LEADERSHIP

Tim Parkhurst is founding president of the Marine Scout Sniper Heritage Foundation (MSSHF), the organization charged with remembering the many sacrifices and honoring the 105-plus year legacy of Marine Scout Snipers. He previously served as a director at USMC Scout Sniper Association (SSA) for six years, and as its president for more than four years. Tim originally hails from Kansas City, growing up in a military family with a strong legacy of service. After graduating from the Marine Military Academy in 1986, Tim (naturally) chose to become a Marine and began a 25-year career spanning four wars, service in all four Marine Divisions and with some of the most storied units in the Corps. While Tim served as a Scout Sniper for only a few short years as a young NCO, that experience laid the foundation upon which his career was built. Tim and Leony, his wife of 32 years, now call western North Carolina home and enjoy keeping up with their two grown daughters and three grandchildren. Since retiring from active service in 2014, Tim has worked with several non-profit veteran organizations in all-volunteer capacities. He eventually “came home” to the Scout Sniper community in 2018 and made great strides in improving corporate governance and increasing the charitable capacity of SSA. In mid-2021, Tim and another director had a conversation that proved to be the genesis of the Scout Sniper War Memorial concept and the Marine Scout Sniper Heritage Foundation. It was pointed out that no memorial exists anywhere in the world specifically to honor Marine Scout Snipers killed in action in service to our nation. Since SSA is the only non-profit membership organization for Marine Scout Snipers in the world, Tim and the rest of SSA’s leadership team felt it was incumbent upon them to do something about it. After much discussion, it was determined that SSA’s all-volunteer board of directors simply wouldn’t have the bandwidth necessary to do justice to the scope of work required to build a world-class memorial. And so, Marine Scout Sniper Heritage Foundation was born. Marine Scout Sniper Heritage Foundation is a fully-independent subsidiary of USMC Scout Sniper Association with its own leadership, tax exemption, revenue and banking. Founded in May 2023, MSSHF received its 501(c)3 designation a mere four days after making application to the IRS. While the SSA board of directors led MSSHF in its infancy, Tim Parkhurst was appointed its founding president in January 2024 and was charged with recruiting a talented group of volunteers to serve as Directors. A fully functional, independent board of directors was appointed in March 2024. MSSHF continues to make great strides toward our goal of creating a world-class memorial to honor our war dead, and the ongoing mission to “Remember the Sacrifice and Honor the Legacy”.

Adam Blair grew up on a farm in West Central Minnesota and enlisted in the Marines in 2001 at age 17. He served in a Scout Sniper Platoon from 2002-2006, participating in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as part of Regimental Combat Team 5. Adam deployed to Iraq again in 2004, participating in the fight to secure Ramadi. Since leaving the Marines, Adam has worked in business sales and development while still being involved with the family farm. He now serves as the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Marine Scout Sniper Heritage Foundation. Adam and his wife Cassie have been married since 2004 and have four children.

Tony Clark served as a United States Marine, a scout sniper and a scout sniper instructor. After graduating from the 1st Marine Division Scout Sniper Basic Course and Scout Sniper Instructors Course at MCB Quantico, Tony was a scout sniper with STA Platoon, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. He later served as Chief Scout Sniper and, briefly, as acting platoon sergeant. He was a Scout Sniper Instructor for Class 3-86 and Class 1-87 at 1st Marine Division Schools. Tony is now an Arizona State University professor with a PhD in American Studies. He offers interdisciplinary classes in combat trauma, U.S. military history, and war and popular culture. He also administers the course-embedded Sergeant Major Gilbert Hashmark Johnson Undergraduate Peer Mentoring Collaborative that works with military veteran undergraduates on leveraging their small unit leadership skills as transferable assets during transitions through higher education to second careers. His multidisciplinary research program in military and veteran studies is focused on understanding modern forms of vetphobia and vetphobic microaggressions -- assaults, insults, and/or invalidations that dehumanize, objectify, demean, trivialize, and lampoon military veterans. In the coming 2-3 years, he hopes to launch a Marine scout sniper oral history project that parallels development of the Fallen Marine Scout Sniper War Memorial. Tony has served as Chief Administrative Officer and Vice President of History and Education for USMC Scout Sniper Association since 2022. He now additionally serves as Chief Administrative Officer for Marine Scout Sniper Heritage Foundation.

