Fort Sill, Okla.--The Army Chief of Staff announced the assignment of Brig. Gen. Brian McKiernan as commandant of the United States Army Field Artillery School at the Fires Center of Excellence, Fort Sill.
McKiernan is currently the deputy chief of staff, G3/5/7, U.S. Army Reserve Command, Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Fort Bragg, N.C.
McKiernan will replace Brig. Gen. Thomas Vandal, who departed Fort Sill to become the Department of the Army G3, director of operations and who has been nominated to receive his second star.
McKiernan was born in Providence, R.I., is a 1986 distinguished military graduate of the Vanderbilt University ROTC program and completed the Field Artillery Officer Basic and Advanced Courses at Fort Sill.
His career took him to Augsburg, Germany where he served as fire direction officer and firing platoon leader in 1st Battalion, 36th Field Artillery and as aide-de-camp to the VII Corps Artillery commander.
He was then assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division Artillery, Fort Bragg. During his tour, he served as brigade targeting officer, task force fire support officer and firing battery commander, and he participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
After completion of a masters degree in operations research and systems analysis in June 1996, he was assigned to the Army staff, where he served as an enlisted manpower analyst in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel.
Following attendance at the Marine Corps Command and General Staff College in 1998-1999, he reported to the 2nd Infantry Division Artillery at Camp Stanley, Korea, where he served as S3 of 6th Battalion, 37th Field Artillery (MLRS), and S3 of 2nd Infantry Division Artillery. From there, he moved to Seoul, Korea, and served as theater operations officer, CJ3, ROK-US Combined Forces Command.
McKiernan assumed command of Task Force 4-27 Field Artillery, 2d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division in Baghdad, Iraq, in July 2003 and redeployed with the battalion to Baumholder, Germany, in July 2004. After battalion command, he was assigned as the senior fire support trainer at the Joint Multinational Training Center in Hohenfels, Germany.
He graduated from the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Penn., in June 2007 and was again assigned to Korea, where he commanded the 210th Fires Brigade, 2th Infantry Division. In July 2009, McKiernan deployed again to Baghdad, Iraq, where he served as the chief of staff, USFI J-9. He has served in his most recent assignment since September 2010.
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