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to Kabul, Afghanistan, and served as a Staff Platoon Commander at Officer Candidate’s School. Captain Combe was then selected to attend the Army Judge Advocate General’s School - Graduate Course, where he earned a Master of Laws in International and Operational Law.

Captain Combe’s first post-school assignment was to the Operational Law Branch, Headquarters Marine Corps. Then Maj Combe returned to Quantico, where he served as the first Command Judge Advocate for the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity. In 2017 Maj Combe was selected as the first Marine Judge Advocate to serve with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), where he was the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate (Marine Corps) until the summer of 2020. After attending intermediate level school, and the School of Advanced Warfighting (SAW) LtCol Combe served as the Branch Head, Community Plans Branch, Judge Advocate Division, HQMC from July 2022 to June 2024.

Lieutenant Colonel Combe is a distinguished graduate of the Marine Corps’ resident Command & Staff College where he earned a Master of Military Studies. He was also awarded the Joint Service Planner Award at Marine Corps University’s School of Advanced Warfighting, where he earned a Masters of Operational Studies, was designated as an Operational Planner, and his research paper on risk assessment for global campaigning was awarded best overall course thesis.

Lieutenant Colonel Combe’s personal decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal w/ gold star in lieu of second award, Joint Service Commendation, Navy-Marine Corps Commendation, and Joint Service Achievement Medal.

Lieutenant Colonel Combe’s peer reviewed journal publications include:

• Traditional Military Activities in Cyberspace: The Scope of Conventional Military Authorities in the Unconventional Battlespace (Harvard National Security Journal, 2016)
• The Covert Action Statute: The CIA’s Blank Check? (Georgetown Journal of National Security Law & Policy, 2017) Autonomous Doctrine: Operationalizing the Law of Armed Conflict in the Employment of Lethal
• Autonomous Weapons Systems (St. Mary’s Law Journal, 2019).
• Civilian Casualties: The Law of Prevention and Response - Lessons Learned in Practical Application (The Army Lawyer, Fall 2021).
• Educational Wargaming: Design and Implementation into Professional Military Education (Journal of Advanced Military Studies, Fall 2021).
• Reorganizing the Combatant Commands: Enabling Trans-Regional State Competition (Marine Corps Gazette, February 2022).
• The ‘AGILE’ Wargames That Can Test Force Design, Parts 1 through 3 (Co-Author, U.S. Naval Institute, Proceedings, November 2022).
• Rethinking Risk in Great Power Competition (Lead Author, Center for Strategic and International Studies, February 2023)
•  Conflict in Gregoria and Tanaka: The Law of Targeting (Workshop participant, Co-Author, Naval War College: International Law Studies, January 2024).
•  Russian Reversal: Russia’s Legal / Information Policy Playbook (George Mason University, National Security Law Journal, April 2024)

Lieutenant Colonel Combe’s curated blog posts include:

• War, What is it Good For? Almost Everything: Chinese Strategic Thought and a New Approach to Gray Zone Competition
  (Georgetown Journal of National Security Law & Policy, February 2022)
• The Siren Song of Universal Jurisdiction: A Cautionary Note (Lieber Society, Articles of War blog, April 2022)
•  Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations: National Security Law at the Operational Level of War (Center for International Maritime Security / CIMSEC, July 2022)
• NSL Unscripted (Podcast Episode 6 – “The Littorals,” The Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, April 2023)
• Ruminations on Proportionality (Lieber Society, Articles of War blog, January 2024)