MG Joseph P. (JP) McGee, Commanding General, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) & Fort Campbell
A native of Atherton, California, MG McGee was commissioned as an Infantry Officer from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1990. His first operational assignments were as a Rifle Platoon Leader and Scout Platoon Leader in 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment (then at Fort Lewis, WA). He then transitioned to 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment and served as a Rifle Platoon Leader and Company Executive Officer. He commanded companies in both 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, and 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. MG McGee then served in 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment as a Liaison Officer, Operations Officer and Executive Officer. During his time with 2nd Ranger Battalion he deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Following these deployments, MG McGee served in the Operations Directorate of the Joint Special Operations Command before assuming command of the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment (No Slack), 1st BCT (Bastogne), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) from 2006-2009. During this time, Task Force No Slack conducted combat operations in Samarra, Iraq. Following battalion command, MG McGee served as the Deputy Executive Assistant to the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen. He then returned to the 101st, serving as 1BCT’s Brigade Commander from July 2011 to October 2013. During this time, Bastogne Brigade assumed one of the first Advise and Assist missions in Afghanistan and facilitated the transition of Security Forces in Nangarhar, Kunar, and Nuristan Provinces. Following Brigade Command, MG McGee served as the Executive Officer to the 38th Chief of Staff of the Army, General Raymond Odierno. He then served as the Deputy Commander of Sustainment for 1st Cavalry Division and subsequently as the Deputy Commanding General (Operations) for Army Cyber Command. Most recently, he served as the Director of the Army Talent Management Task Force. MG McGee assumed command of the 101st Airborne Division, Air Assault on 5 March, 2021.
MG McGee holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from West Point, a Master's Degree in Administration from Central Michigan University, and is a Command and General Staff College graduate. He is an alumnus of the Army's Senior Fellows Program, having served as a National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University for academic year 2010-2011. His work is published in academic publications, including Stanford's Hoover Digest.
MG McGee's military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (2 OLC), Bronze Star Medal (5 OLC), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (4 OLC), the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal (4 OLC), the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Army Achievement Medal (4 OLC), the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Expert Infantryman's Badge, the Air Assault Badge, the Master Parachutist Badge, the Pathfinder Badge, the Ranger Tab, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge, and the Army Staff Identification Badge.