Major General Michael Symanski (Ret.)

Last Name: Symanski

First Name: Michael

Medals and Honors:

• Military Distinguished Service Medal (2d award)

• Legion of Merit

• Bronze Star

ACNSL Offices and Committees:

• National Security and the All-Volunteer Force

Rank: Major General

Service/Department: U.S. Army

Last or Significant Assignment:

• Asst. G-3/5/7 (IMA) Mob. & Res. Affairs

Publications:

• Three Strategists Walk into a Bar

• Emailing Your Military Career into the Dumpster: A How-Not-To Guide

• Briefing a Senior Leader? Put That Bumf Away and Unburden Your Soul

• Its Time to Fix the Way the Army Selects Commanders

• The Command Philosophy of Private Mulvaney

• Any Fool Can Obey An Order

• War is Extinct, and We Miss It!

• You are Fired!

• The Next Time We Re-Invent Someone Else's Country....

• Reservists are Soldiers Who are Laid Off Between Deployments

Michael W. Symanski is a retired Major General of the US Army Reserve. During his 37-year military career, he commanded the 89th Reserve Readiness Command, headquartered in Wichita, commanded two USAR theater level logistics commands, in Iowa and Indiana, served in Desert Storm as a Battalion Commander, in the Balkans as a Deputy Commanding General for theater logistics, and on the Army Staff in the Pentagon.

After retiring from the Army in 2007, he went to Kabul and became the Senior Mentor for Strategic Defense Planning to the Afghan Ministry of Defense. He developed the strategic decision-making process and coached the Afghan ministers and general staff in senior leadership. He soon became the Senior Mentor for National Military Logistics. He developed the national reporting systems for logistic and operational readiness and made it a tool for strategic decision-making for resource allocation. He was a key advisor in the reorganization of the Afghan General Staff.

From 2005 through 2007, Major General Symanski was on active duty on the Army Staff in the Pentagon as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff of Operations for Mobilization and Reserve Affairs. Major General Symanski represented the Army on the senior level reserve component policy boards, served on diplomatic missions and occasionally represented the Army in the Joint Operations “Tank”.

BA University of Illinois – Champaign, History/Political Science (East European Studies); MA University of Illinois – Champaign, History; U.S. Army War College, graduate.

Published articles include the winning essay in the 1988 Military Review Essay Contest: ”Hoist on the LIC Petard”; “The Next Time We Re-invent Someone Else’s Country….”, Military Review, September 2011; “You Are Fired!”, Military Review, July 2014; and, “War is Extinct, and We Miss It!” Cicero Magazine, December 2015.

He lives with his wife, Elaine in Overland Park. He is active in the Association of the United States Army, the Senior Army Reserve Commanders Association, U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and in the Reserve Officers Association. He is a former Ambassador of the Army reserve.