Lt. Gen. James Mingus, director of the Joint Staff, has been nominated to serve as the next vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army.
He previously served as director for operations at the Department of Defense’s Joint Staff before assuming the director role in June 2022.
Mingus was commissioned through the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps as a second lieutenant after graduating from Winona State University in Minnesota in 1985. Three years later, he received his first operational assignment as a platoon leader in 5th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, Seventh Army, in Germany.
He returned to the U.S. in 1992 to join the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty, in North Carolina.
Mingus’ nearly four-decade military career also includes leadership roles such as chief of the Joint Planning Group with Joint Special Operations Command and chief of the Commander’s Action Group at U.S. Central Command.
If confirmed by Senate, Mingus will receive his fourth star and succeed Gen. Randy George, who is nominated to be the next chief of staff of the Army.
His nomination has been received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