Alex Carrillo is a founding director of the Marine Scout Sniper Heritage Foundation (MSSHF). He is also charter member of the USMC Scout Sniper Association (SSA) and has worked with various veteran focused organizations in the past including being a Veterans Services Officer (VSO) for the State of Nevada. Alex grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin, and entered service in 1991 beginning a 27 year career in the Marine Corps. Alex graduated Scout Sniper School in 1993 and went on to serve as a Scout Sniper in three infantry battalions holding every billet from point man to Platoon Sergeant. Alex also served as the Staff Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (SNCOIC) and Chief Instructor of the Marine Corps Mountain Scout Sniper Course (MSSC) at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center (MWTC), Bridgeport, California. In 2018 after 27 years of service, 11 deployments, and over 100 firefights in foreign lands, Alex retired as a Marine Gunner (which he considers the pinnacle of the Infantryman’s craft). Upon retirement, Alex and his wife Amber settled at their home in northern Nevada where they keep busy tending their livestock, packing into the Eastern Sierra mountains in the summer, and running firearms and saddlery businesses.

Colonel Gregory L. Jones, USMC (Ret) is a graduate of The Citadel and a career infantry officer. He served in both 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions, Indo-PACOM, Marine Corps Recruiting Command, and Training Command. He is a graduate of the Infantry Captains Career Course, Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the Air War College. Col Jones’ command assignments included: Platoon Commander, Lima Company, V36 (22d MEU-SOC); Company Commander, Headquarters Company, 6th Marines; Company Commander, Alpha Company, V17 (OIF); Commanding Officer, Recruiting Station Cleveland, Ohio; Commanding Officer, Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry-East; Commanding Officer, Headquarters Battalion, 2d Marine Division; Commanding Officer, Weapons Training Battalion, Quantico, VA. Col Jones’ staff assignments included: Officer Candidates School (various billets); Assistant Operations Officer, V17 (OIF); Operations Officer, V17 (OIF); Executive Officer, Detachment 2, Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (stationed in Hanoi, Vietnam); Operations Officer, 8th Marines; Operations Officer, Task Force South West 18.2 (OEF); Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff G-3, 2d Marine Division; Assistant Chief of Staff G-3, 2d Marine Division; Chief of Staff, 2d Marine Division. Colonel Jones’ personal awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal (Gold Star in Lieu of Second Award), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (Gold Star in Lieu of Fourth Award), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (Gold Star in Lieu of Second Award), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon. Recently retired from military service, Col Jones now works as the Chief Operating Officer of G-Code Tactical, a tactical holster and equipment company. G-Code is a veteran owned, small business that operates out of Burgaw, NC. Col Jones also recently accepted a position on the Board of Directors for Marine Scout Sniper Heritage Foundation. Colonel Jones is married to his wife of 26 years, Nikki, and has three children.

Kevin Root is a native of Binghamton, NY and enlisted in the Marine Corps in October 1989. He attended 2d Marine Division Scout Sniper School in 1992 while assigned to 2d Marines Regimental Scout Platoon. He was honorably discharged as an infantryman and scout sniper in 1993. He graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1997 and was commissioned in the Marine Corps in April of 1998. He attended The Basic School, Infantry Officer Course, Military Intelligence Officer Basic Course, Airborne, Military Free-Fall, Multi-Mission Parachute Course, Marine Combatant Diver Course, Command and General Staff College, Johns Hopkins University-School of Advanced International Studies, and the Joint and Combined Warfighting School - National Defense University. His service in the Operating Forces included: Battalion S-2 and HQ Battery Commander, 2d Bn, 11th Marines (June 1998-1999); Platoon Commander, 1st Reconnaissance Bn (June 1999-April 2002) (31st MEU); G-2 Operations Officer, 1st Marine Division (Jan 2004 – June 2005) (OIF); Company Commander, 3rd Reconnaissance Bn (June 2005-June 2008) (OIF); Regimental Combat Team S-2, RCT 7 (June 2012-June 2014) (OEF); Battalion Commander, 1st Reconnaissance Bn (June 2016-June 2018); and Commanding Officer, I MEF Information Group (July 2021-August 2023). His service outside the Operating Forces included: Director, Enlisted Training, Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center (April 2002-June 2005); Chief, Collections Operation Division and J-2 Aide, USSOUTHCOM (June 2008-June 2011); G-2 Operations Officer, I MEF (June 2014-June 2016); Director, Commandant’s Staff Group (June 2019-June 2020); and AC/S G-5, Training and Education Command (June 2020-2021). His operational experience included OPERATION DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM, OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM 04, 05-07.2 and 06-08.1 (Counter-insurgency operations- Ramadi, Fallujah and Karmah, Iraq), and OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM 12.1 through 13.1 (Counter insurgency operations – Helmand Province, Afghanistan). Kevin retired from the Marine Corps in December 2023. He assumed his current position as Deputy Commander, Marine Corps Intelligence Schools in Dec 2024. Kevin has been married for over 30 years and has two adult children.

