COL Donald Dellinger is currently serving as the Deployment Director of the Joint Continuous Process Improvement Program at the National Guard Bureau. He received his Commission in the Army through the Early Commissioning Program at Wentworth Military Academy in 1986. During COL Dellinger’s 26 years of service in the Army National Guard (ARNG), he has served as a traditional Guardsman and in the Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) program. As a traditional Guardsman, he has served in a variety of positions at the platoon and company level in Missouri, Illinois and Guam ARNG.
COL Dellinger entered the Title 32 AGR program in 1994 and was assigned to positions at the battalion and state level in operations, training, personnel and logistics. In 1999, he was assessed into the Title 10 AGR program to serve in the Training Division at the Army Nation Guard Bureau focusing on resource management. COL Dellinger completed a command leadership tour in the Oregon ARNG where he was responsible for the activation of a new unit, the 206th Quartermaster Battalion, and commanded the 2-218th Field Artillery Battalion.
Following his command tour, he deployed to Afghanistan with the 41st Infantry Brigade as the Operations Officer for Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) Phoenix. CJTF Phoenix was comprised of over 6,000 soldiers from all Services and 1 coalition nations. CJTF Phoenix was responsible for the manning, training and equipping of the Afghan National Army and Police. Upon return from deployment, he served as the Chief, Strategic, Plans and Policies Branch at the Army National Guard Bureau G-5. COL Dellinger’s most recent assignment was at the Army War College where he was the Army National Guard Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
COL Dellinger holds a Masters in Management from the University of Phoenix and Bachelors Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Guam. COL Dellinger is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic Course, Infantry Officer Advance Course, Field Artillery Advance Course, Combined Arms Staff School, Command and General Staff College, Advanced Force Management Course, Defense Strategy Course, and the Army Ware College.
COL Dellinger’s awards include the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal with 1 oak leaf cluster, Army Commendation Medal with 1 oak leaf cluster, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon, NATO Medal, Parachutist Badge, Pathfinder Badge and the Department of the Army Staff Badge.