FORT McPHERSON, Ga. (Sept. 18, 2009) - The Army bid an official farewell today to Maj. Gen. John A. Yingling in recognition of his 35 years of dedicated service.
His retirement ceremony was held here at the headquarters of the Army's largest command, Army Forces Command, where he had been the deputy chief of staff G3/5/7 (equivalent to a large civilian corporation senior vice president for operations) since December 2007.
A native of Alexandria, Va., Maj. Gen. Yingling began his Army career in 1974 when he was commissioned a second lieutenant of field artillery upon his graduation from the Reserve Officers Training Corps at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Over the years he served in a variety of staff, field, joint and command assignments around the United States and in Germany and Korea.
His field and command assignments included deputy commanding general of First Army; assistant division commander (support) for the 2nd Infantry Division; commander of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) Artillery; commander of the 7th Battalion, 8th Field Artillery (Red Dragons), 25th Division; commander of C Battery, 1st Battalion, 76th Field Artillery, 3rd Infantry Division; commander of A Battery, 3rd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery,1st Division; and firing platoon commander of the 3rd Battalion, 81st Field Artillery, Republic of South Korea.
Yingling served as an operations officer with units within the 3rd and 9th Infantry Divisions. His staff assignments included chief of staff of the U.S. Army Reserve Command; director of fire support and combined army operations and chief of staff at Fort Sill, Okla.; I Corps officer personnel manager; Personnel Command's field artillery assignments officer, and aide-de-camp to the 1st Infantry Division's commanding general.
His joint assignments included duty as a staff officer in the Pentagon's National Military Command Systems and as commanding general of Joint Task Force Six, which provides Department of Defense counterdrug support to federal, regional, state and local law enforcement agencies.
The general's military education included the Field Artillery basic and advanced courses, Command and General Staff College, Armed Forces Staff College, and U.S. Army War College.
Yingling's awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, Joint Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Army Achievement Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, and the Air Assault and Joint Staff Badges.
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