Col Jack Cuddy was instrumental in the formation of the modern, post-Vietnam Scout Sniper program at Quantico, Virginia. As a young captain, he served as the original Officer-In-Charge of Scout Sniper Instructor School in 1977, working with legendary scout sniper Carlos Hathcock to create and administer scout sniper training. Col Cuddy later returned to Quantico as the Commanding Officer of Weapons Training Battalion.

John Dailey left his home in West Virginia at seventeen to join the Marines, which led to a military career of over twenty years. He began that career as an infantryman, eventually becoming a Scout Sniper and rising to become Chief Scout for his battalion. As a Platoon Sergeant in the Marine Corps’ 1st Force Reconnaissance Company on deployment in Australia on September 11th, 2001, he and his men soon found themselves in Afghanistan battling the Taliban. In 2003 he was selected to serve as a team leader in the first Marine Corps unit assigned to US Special Operations Command - Detachment 1. Det-1’s 2004 Iraq deployment solidified the Marine Corps’ place in special operations and led to the formation of the Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC). John received his MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina–Wilmington in 2018. John continues to train Marine Raiders and provides leadership training and performance coaching through his company, Walking Point LLC. He lives in Hubert, North Carolina, with his wife, Tracy.

Sergeant Major Zickefoose, a native of the Midwest, graduated from Millard North High School in 1985 and served in the United States Marine Corps for 36 years. In addition to numerous military schools he is also a graduate of the Basic Airborne Course, Scout Sniper Course, Noncommissioned Officer’s Course, Career Course, SNCO Advanced Course, and Joint Enlisted Professional Military Education (Keystone). Sergeant Major Zickefoose is an Infantryman and has served in every U.S. Marine Corps infantry billet from Rifleman to Senior Enlisted Advisor. He has deployed 11 times and has served in numerous combat engagements in Somalia, Kosovo, Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom. He has also served in the Marine Security Forces, as a Drill Instructor, Sergeant Instructor at Officer Candidate’s School, Chief Instructor/Staff Noncommissioned Officer-in-Charge of the Scout Sniper Instructor School, and on recruiting duty. As a Noncommissioned Officer, he served in 3d Battalion, 9th Marines during Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Restore Hope, and numerous Joint Task Force-6 Operations and at Joint Task Force-Bravo. As a Staff Sergeant and senior staff noncommissioned officer, he served in 2d Battalion, 6th Marines and deployed to Kosovo, and in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. He was also a member of the Personnel Security Detail for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. As a Sergeant Major, he served as a recruiting station Sergeant Major, 1st Marines and Regimental Combat Team 1 Sergeant Major, 2d Marine Division Sergeant Major, II Marine Expeditionary Force Sergeant Major and as the Command Senior Enlisted Leader for United States Southern Command. His personal awards include: the Silver Star Medal, Legion of Merit with 1 gold star, Bronze Star Medal with 1 Gold Star and 1 Combat Distinguishing Device, Meritorious Service Medal with 1 Gold Star, Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal with 1 Gold Star, Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal with 1 Gold Star, and the Combat Action Ribbon with 3 Gold Stars. He has two children, Dakota and Tia, and is enjoying retirement in Maine.