Stephen J. Townsend
Stephen J. Townsend (born 1959) four-star general who served as Commander United States Africa Command from 26 July 2019 to 8 August 2022. He previously commanded the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command from March 2018 until June 2019 and XVIII Airborne Corps from May 2015 until January 2018.[2]
Stephen J. Townsend
Townsend has served with the 82nd Airborne Division, the 7th Infantry Division, the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 78th Division (Training Support), and the 10th Mountain Division. He fought in Operation Urgent Fury, Operation Just Cause, and Operation Uphold Democracy. With the 10th Mountain Division, he served in the War in Afghanistan, leading a task force in Operation Anaconda. Townsend commanded the 3d Brigade Combat Team,[3] 2d Infantry Division leading it in the Battle of Baqubah in the Iraq War, and later served in command of the 10th Mountain Division in the War in Afghanistan. He became commander of XVIII Airborne Corps in May 2015 and, in late August 2016, took command of the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, until III Corps commander Lieutenant General Paul E. Funk II took over command of the operation in 2017.
Early life and education[edit]
Townsend was born in Scheinfeld, Bavaria, West Germany, in 1959 to a German art student mother and a Pashtun Afghan medical student father, the result of a love affair.[1] He was adopted soon after birth by an American military family in Germany. His adoptive father, James Townsend, was a staff sergeant in an armored unit.[4] Townsend grew up in Griffin, Georgia, graduating from Griffin High School in 1978. Townsend graduated from North Georgia College in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.[5] He was commissioned into the Infantry from the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps thereafter.[4] Townsend also earned a Master of Military Arts and Sciences (MMAS) degree at the United States Army Command and General Staff College, and a Master of Strategic Studies (MSS) degree at the Army War College.[6]