Mark Milley

His paternal grandfather, Peter (1897–1976), was from Newfoundland and served with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the Gallipoli campaign in World War I.

His father, Alexander (1924–2015), enlisted in the U.S. Navy in March 1943 as a naval corpsman.

He was assigned to the 4th Marine Division and landed at Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.

After the war, he worked as a restaurateur and food-broker.

He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, whose membership is limited to practicing Catholic men.

Milley's mother, Mary Elizabeth (née Murphy), was a nurse who served with the Navy's WAVES in World War II and is described by Milley as a "break-the-glass-ceiling" type of woman.

Milley attended a Catholic grammar school where he played hockey.

Good grades and athletic ability led to him being recruited to Belmont Hill School.

and afterwards to Princeton University where he played varsity ice hockey.

Mark Alexander Milley (born June 20, 1958) is a retired United States Army general who last served as the 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2023.

Milley was born on June 20, 1958, in Winchester, Massachusetts.

He is of Irish descent, and was raised Roman Catholic.

There, he joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) in 1976, and in 1980 graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics after completing a 185-page-long senior thesis titled "The Irish Republican Army: A Critical Analysis of Revolutionary Guerrilla Organization in Theory and Practice".

Milley also holds a Master of International Affairs degree from the School of International & Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University and another Master of Arts degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.

He is also an attendee of the MIT Center for International Studies Seminar XXI National Security Studies Program.

An ROTC graduate from Princeton University, Milley earned his commission as an armor officer in 1980.

Later he graduated from Columbia University.

He was appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by US President Donald Trump, making Milley the tenth U.S. Army officer to be chairman.

As chairman, Milley was the highest-ranking officer in the United States Armed Forces and the principal military advisor to the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council.

Milley earned his commission as an armor officer through Princeton's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps program in 1980.

Milley's career has included assignments with the 82nd Airborne Division, 5th Special Forces Group, 7th Infantry Division, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Readiness Training Center, 25th Infantry Division, Operations Staff of the Joint Staff, and a posting as Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense.

Milley has held multiple command and staff positions in eight divisions and special forces throughout his military career.

He commanded 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, in South Korea from 1996 to 1998.

He served as commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light) from December 2003 to July 2005; deputy commanding general for operations of the 101st Airborne Division from July 2007 to April 2008, and as commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division from November 2011 to December 2012.

Milley commanded III Corps, based at Fort Hood, Texas, from December 2012 to August 2014, and concurrently the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command from May 2013 to February 2014.

He served as the commanding general of the United States Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from August 2014 to August 2015.

He previously served as the 39th chief of staff of the Army from August 14, 2015, to August 9, 2019, and held multiple command and staff positions in eight divisions and special forces throughout his military career.

Milley was appointed chief of staff of the Army on August 14, 2015.

In his initial message to the U.S. Army, General Milley laid out his priorities on readiness, the future Army, and taking care of troops.

"We must ensure the Army remains ready as the world's premier combat force. Readiness for ground combat is—and will remain—the U.S. Army's #1 priority. We will do what it takes to build an agile, adaptive Army of the future."

During his tenure, Milley focused heavily on modernization efforts for the Army, which included a new command designed to consolidate the methods that deliver Army capabilities, similar to the approach used by U.S. Special Operations Command.

At the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, Milley described the areas targeted for modernization, including tanks, aircraft and weapons.

Milley said: "Faster results will be obtained...as we shift to a SOCOM-like model of buy, try, decide and acquire rather than the current industrial-age linear model that takes years to establish requirements, decades to test, and it may take a long, long time to go from idea to delivery."

He warned: "If we adapt to the changing character of war, and we embrace the institutional changes that we need to implement, then we will continue to be the most lethal fighting force in the world for the next seven decades and beyond. If we do not, we will lose the next war."

In February 2017, the Army announced the establishment of Security Force Assistance Brigades.

Also known as SFABs, these permanent units were established in Fort Benning with a core mission to conduct security cooperation activities and serve as a quick response to combatant commander requirements.

While their training would be similar to that of Special Forces, soldiers in the SFABs would not be considered Special Forces, Milley said.

"They will be trained in many ways similar to Special Forces, but they are not Special Forces."

These SFABs will be structured using the non-commissioned and commissioned officers of infantry brigade combat teams to train foreign military units in conventional light infantry tactics, Milley said.

In 2018, Secretary of the Army Mark Esper and Milley established Army Futures Command in Austin, Texas, to take advantage of nearby academic and industrial expertise.