Colonel Joe D. Dowdy, was the commanding officer of the Regimental Combat Team 1 (RCT-1) during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He led his unit to within 130 km of Baghdad before being relieved of command on April 4, 2003 by Major General James Mattis, the commanding officer of the 1st Marine Division. He was replaced by Colonel John Toolan then chief of staff for the Division. According to the spokesman for the 1st Marine Division at the time, Lieutenant Eric Knapp, Colonel Dowdy's removal "...was a decision based on operating tempo." This decision was controversial to many in Marine Corps and the Department of Defense. Dowdy is now the Special Operations Manager at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.