The Army Training Center and Fort Jackson will host a change of command ceremony Aug. 31 to welcome Brig. Gen. Jason E. Kelly as its new commanding general. The event will be at 9 a.m. on Victory Field. Kelly will become the 53rd commanding general for Fort Jackson.
Kelly will assume command from Brig. Gen. Patrick R. Michaelis, who is retiring and becoming the commandant of corps of cadets at Texas A&M University.
Brig. Gen. Jason E. Kelly was most recently the command general of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, South Atlantic Division. The South Atlantic Division is one of eight U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ regions providing engineering and construction services to the Nation. It is the regional business center in the southeast, the Caribbean, and Central and South America, with district offices in Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida; and Mobile, Alabama. He became the South Atlantic Division Commander in June 2020 and oversaw the planning, design, and construction of projects to support the military, protect America’s water resources, and restore and enhance the environment within a 250,000 square mile area which includes all or part of eight southeastern states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Kelly’s other jobs include the Director, Office of the Chief of Engineers at the Pentagon and the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan District from June 2018 to July 2019 and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District from July 2015 through June 2018. He has held leadership positions from platoon to brigade, with duty in Asia, the Middle East, and the United States, including Commander of the 20th Engineer Battalion in Afghanistan; Deputy Commander of the 36th Engineer Brigade during Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn; Commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division; Assistant Operations Officer for the 10th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division; Adjutant for both the 44th Engineer Battalion and the 2nd Infantry Division Engineer Brigade in Korea; Plans Officer for the 4th Infantry Division Engineer Brigade; and Line Platoon Leader, Assault and Obstacle Platoon Leader; and Company Executive Officer in the 588th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Armored Division.
Other key assignments include participation in the Army’s Advanced Civil Schooling Program, with duty as an advanced calculus instructor in the Department of Mathematics, U.S. Military Academy; Aide-de-Camp to the Superintendent, U.S. Military Academy; and assignment to the Pentagon in the Office of the Chief of Engineers. A native of Flint, Michigan, Kelly attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated in 1994 with a commission as an engineer officer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from West Point, a master’s degree in engineering management from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, a master’s degree in statistics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in joint campaign planning and strategy from the National Defense University, and a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. He is a graduate of the Joint Advanced Warfighter School, Combined Arms Services Staff School, the Sapper Leader Course, as well as the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced Courses. He is also a certified Project Management Professional.
His awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star (three awards), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (five awards), the Army Commendation Medal (four awards), the Army Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Unit Award, the National Defense Service Medal, the Kosovo Campaign Medal with Bronze Star Device, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the NATO Medal, the Combat Action Badge, the Parachutist Badge, and the Sapper Tab. He is also the recipient of the Army Engineer Association’s Bronze Order of the de Fleury Medal and the Silver Order of the de Fleury Medal.
Brig. Gen. Kelly is married and has two children.
