John McMahon, Brigadier General, Division Engineer and Commander, ACOE South Pacific Division

 

Brigadier General McMahon commands the South Pacific Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  He was promoted to Brigadier General on November 8, 2006.  He comes to the Division from the Corps Headquarters in Washington D.C. where he served as Chief of Staff from July 2004 – 2006.

Established in 1888, the division comprises one-fifth of the United States and is one of the Corps' eight regional commands. Four operating district commands comprise the region, headquartered in Albuquerque, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Francisco.

As Division Commander, BG McMahon is responsible for leading a professional workforce of over 3,000 people and managing military and civil works programs in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho, and Texas. Key missions encompass strengthening national security, supporting the war on terror, and managing the nation’s water resources infrastructure for economic growth and environmental sustainability. The division’s current program exceeds $1 billion.

BG McMahon synchronizes Corps of Engineers efforts with those of other federal, state and local agencies, the Army and Air Force, the Administration and the Congress to ensure that the Corps provides exceptional support to military installations and civilian communities throughout the region.

BG McMahon was commissioned through the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) Program at Syracuse University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering in 1977.  Commissioned in the Corps of Engineers, he reported to the 65^th Combat Engineer Battalion at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, where he served as a Platoon Leader and Company Executive Officer and participated in numerous off-island deployments including the Team Spirit 79 exercise in the Republic of Korea.

In 1981, BG McMahon was assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he commanded the 63^rd Engineer Company (Topographic), performed duties as a Battalion Operations Officer (S-3), and served as an XVIII Airborne Corps Plans Officer.  After earning a Master of Science degree in Applied Mathematics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, BG McMahon taught mathematics at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, from 1986 – 1989.

Posted to Germany in 1990, BG McMahon served as the Director of Engineering and Housing for the Aschaffenburg Military Community until he joined the 3^rd (Phantom) Brigade, 3^rd US Infantry Division (3ID), as it prepared to deploy to the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations (KTO).  As the Brigade Engineer, he participated in the liberation of Kuwait during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  He then served as Assistant Division Engineer for 3ID in Wuerzburg, followed by duties as Battalion Executive Officer for the 10^th Combat Engineer Battalion in Schweinfurt.

Assigned to ROTC duty, BG McMahon served as the Professor of Military Science at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, from 1993-1995.  In 1995, he took command of the 70^th Combat Engineer Battalion at Fort Riley, Kansas.  While there, he deployed the battalion to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, twice in ten months for two heavy brigade rotations. 

BG McMahon was assigned to joint duty with the National Imagery and Mapping Agency in 1998, where he served as Chief of the U.S. European Command Customer Operations Division and as a Plans Officer in support of the U.S. Pacific Command.  BG McMahon then served as Commander and District Engineer, Japan Engineer District, headquartered at Camp Zama, Japan, from July 2001 to June 2004. 

BG McMahon’s military education includes: the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the Mapping, Charting & Geodesy Officer Course, the Command and General Staff College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.  He is a registered Professional Engineer in Virginia.

BG McMahon’s awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal (4 awards), and the Army Commendation Medal. 

BG McMahon is married to the former Catherine Kuttas of Satellite Beach, Florida, and they have four children:  Robert, an Army Engineer Captain serving with the 16^th Engineer Battalion in Iraq, Jennifer, a graduate of The College of William and Mary employed by Department of Defense, Patrick, who attends Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and David, who attends the U.S. Air Force Academy.