Mark Milley

Mark Alexander Milley (born June 18, 1958) is a United States Army general and the 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As Chairman, he is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces. He previously served as 39th Chief of Staff of the Army.[1]

Mark Milley
Milley in 2019
Birth name	Mark Alexander Milley
Born	(1958-06-18) June 18, 1958 Winchester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1980–present
Rank	General
Commands held	Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chief of Staff of the United States Army United States Army Forces Command III Corps International Security Assistance Force (joint) 10th Mountain Division 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light)
Battles/wars	Operation Just Cause Operation Uphold Democracy Operation Joint Endeavor Iraq War War in Afghanistan
Awards	Defense Distinguished Service Medal (2) Army Distinguished Service Medal (4) Defense Superior Service Medal (3) Legion of Merit (3) Bronze Star Medal (4)
Alma mater	Princeton University (BA) Columbia University (MA) Naval War College (MA)

Early life and education

Born in Winchester, Massachusetts, Milley attended the Belmont Hill School.[2] Milley graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics in 1980 after completing a 185-page long senior thesis titled "A Critical Analysis of Revolutionary Guerrilla Organization in Theory and Practice".[3] Milley also holds a Master of Arts degree in international relations from Columbia University and another Master of Arts degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.[4] He is also a graduate of the MIT Center for International Studies Seminar XXI National Security Studies Program.[5]

Military career

Mark Milley as Army Chief of Staff

Although Milley earned his commission as an Armor officer through Princeton's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps program in 1980, he has spent most of his career in Infantry assignments.[6]

Milley has served in the 82nd Airborne Division, the 5th Special Forces Group,[7] the 7th Infantry Division, the 2nd Infantry Division, the Joint Readiness Training Center, the 25th Infantry Division, Operations Staff of the Joint Staff, and as a Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon.[8] In November 2000, he participated in the 2nd Annual Army-Navy Ice Hockey Game in Honolulu, Hawaii, a charity event benefiting youth ice hockey players in the area.[9]

General Milley has had multiple command and staff positions in eight divisions and Special Forces throughout the last 39 years to include command of the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division; Milley commanded the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light) from December 2003 to July 2005, served as Deputy Commanding General (Operations), 101st Airborne Division from July 2007 to April 2008, and was Commander of the 10th Mountain Division from November 2011 to December 2012.[10] He then served as the Commanding General of III Corps, based at Fort Hood, Texas, from 2012 to 2014,[11] and as the Commanding General of United States Army Forces Command, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from 2014 to 2015. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the United States Army on August 14, 2015.[12]

Iraq War study

President Donald Trump with General Mark Milley following the 9/11 Observance Ceremony at the Pentagon, 2017

In 2018, Milley was involved in deciding whether the Army would publish a controversial study on the Iraq War. Milley reportedly decided he wanted to read the two-volume, 1,300-page, 500,000-word document before making a decision. Milley also directed that an external panel of scholars review the work. After the panel returned glowing reviews on the study, including one that described it as "the gold standard in official history", Milley continued to delay publication so he could review it further.[13]

In September 2018, Secretary of the Army Mark Esper and other Army officials decided to distance themselves from the study by casting it "as an independent" work of the authors, instead of being described as a project by the Chief of Staff of the Army's Operation Iraqi Freedom Study Group. When confronted by a journalist from The Wall Street Journal in October 2018, Milley reversed these decisions, ordering the study published officially and with a foreword from himself. He said the team who wrote the study "did a damn good job", the study itself was "a solid work", and that he aimed to publish the study by the holidays (2018).[13]

Within days of this revelation, two members of Congress who sit on the House Armed Services Committee (Reps. Jackie Speier, D-California, and Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona) sent a letter to Army leaders expressing their anger over the delay. In a press release accompanying the letter to Milley and Esper, Speier said, "This is simply the Army being unwilling to publicly air its mistakes. Our military, Congress, and the American people deserve nothing less than total transparency on the lessons the Army has identified so that we may use those lessons to avoid costly, and too often deadly, mistakes of the past."[14] The two-volume study was published January 17, 2019.[15][16][17]

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

General Mark Milley as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in October 2019

Defense Secretary Mark Esper, General Milley, and members of the 101st Airborne Division tour the Bois Jacques during the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge

General Milley departs the White House in combat uniform alongside President Trump, June 2020

On December 8, 2018, President Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Milley to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, although the Secretary of Defense at that time James Mattis and the incumbent Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford favored Air Force Chief of Staff General David L. Goldfein to be the next Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff.[18][19][20][21][22] With Senate confirmation (89–1) on July 25[23][24] he was sworn in on September 30, 2019.[25][26][27][28]

