Lt. Gen. James Mingus has been nominated by President Joe Biden to be the next Army vice chief of staff. 

If confirmed by the Senate, Mingus, who has been director for the Joint Staff since June 2022, would receive his fourth star and succeed Gen. Randy George, who has been nominated to be the 41st Army chief of staff. George appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee July 12 and also must be confirmed by the Senate. 

Mingus served as director of operations on the Joint Staff from October 2020 until June 2022. Before that, he commanded the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, now Fort Liberty, North Carolina, according to his DoD biography. 

Mingus began his Army career in 1981 when he enlisted in the Iowa National Guard. He received his commission in the field artillery branch in 1985 from Winona State University, Minnesota, and later branched infantry when he entered active duty in 1987.

He has commanded at every echelon from company to division, and worked key staff positions in Army, special operations and joint units. He has served with units including the 5th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, Seventh Army, in Germany; the 82nd Airborne Division and XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg; the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, now Fort Moore, Georgia; and the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado.  

He commanded the 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, leading it on a deployment to Afghanistan. During that deployment, former Capt. Florent Groberg, who led Mingus’ personal security detachment, earned the Medal of Honor for stopping a suicide bomber from attacking Mingus and other senior leaders who were attending a meeting with Afghan leaders. 

Three soldiers and a civilian working for the U.S. Agency for International Development were killed. 

Between 2001 and 2012, Mingus deployed 12 times to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an Army biography. 

Mingus also served as chief of the Commander’s Action Group at U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; deputy commanding general for maneuver for the 4th Infantry Division; and director of the Mission Command Center of Excellence at the Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 

His nomination was sent to the Senate on July 11.