General McKenzie is a native of Birmingham, Alabama and graduated from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, in 1979, where he was commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps and trained as an infantry officer.
He has commanded at the platoon, company, battalion, Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), and component levels, including command of the 22nd MEU during combat deployments in Afghanistan in 2004 and Iraq from 2005 to 2006.
General McKenzie has served in a variety of senior staff and command positions, including Director of Strategy, Plans, and Policy (Joint Staff J5) for the U.S. Central Command; Commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Central Command; and later the Director of the Joint Staff.
General McKenzie served as a Senior Military Fellow within the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. He has a Masters in Teaching with a specialization in History.