INDIANAPOLIS- Indiana National Guard Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, and Maj. Gen. Clif Tooley, Senior Mission Commander for the Atterbury-Muscatatuck Center for Complex Operations, are pleased to announce that Col. Ivan Denton, current commander of Camp Atterbury, has been selected for promotion to brigadier general and assignment as the Joint Director of Personnel for the National Guard Bureau, Washington, D.C. effective Jan. 1, 2014.
Gen. Frank Grass, Chief of the National Guard Bureau and sitting member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, notified Maj. Gen. Umbarger of Col. Denton’s selection late last week.
In his role as the national-level personnel director for both Army and Air National Guard, soon-to-be Brig. Gen. Denton will be responsible for plans, programs and policies associated with individual and unit readiness for over 460,000 Army and Air National Guard personnel serving over 3,600 communities in the 50 States, three territories, and the District of Columbia.
Col. Denton is a career infantry soldier and a three-time combat veteran of operations in Panama and twice in Iraq. He enlisted in the Indiana National Guard in 1982. After graduating from Indiana University ROTC in 1986 as a distinguished military graduate, he served on active duty for four years with assignments in Korea and with the 75th Ranger Regiment during Operation Just Cause in 1990. He joined the Indiana National Guard in 1990. Prior to his two-year tenure as commander of Camp Atterbury, he commanded the 219th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade and deployed to Iraq. He also commanded one of the first five National Guard infantry battalions mobilized in support of the opening campaign in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2002.
As a full-time employee of the Indiana National Guard, he served with distinction as the Recruiting and Retention Commander and later as the Director of Army Personnel. “I want to thank Generals Umbarger and Tooley for the opportunity to serve as commander of Camp Atterbury at such an exciting and important time,” said Col. Denton. “It has always been a goal of mine to serve at the national level. Therefore, Kim and I are humbled and extremely excited about serving at the National Guard Bureau.”
“Ivan Denton is a combat-proven warrior and professional soldier of the highest caliber,” said Maj. Gen. Umbarger. “I am so very proud that one of Indiana’s finest officers has been selected to serve on the national-level staff for the Chief of the National Guard Bureau and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
Col. Denton lives in Fishers, Ind., with his wife of 25 years, Kim. They have three children. Allison is a recent Butler University graduate, Joseph is attending Duke University on an ROTC scholarship, and Robbie is in eighth grade.
Col. Denton will be promoted to the rank of brigadier general during a promotion ceremony at the Indiana War Memorial in Indianapolis in December.
Col. Denton will relinquish command of Camp Atterbury to Col. Richard Shatto of Columbus, Ind., during a change of command ceremony on Dec. 17, 2013. Col. Shatto currently serves as the Indiana National Guard Director of Logistics.
