Army Maj. Gen. Lombardo Nominated for Third Star and Top Personnel Post
Charles T. Lombardo, commanding general of the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea, would move to the Pentagon as the Army's deputy chief of staff for personnel, the Department of War said.
Army Maj. Gen. Charles T. Lombardo has been nominated for a third star and the Army’s top personnel job at the Pentagon.
The nomination advances Lombardo to lieutenant general as deputy chief of staff, G-1, U.S. Army, in Washington, D.C., the Department of War said in an announcement dated July 16, 2026 according to war.gov. He currently commands the 2nd Infantry Division (Combined), Eighth Army, in the Republic of Korea. The G-1 directs personnel policy for the entire Army, a force of roughly one million soldiers across the active component, the National Guard and the Reserve. That office oversees recruiting, retention, promotions, pay and benefits, and it shapes how the service manages its people from enlistment to retirement.
The move carries weight beyond one officer’s career. A lieutenant general wears three stars and sits near the top of the military hierarchy, a rank held by only a small number of officers at any time. The assignment shifts Lombardo from a combat command on the Korean Peninsula, where the 2nd Infantry Division stands watch near one of the most heavily fortified borders on earth, to a headquarters role governing the workforce that fills every other unit. For an average American, the personnel chief’s decisions ripple into recruiting offices in every state and into the pay and health benefits of service members and their families. The Army has wrestled with recruiting shortfalls in recent years, and the G-1 sits at the center of any effort to reverse that trend.
Has this happened before? It has. Nominations of major generals for a third star and a Pentagon staff assignment move through the Senate on a regular cycle, and the deputy chief of staff, G-1, is a standing position that changes hands as officers rotate. Each promotion to lieutenant general requires Senate confirmation before the officer can pin on the rank. The next decision rests with the U.S. Senate, which must confirm the nomination before Lombardo assumes the rank and the post. A date for a confirmation vote has not been announced.
Senior officer promotions have long served as instruments of policy as much as reward. During World War II, George C. Marshall, then Army chief of staff, reached past hundreds of senior colonels and generals to elevate younger officers he judged fit for command. He promoted Dwight D. Eisenhower from colonel in 1941 to a five-star general of the Army by December 1944. Marshall’s willingness to advance talent over seniority reshaped the officer corps and produced the commanders who led Allied forces to victory, a legacy that cemented the chief of staff’s control over who rises through the ranks.
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