Major General James P. Isenhower III

Commanding General, 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss

Maj. Gen. Jim Isenhower assumed duties as the Commander of the 1st Armored Division and the Senior Commander of Fort Bliss, Texas, in July 2022.

Maj. Gen. Isenhower was commissioned in 1992 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He was first assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he served as a rifle platoon leader, anti-tank platoon leader, support platoon leader, rifle company executive officer, and Brigade S3 Air.

In 1996, he was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, where he served as a brigade adjutant, an M1A2 tank company commander and later as a tank battalion headquarters and headquarters company commander.

After advanced civil schooling at Duke University, he served from 2002-2004 as an instructor and assistant professor in the Department of History at the United States Military Academy, where he taught American History and the History of U.S. Foreign Relations.

In 2005, Maj. Gen. Isenhower was assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington, and the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division as a squadron operations officer. In 2006, the brigade reflagged to the 2d Stryker Cavalry Regiment and re-stationed to Vilseck, Germany, where he served as a squadron executive officer, the regimental operations officer, and later as the regimental executive officer.

In 2009, Maj. Gen. Isenhower assumed command of a Stryker reconnaissance squadron in the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Following command, he served as the executive officer to the Commanding General, U.S. Army, Pacific, at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, until 2012. A distinguished graduate of the National War College in 2013, Maj. Gen. Isenhower was subsequently assigned to the Joint Staff and the Pentagon as a special assistant to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

From 2015-2017, he commanded the 189th Infantry Brigade at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. In 2017, he returned to Hawaii where he served as the executive officer to the Commanding General, U.S. Army, Pacific. In 2018, he was assigned to the Pentagon and Headquarters, Department of the Army where he served as the executive officer to the Director of the Army Staff. In 2019, he returned to Fort Hood, Texas, where he served as the Deputy Division Commander (Support) for the 1st Cavalry Division. In 2020, he returned to JBLM where he was assigned as the Commander, Multi-Domain Task Force.

Maj. Gen. Isenhower’s operational deployments include Operations Safe Haven and Safe Passage in Panama in 1995, Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1998-1999, and Operation Yudh Abhyas, a combined training event, in India in 2009. His combat deployments include three tours in Iraq in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn in Mosul, Baghdad, and the Diyala Province.

Maj. Gen. Isenhower’s military education includes the Infantry Officer Basic Course, the Armor Officer Advanced Course, the Command and General Staff College, and the National War College. He holds a BS from the U.S. Military Academy, an MS from the National War College, and an MA and PhD from Duke University.