Army Special Ops Commander Nominated to Be Socom Deputy Commander

Posted Oct 27, 2011 by Howard Altman

Updated Oct 27, 2011 at 08:46 PM

The commanding general of the Army Special Operations Command has been nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as deputy commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base.

If approved by the Senate, Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland would return to MacDill, where he served as the commander of Special Operations at U.S. Central Command.

He would serve under Socom commander Adm. William McRaven and would replace Army Lt. Gen. David P. Fridovich, who is retiring, according to Socom spokesman Ken McGraw.

Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland Jr. assumed command of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command November 7, 2008. Prior to commanding USASOC, Mulholland was commanding general of Special Operations Command Central at MacDill.

Mulholland was born in Clovis, N.M., but grew up in Bethesda, Md. He graduated with a BA in history from Furman University, Greenville, S.C., in 1978, where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry.

Since joining Special Forces, Lt. Gen. Mulholland has commanded at the ODA, Company, Battalion/Squadron and Group levels within Special Forces.

Additionally, he served in other special operations assignments including Special Operations Command South (Panama) as well as the operations officer at 1st SFOD-D (ABN). Then-Colonel Mulholland commanded Joint Special Operations Task Force-North (TF Dagger) in the opening days of Operation Enduring Freedom and Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-West (TF Dagger) in the initial campaign of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He subsequently served as the Chief, Office of Military Cooperation-Kuwait, as Commanding General, United States Special Forces Command (ABN) and as Deputy Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command.

Lt. Gen. Mulholland earned a MMAS (History) while attending the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and a Master of Science in National Security Strategy from the National War College.

His military awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Legion of Merit.