COL John E. Box

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SIU Army ROTC group photo in gym

Inducted May 10, 2013

Colonel John E. Box was commissioned a Distinguished Military Graduate through the ROTC program at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois. Upon completion of the Military Intelligence Officer Basic Course at Fort Huachuca Arizona, COL Box was assigned to the 106th Military Intelligence Battalion, 6th Infantry Division (Light), Fort Richardson, Alaska where he served as the Executive Officer of the Long Range Surveillance Detachment, a Ground Surveillance Radar Platoon Leader and served as a Signals Intelligence Platoon Leader. Upon completion of these three assignments, COL Box was selected as Aide-de-Camp for the Assistant Division Commander for the 6th Infantry Division (Light), a position held until his attendance at the MI Officer Advanced Course in 1994. COL Box was then assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas where he served as an Assistant Brigade S-2 in 3rd “Greywolf” Brigade and as Battalion S-2, 2nd Battalion, 7th U.S. Cavalry and Company Commander, HHC, Engineer Brigade. He was next assigned to the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California where he served as the Assistant Brigade S-2 Trainer and Military Intelligence Senior Company Trainer on the Bronco Team. After the National Training Center, COL Box was assigned to his second Company Command for 26 months as the Commander of the Downers Grove Company, Chicago Battalion in 2000. After graduating from the Command and General Staff College in 2003, COL Box was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina where he deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF I) as the G2 at al Taqaddum  near Fallujah and as the 82nd ABN DIV ACE Chief in Ar Ramadi in Al Anbar Province. Upon redeployment, COL Box continued duties as the 82nd ABN Division ACE Chief and was subsequently selected as the S3, for the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion where he deployed in support of Hurricane Katrina and served as the S3 for the 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion (BSTB), 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd ABN DIV. He was subsequently assigned to HHC, C2, III CORPS, assigned as the CORPS G2 Chief of Operations prior to his deployment to Camp Victory Baghdad in support of Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I) for 15 months. COL Box is currently the Commander of the 3rd Recruiting Brigade, United States Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

COL Box earned his Bachelor’s degree from SIU-C in Business Administration in 1990. COL Box holds Master’s Degrees in Strategic Studies at the US Army War College in Carlisle, PA in 2012 and an MPA in Human Resource Management from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, CA in 1999.

COL Box’s awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Meritorious Service Medal with five Oak Leaf Clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Combat Action Badge, Senior Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge and the Recruiting Identification Badge.  COL Box is married to Kathy (Pruett) Box and they have three sons, Christopher 21, Jon 15 and Andrew 10.