GRAND MARSHAL

and previously served as a Supervisory Professor in the Department of Joint, Interagency, and Multinational Operations, and Teaching Team Leader for the Command and General Staff School.

From 2009 to 2011, Dr. Kem deployed as a member of the Senior Executive Service to Afghanistan as the Deputy to the Commander, NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan (NTM-A) / Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan (CSTC-A). His responsibilities included providing broad oversight of the program management of the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund (over $25 billion for 2009-11), oversight of the ministerial advising program for the Afghan Ministries of Interior and Defense, serving on the US Embassy’s Rule of Law Deputies’ Committee, providing oversight of the Afghan National Security Force Literacy Program, and spearheading the Human Rights Integration and Gender Integration Initiatives for the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.

Dr. Kem served in concurrent assignments prior to his deployment to Afghanistan as the Director, Land Power Studies Institute, the Commandant’s Distinguished Chair of Military Innovation, and as a Supervisory Professor of Joint, Interagency, and Multinational Operations at the US Army Command and General Staff College.

Maintaining an active research agenda, Dr. Kem is the author of five books: Deep Operations: Theoretical Approaches to Fighting Deep (2021); Deep Maneuver: Historical Case Studies of Maneuver in Large-Scale Combat Operations (2018); Planning for Action: Campaign Concepts and Tools (2012); Campaign Planning: Tools of the Trade 3d ed. (2009); and Design: Tools of the Trade (2009). He has additionally published over 35 articles in a wide variety of publications, including Journal of Military Learning, Military Review, Air and Space Power Journal, Small Wars Journal, Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, Army Chaplaincy, Public Administration Review, Public Administration Times, Public Administration and Management, Essays in Education, and Global Virtue Ethics Review.

Dr. Kem has additionally supervised over 135 Master’s theses and 15 major research studies, including research on the Afghanistan Campaign Plan, the Iraq Campaign Plan, Global War on Terrorism Domestic Drivers, Private Military Companies, Irregular Warfare, and Improvised Explosive Devices. Dr. Keminitially entered the US Army in 1974, and retired in 1998 as a Military Intelligence Colonel. His military assignments included service as a Battalion S2, G2 Plans Officer, DTOC Support Element Chief, and Battalion XO in the 82d Airborne Division; as a Brigade S2 in the 3d Infantry Division; as a Company Commander and Battalion S3 in the 3d Armored Division; and as the Battalion Commander of the 319th Military Intelligence Battalion, XVIIIth Airborne Corps.

Dr. Kem’s military education includes graduation from the Defense Language Institute (Turkish), Field Artillery Officer Basic Course, Military Intelligence Officer Advanced Course, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, Army Command and General Staff College, Air Command and Staff College, Joint Forces Staff College, and the US Army War College. His civilian education includes a BA from Western Kentucky University, an MPA from Auburn University at Montgomery, and a PhD from North Carolina State University.

Dr. Kem’s civilian awards and decorations include the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the EUPOL – Afghanistan Gold Medal, the Polish Armed Forces Gold Medal, two Superior Civilian Service Awards, and the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service.

Dr. Kem is a lifetime member of the DAV, VFW and AUSA.