Arkansas Tech University alumnus and Russellville native Gary W. Johnston was promoted to the rank of U.S. Army Major General at Resolute Support Mission Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, July 24.
A 1987 graduate of ATU, MG Johnston will continue to serve as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence in Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. MG Johnston oversees the military’s daily intelligence operations as it relates to the NATO-led mission to train, advise and assist Afghan forces.
His previous assignments have included serving as the Senior Intelligence Officer (J-2), Joint Intelligence Center, U.S. Central Command, McDill Air Force Base (Fla.); Deputy Commanding General for U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir (Va.); and Senior Intelligence Officer (G-2), XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg (N.C.).
MG Johnston is one of seven Arkansas Tech ROTC program graduates to earn the rank of General officer in the U.S. Army. The others are Major General Ronald S. Chastain, Major General Harley C. Davis, Brigadier General Gracus K. Dunn, Major General William E. Harmon, Brigadier General Larry Newman and Major General William Wofford.
Other honored ROTC graduates of Tech include Congressman Steve A. Womack and two Department of Defense civilian General-officer-equivalent: Senior Executive Service Dalton R. Jones and Defense Intelligence Senior Level William H. Speer (Colonel, U.S. Army Retired).