General James McConville
Army Chief of Staff
James Charles McConville was born in March 1959 in Quincy, Massachusetts. He graduated from the United States Military Academy and was commissioned as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. He earned an MS degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and was a national security fellow at Harvard University.
His command assignments include Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, where he also served as commander of the joint task force during Operation Enduring Freedom. He also commanded in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war in Afghanistan.
He has served in staff assignments including as Chief Legislative Liaison, Executive Officer to the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, and as U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff, among others. He was made Army Chief of Staff in July 2019.
McConville is a Master Army Aviator qualified in the Kiowa Warrior, Longbow Apache, Cobra, and other aircraft.
In the News…
General James McConville and other Pentagon leadership are expressing concerns as military suicides increase.
At a press briefing, the general said, “I am very concerned about the behavioral health impacts of COVID. It’s affecting our soldiers. It disconnects people.”
FaceTime, phone calls, and text messages are ways that unit leaders have been encouraged to preserve the social connection with their soldiers, during the coronavirus pandemic. Others also expressed concerns about the isolation.
Nineteen years of deployments in war zones has also contributed, the general said. “Our soldiers have been highly deployed over the last 19 years and done an absolutely fabulous job. The [operational tempo] is still extremely high.” He said that the way operational deployments work also need change, but that could be a long time coming.
