Lieutenant General Jon A. Jensen
Director, U.S. Army National Guard
Jon A. Jensen was born in 1963 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University. He later earned master’s degrees from the United States Army Command General Staff College and the US. Army War College.
He enlisted into the Army National Guard, serving six and a half years and reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant before attending the Army’s Officer Candidate School. He received his commission as a second lieutenant and was assigned to the First Battalion of the 168th Infantry Regiment of the 34th Infantry Division. He deployed to Kuwait, was part of Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a major, and in Iraq as a lieutenant colonel. His second deployment to Iraq was as a colonel. For two years, he was the deputy commanding general for U.S. Army Africa.
He assumed his current rank and assignment as the Director of the Army National Guard in August 2020.
In the News…
The deadline has passed for Army National Guard members to receive the coronavirus vaccine. They had been informed last November by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that those who refused vaccination would be barred from participating in training and that their pay would be blocked. He also stated that the continued refusal to get vaccinated could result in “separation” or expulsion from the service.
The move comes as service members prepare for annual summer trainings that help them hone their military skills and ensure they are ready should they need to be deployed.
“We’re going to give every soldier every opportunity to get vaccinated and continue their military career,” Director of the Army Guard, Lieutenant General Jon Jensen said in a statement. “We’re not giving up on anybody until the separation paperwork is signed and completed.”
Roughly 13 percent of the Army National Guard and 12 percent of Army Reservists remain unvaccinated — a margin that could prove crippling to the ranks as the service struggles with low recruitment.
