Lt. Gen Mike Murray Nominated to Command US Army’s New Futures Command
On the 1st July 2018, the US Army’s newest Command began operations. The Army’s new Futures Command was first announced back in 2017. It was recently announced that Austin, Texas will be home to the new Command, but who will its commander be?
The Futures Command will be led by a 4-star, general officer. The Senate has received a nomination for command of the new organisation, Lt. General John M. ‘Mike’ Murray. Congress received Murray’s nomination from the President on 16th July, 2018, it has been forwarded to the Senate Armed Services committee for approval.
The Futures and Modernization command, as it was initially referred to by US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley at the Eisenhower Luncheon at the 2017 Association of the United States Army, is intended to streamline and improve Army procurement and development as well as examine potential future battelspaces and explore how units, weapons and technology can maintain the US Army’s ascendancy.
Who is the Future Command’s likely new commander? General Murray’s AUSA biography, a copy of which has been sent to the Senate and Congress, describes a career infantry officer with over 35 years of service in both staff and command roles during a number of conflicts including Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. From from Kenton, Ohio Murray was commissioned as an infantry officer in 1982, after he graduated from Ohio State University.
Described, by Military.com, as a ‘long-time modernization guru’ leading the charge as Director, Force Management and currently as deputy chief of staff for Army at the Pentagon. In this role he has been responsible for building the Army’s funding program. In the field Murray led 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, during Operation Iraqi Freedom and commanded Joint Task Force-3 in Afghanistan.
Over his 36 career General Murray has held a large number of command and staff appointments, his AUSA biography lists them in full:
Previously, he was the Director, Force Management, the Pentagon; Assistant Deputy Director for Joint Training, J-7, Joint Staff, Suffolk, Virginia; Director, Joint Center for Operational Analysis, United States Joint Forces Command, Suffolk, Virginia; Deputy Commanding General (Maneuver), 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; Deputy Commanding General (Maneuver), Multi-National Division-Baghdad OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, Iraq; G-3 (Operations), III Corps, Fort Hood, Texas; Chief of Staff, III Corps and Fort Hood, Fort Hood, Texas; C-3, Multi-National Corps-Iraq, OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, Iraq; G-3 (Operations), 1st Infantry Division, United States Army Europe and Seventh Army, Germany; Chief, Space Control Protection Section, J-33, United States Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; S-3(Operations), later Executive Officer, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; Chief, Plans, G-1, III Corps and Fort Hood, Fort Hood, Texas.
Murray has been decorated numerous times holding the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star Medal. Murray’s appointment is yet to be confirmed, the Futures Command itself is scheduled to be fully operation by the summer of 2019.