David T. Zabecki

Last Name: Zabecki

First Name: David

Middle Name: Tadeusz

Suffix: PhD

Nickname: Dave

Medals and Honors:

• Combat Infantry Badge; Army Distinguished Service Medal; Defense Superior Service Medal; Legion of Merit (2 OLCs); Bronze Star Medal; Meritorious Service Medal (5 OLCs); Army Staff Badge

ACNSL Offices and Committees:

• Partnerships & Alliances Committee

Rank: Major General

Service/Department: U.S. Army

Last or Significant Assignment: Commanding General, U.S. Southern European Task Force Rear, 2005-2006; Shiffren Chair of Military History,, U.S. Naval Academy, 2012.

Areas of Experience:

• EUCOM
  Europe and the E.U.
  NATO
  Weapons of Mass Destruction
  
  

Articles, Books and Publications:

• Author, Translator, Editor, or Assistant Editor of more than 25 books and encyclopedias. Author of more than 1,100 published articles, book reviews, and encyclopedia entries. American Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award, 2016; World War One Historical Association Tomlinson Book Prize, 2018. Editor, Vietnam Magazine, 2000-2009 (currently Editor Emeritus)

Enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1966, David T. Zabecki served in Vietnam during 1967-68 as an infantry rifleman with Company C, 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. In 1975 he received a direct commission from Sergeant First Class to 1st Lieutenant of Field Artillery.  Following his commissioning, he completed the Field Artillery and Military Intelligence Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, as well as the Psychological Operations Officer Course and the Nuclear and Chemical Target Analysis Course. In 1988, Zabecki graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College as the Distinguished Honor Graduate, receiving the General John J. Pershing Award. After graduating from the U.S. Army War College in 1995, he completed in 2002 the Executive Program for Russian and American General Officers at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He then served as the American Co-Director of Exercise Torgau 2005, the largest Russian-American joint exercise since the end of World War II.  

In addition to his military schooling, Zabecki’s civilian education includes Bachelors and Masters Degrees in History from Xavier University; a Master of Science in Systems Management from Florida Institute of Technology; and a Doctorate in Military History from Britain’s Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University. His doctoral supervisor was the late Professor Richard Holmes. Zabecki also holds certifications from the American Society for Quality as a Quality Engineer and a Reliability Engineer. He is the author, translator, editor, or assistant editor of more than 25 military history books and encyclopedias; and the author of more than 1,100 articles in professional journals, magazines, and encyclopedias.  His encyclopedia, Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History, received a Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award in 2016. His book, The Generals’ War: Operational Level Command on the Western Front in 1918, received the 2018 Tomlinson Book Prize from the World War One Historical Association. From 2000 to 2009 Zabecki succeeded the late Colonel Harry G. Summers as the Editor of Vietnam magazine, the only periodical dedicated specifically to the history of the Vietnam War. He is currently the magazine’s Editor Emeritus.  He is a member of the U.S. Commission on Military History, and the British Commission on Military History. He is a Senior Research Fellow in War Studies at Britain’s University of Birmingham. 

From 1996 to 1998 Colonel Zabecki served extensively in Bosnia and Former Yugoslavia. From 2001 to 2002 Brigadier General Zabecki was the Deputy Chief (Individual Mobilization Augmentee) of the U.S. Army Reserve, assigned to the Pentagon. He then commanded the 7th Army Reserve Command in Germany, and in early 2003 he served as the Director of the U.S. Army Europe Deployment Operations Center, responsible for managing and coordinating the movement of 33,000 troops and their equipment from Europe to the Gulf region for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Later in 2003 Major General Zabecki served in Israel as the Senior Security Advisor on the State Department’s U.S. Coordinating and Monitoring Mission, charged with managing the Roadmap to Peace in the Middle East initiative. In 2004 he served as the Department of Defense Executive Director for all World War II 60th Anniversary observances in Europe. He commanded the joint task forces that supported the D-Day 60, Operation Market-Garden 60, and Battle of the Bulge 60 events. From 2005 to 2006 he served as the Commanding General of the Southern European Task Force (Rear), and the U.S. Army’s Senior Mission Commander in Europe South of the Alps, headquartered in Vicenza, Italy. He was also the Co-Chairman of the Italian-American Joint Military Commission. His final assignment prior to retiring in 2007 was Deputy Chief of Staff, Mobilization and Reserve Affairs, U.S. Army, Europe. In 2012 he served as the Dr. Leo A. Shifrin Distinguished Professor of Military History at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis. 

General Zabecki’s military awards include the Combat Infantryman’s Badge; Army Distinguished Service Medal; Defense Superior Service Medal; Legion of Merit with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters; Bronze Star Medal; Meritorious Service Medal with 5 Oak Leaf Clusters; Army Staff Badge; and the German Bundeswehr’s Proficiency Badge (Leistungsabzeichen) in Gold.  

General Zabecki currently lives in Freiburg, Germany. His older son, Konrad, is a retired Marine who made seven operational deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Somali Coast.