Lt. Gen. John R. Evans, Jr. is the Commanding General of U.S. Army North (Fifth Army), headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. U.S. Army North is the Theater Army and Army Service Component Command to U.S. Northern Command, the geographic combatant command for North America. U.S. Army North’s mission is Homeland Defense, Defense Support of Civil Authorities and Theater Security Cooperation.
Prior to assuming command of U.S. Army North, he served as Commanding General, United States Army Cadet Command, Fort Knox, Kentucky.
After completing flight school, he was assigned as an Attack Platoon Leader in C / 1-82nd Aviation Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina where he served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Upon departing Fort Bragg in 1995, he served his first of three tours with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) which included duties as A Company Commander; Regiment S3; Regiment Operational Assessment Element Commander Regiment Deputy Commander; Battalion Commander, 2nd Battalion; and Regiment Commander, Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Other assignments include: Deputy Commanding Officer of the Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command – Afghanistan, Kabul Afghanistan; Chief of Staff of the Army Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC; Deputy Commanding General –Support for 2nd Infantry Division / Republic of Korea - US Combined Division in the Republic of Korea; and Commanding General, U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command (A), Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He has served multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lt. Gen. Evans was commissioned in 1988 as a Distinguished Military Graduate from Appalachian State University and is a graduate of the Armor Advanced Course, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Naval War College. He holds a Master of Arts in Adult Education from Kansas State University, and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College.
His military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star with three oak leaf clusters, the Air Medal with V device and numeral 2.
Lt. Gen. Evans is married to the former Carolyn Ruppel of Nashville, Tennessee and they have two daughters.