A veteran of the 75th Ranger Regiment will be making his way to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to take over as the senior enlisted leader for the secretive Joint Special Operations Command.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Craig Bishop, currently assigned as the senior enlisted leader for 1st Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, Kansas, was selected to replace Command Sgt. Maj. David J. Blake within JSOC last week, according to a Pentagon press release.
JSOC oversees elite special mission units from the larger U.S. Special Operations Command, including the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, the Air Force’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron and the Army’s 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment, better known as Delta Force.
As a SOCOM component command, JSOC is also responsible for studying special operations requirements, ensuring interoperability and equipment standardization and developing joint tactics across U.S. special operations forces.
Bishop enlisted in the Army in September 1992 from Sweetwater, Tennessee, and has served lengthy stints as a Ranger.
Over the course of his Army career, he has performed all non-commissioned officer leadership positions from team leader to command sergeant major for the 75th Ranger Regiment.
Bishop served with a number of 75th Ranger Regiment battalions, including 1st Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield, 5th Ranger Training Battalion, which oversees Ranger School’s mountain phase, and Regimental Special Troops Battalion, out Fort Benning, Georgia, according to his service biography.
Bishop has been through all levels of the non-commissioned officer education system, including Special Operations Command Summit course and the Joint Special Operations Forces Senior Enlisted Academy.
Other schools he has attended include the U.S. Army Ranger Course, Basic Airborne Course, Jumpmaster, Pathfinder, Air Assault, Special Operations and Tactics, Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Emergency Medical Technician-Basic.
Bishop will be serving under Air Force Lt. Gen. Scott Howell, the 15th commander of JSOC and the first Air Force officer to lead the storied unit that was born out of the Iran hostage crisis in 1980.
Bishop’s awards and decorations include a Legion of Merit, a Bronze Star for valor, four Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart, and five Meritorious Service Medals.
Kyle Rempfer was an editor and reporter who has covered combat operations, criminal cases, foreign military assistance and training accidents. Before entering journalism, Kyle served in U.S. Air Force Special Tactics and deployed in 2014 to Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq.
