Lt. Col. Joseph Madren (left) served as promoting officer during the ceremony promoting former-Capt. Matthew Parker to the rank of Major on February 24 in the Essex Circuit Courthouse

On February 24, members of the community gathered in the Essex County Courthouse to witness an official Marine Corps officer promotion ceremony. Lt. Col. Joseph Madren, a native of Tappahannock, served as the promoting officer and officially promoted Capt. Matthew Parker, also of Tappahannock, to the rank of Major.

Madren is an AH-1Z Cobra pilot, experimental test pilot, and now serves as an acquisitions officer with Naval Aviation Systems Command procuring weapon systems for Navy and Marine Corps aviation aboard NAS Patuxent River. Madren commissioned in the USMC in November 2007, earned his wings in May 2010, and deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan from May to November 2011 in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 267. He is a 1999 graduate of Essex High School.

Maj. Matthew Parker, is a judge advocate, currently serving as a special victim’s unit prosecutor aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico and will become the Supervisory Trial Counsel, Legal Services Support Section, Quantico later this month. Parker previously served as a staff attorney for the Staff Judge Advocate to the Marine Corps, Headquarters, Marine Corps, Pentagon. Parker was admitted to the Virginia bar in 2015, served as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for Essex County in 2016, and was commissioned in the USMC in March 2017. Parker is a 2001 graduate of Aylett Country Day School and a 2005 graduate of Essex High School.

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