After Milley was nominated, he headed a commission with other American military officials that were responsible for designing a report on the country's impending near-term impacts from climate change. The report, which was released in August 2019, stated that the country and its military would experience a total collapse within the next two decades due to collapses in the country's aging power grid and food supply, as well as the increased risk of infectious disease outbreaks globally. The report also mentions the likelihood of increasing water scarcity in developing countries, which would result in an increase of civil and military conflicts due to a failure in the global food system.[29][30]

After attending 75th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium and Luxembourg on December 16, 2019, Milley met with the Russian military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov in Bern, Switzerland, on December 18. This continued a series of regular meetings between the American and Russian military chiefs reestablished by Milley's predecessor Joseph Dunford in 2017 to ensure open communication and avoid conflict, especially in Syria.[31] The face-to-face meeting was arranged with the assistance of the incoming Swiss Chief of the Armed Forces Korpskommandant (Lieutenant General) Thomas Süssli.[32]

On June 1, 2020, during protests in Washington, D.C., in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, Milley joined National Guardsmen and various police forces assembling in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House.[33] Minutes later, the troops and police used tear gas and other riot control tactics to disperse peaceable protestors so Trump could stage a photo-op at nearby St. John's Episcopal Church. About half an hour after that, Milley, in combat uniform, walked alongside the president from the White House to the church, drawing sharp criticism from former military officers and others.[34][35][36][37][38][39] Milley subsequently refused to testify in front of Congress regarding the military's role in the response to the protests.[40] He reportedly considered resigning over the incident[41], but chose instead to address it in a video recorded as his commencement address to the National Defense University. In that speech, streamed on June 11, Milley said he should not have been at the event because his presence created a perception of military involvement in domestic politics.[42]

Operational deployments

Milley has deployed for various military operations, including:

• Multinational Force and Observers, Sinai, Egypt
• Operation Just Cause, Panama
• Operation Uphold Democracy, Haiti
• Operation Joint Endeavor, Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq
• Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan

Awards and decorations

Combat Infantryman Badge with Star (denoting 2nd award)

Expert Infantryman Badge

Special Forces Tab

Ranger tab

Master Parachutist Badge

Special Operations Diver Badge

Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge

Army Staff Identification Badge

French Parachutist Badge

101st Airborne Division Shoulder Sleeve Insignia

506th Infantry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia

10 Overseas Service Bars

Defense Distinguished Service Medal with one bronze oak leaf cluster

Army Distinguished Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters

Defense Superior Service Medal with two bronze oak leaf clusters

Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters

Bronze Star Medal with three oak leaf clusters

Meritorious Service Medal with silver oak leaf cluster

Army Commendation Medal with four oak leaf clusters

Army Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster

Joint Meritorious Unit Award with oak leaf cluster

Meritorious Unit Commendation with three oak leaf clusters

National Defense Service Medal with one bronze service star

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with two service stars

Afghanistan Campaign Medal with three campaign stars

Iraq Campaign Medal with two campaign stars

Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal

Global War on Terrorism Service Medal

Korea Defense Service Medal

Humanitarian Service Medal

Army Service Ribbon

Army Overseas Service Ribbon with bronze award numeral 5

NATO Medal for service with ISAF with bronze service star

Multinational Force and Observers Medal

French National Order of Merit, Commander[43]

