#15 - COL (ret) John Spiszer - US Army Infantry Officer with 30 years of service (and my first Brigade Commander)

COL (ret) John Spiszer is the Chief of Staff for US Army Japan at Camp Zama, Japan. COL Spiszer retired in 2014 with 30 years of service to the United States Army. Spiszer is a 1984 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point completing numerous military training and education courses during his service including the Command and General Staff Officer’s Course, the School of Advanced Military Studies (known as SAMS), the Naval War College, and the Joint Combined Warfighting Course. Mr. Spiszer’s key Army command and staff assignments are Chief of Staff, V Corps and Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Europe, Wiesbaden, Germany; Executive Officer to the Commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, Kabul, Afghanistan; Commander of the Joint Multinational Readiness Center and Senior Commander of the Hohenfels Military Community, Hohenfels, Germany; Commander of Task Force Duke, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, and Forward Operating Base Fenty, Afghanistan; and Commander of the Polar Bears, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, Fort Drum, New York, with deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.