Who Is The New COMISAF?

Most people who follow the conflict in Afghanistan know that General Joe Dunford passed the duties and responsibilities of COMISAF to General John Campbell on August 26, 2014. However, many people really don't know who General Campbell is. He doesn't have the name recognition that a General McCrystal or Petraeus had. General Campbell started with military; as the son of an Air Force Senior NCO he got to travel and live around the world in his youth. He attended college at West Point graduating in 1979. He started off as an infantry officer and went through the ranks from platoon to division. In his early days he attended Special Forces training and commanded a 12-man ODA in the 5th Special Forces Group. His previous deployments include Haiti and Iraq as well as time in Afghanistan as the commander of Regional Command East (RC East). You can read his official ISAF biography here. It is refreshing that our senior leadership are picking commanders with previous experience in Afghanistan; sometimes they miss the boat on that very important criteria.