References

1. "Chief of Staff of the Army | General Mark A. Milley". United States Army. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
2. Berkowitz, Bram (August 27, 2015). "Winchester Native Mark A. Milley Becomes U.S. Army Chief of Staff". Winchester Star. Winchester, MA.
3. Milley, Mark Alexander. Princeton University. Department of Politics (ed.). "A Critical Analysis of Revolutionary Guerrilla Organization in Theory and Practice".
4. "General Mark A. Milley: Commanding General". United States Army. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
5. Art, Robert (September 1, 2015). "From the Director: September, 2015". MIT Seminar XXI. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
6. Graham-Ashley, Heather (December 20, 2012). "III Corps' new commander views road ahead, training, support". III Corps and Fort Hood Public Affairs. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
7. Gal Perl Finkel, The IDF that Eisenkot leaves behind is ready, The Jerusalem Post, January 1, 2019.
8. U.S. Army Forces Command, Commanding General Archived September 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, www.army.mil/forscom, dated August 15, 2014, last accessed August 15, 2015
9. "Honolulu Star-Bulletin Sports". archives.starbulletin.com.
10. Block, Gordon (December 4, 2012). "Fort Drum welcomes new 10th Mountain Division commander at ceremony". Watertown Daily Times. Archived from the original on September 14, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
11. Michelle Tan, Staff writer (May 13, 2015). "Gen. Mark Milley picked for Army chief of staff". Army Times.
12. Michelle Tan, Staff writer (August 14, 2015). "Milley takes over as new chief of staff; Odierno retires". Army Times.
13. Gordon, Michael R. (October 22, 2018). "The Army Stymied Its Own Study of the Iraq War". Wall Street Journal.
14. South, Todd (October 25, 2018). "Army's detailed Iraq war study remains unpublished years after completion". Army Times.
15. The U.S. Army in the Iraq War, 2003-2006: Invasion, Insurgency, Civil War (PDF) (Report). 1. U.S. Army War College Press. January 17, 2019.
16. The U.S. Army in the Iraq War, 2007-2011: Surge and Withdrawal (PDF) (Report). 2. U.S. Army War College Press. January 17, 2019.
17. Todd South (January 18, 2019). "Army's long-awaited Iraq war study finds Iran was the only winner in a conflict that holds many lessons for future wars". Army Times.
18. "Trump chooses new Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, against Mattis wishes". www.outlookindia.com. December 9, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
19. Hirsh, Michael (December 20, 2018). "Mattis Quits Over Differences With Trump". foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
20. Mehta, Aaron (July 25, 2019). "Senate confirms Milley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs". www.defensenews.com. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
21. "Donald Trump makes it official: Gen. Mark Milley to chair Joint Chiefs of Staff". USA Today. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
22. Bowman, Tom (December 8, 2019). "Meet Mark Milley, Trump's Pick For Joint Chiefs Chairman". NPR. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
23. On the Nomination (Confirmation: General Mark A. Milley to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), United States Senate, July 25, 2019
24. Cooper, Helene (September 29, 2019). "How Mark Milley, a General Who Mixes Bluntness and Banter, Became Trump's Top Military Adviser". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
25. Macias, Amanda (September 30, 2019). "Trump oversees swearing-in of Gen. Mark Milley as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff". CNBC. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
26. Babb, Carla (September 30, 2019). "New Top US Military Officer Takes Helm Amid Iran Tensions, Afghan Violence". Voice of America. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
27. Baldor, Lolita C. (September 30, 2019). "Gen. Milley faces challenges as next Joint Chiefs chairman". Associated Press. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
28. Golby, Jim (October 1, 2019). "President Trump tapped Gen. Mark Milley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Here are 3 things to know". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
29. Ahmed, Nameez (October 24, 2019). "U.S. Military Could Collapse Within 20 Years Due to Climate Change, Report Commissioned By Pentagon Says". VICE. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
30. Implications of Climate Change for the U.S. Army (PDF) (Report). U.S. Army War College Press. August 2019.
31. Detsch, Jack (December 18, 2019). "Intel: Top US and Russian generals link up to talk Syria". Al-Monitor. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
32. Hashmi, Faizan (December 19, 2019). "Russian General Staff Chief, Top Swiss Army Commander Meet In Bern – Defense Ministry". UrduPoint Network. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
33. "The crackdown before Trump's photo op: How law enforcement cleared protesters outside the White House". Washington Post. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
34. "Pentagon Distances Leaders From Trump Photo Op". US News. 2020.
35. Schmitt, Eric; Cooper, Helene; Gibbons-Neff, Thomas; Haberman, Maggie (June 3, 2020). "Esper Breaks With Trump on Using Troops Against Protesters". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
36. "Trump's church photo-op took Esper, Milley by surprise". NBC News. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
37. Spinelli, Dan. "Top general defends his actions after appearing in Trump photo op". Mother Jones. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
38. "Trump Finally Gets the War He Wanted". Defense One. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
39. Robert Kagan (June 2, 2020). "The Battle of Lafayette Square and the undermining of American democracy". Washington Post.
40. Cohen, Zachary. "Esper and Milley refuse to testify about military's role in policing protests, source says". CNN. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
41. "Milley discussed resigning over role in Trump's church photo op". NBC News. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
42. Live Updates on George Floyd Protests: Top General Apologizes for Role in Trump Photo Op, The New York Times, June 11, 2020
43. "U.S. Embassy France". Twitter.com. November 11, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.

External links

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army document: "Lieutenant General Mark A. Milley".
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Military offices
Preceded by James Terry	Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division 2011–2012	Succeeded by Stephen Townsend
Preceded by Donald Campbell	Commanding General of III Corps 2012–2014	Succeeded by Sean MacFarland
Preceded by James Terry	Commanding General of ISAF-Joint Command 2013–2014	Succeeded by Joseph Anderson
Preceded by Daniel Allyn	Commanding General of United States Army Forces Command 2014–2015	Succeeded by Robert B. Abrams
Preceded by Raymond T. Odierno	Chief of Staff of the United States Army 2015–2019	Succeeded by James C. McConville
Preceded by Joseph Dunford	Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 2019–present	Incumbent
Order of precedence
Preceded by Barbara Barrett as Secretary of the Air Force	Order of Precedence of the United States as Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff	Succeeded by Jerome Powell as Chair of the Federal Reserve