| Carl W. Stiner | |
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General Carl W. Stiner |
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| Born | September 7, 1936 LaFollette, Tennessee |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1958-1993 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | Special Operations Command XVIII Airborne Corps 82nd Airborne Division |
| Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
| Awards | Defense Distinguished Service Medal (2) Army Distinguished Service Medal Defense Superior Service Medal Legion of Merit (2) Purple Heart Meritorious Service Medal (3) Air Medal (16) Army Commendation Medal (11) |
Carl Wade Stiner is a retired United States Army four-star general who served as Commander in Chief, United States Special Operations Command (USCINCSOC) from 1990 to 1993.
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Born in LaFollette, Tennessee on September 7, 1936, he graduated from Tennessee Polytechnic Institute in 1958 with a bachelor of science degree and was commissioned in the Infantry. He served initially with the 9th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia and commanded a basic training company at Fort Jackson.
His first special operations tour of duty was in 1964-66 with the 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Following graduation from the Army Command and General Staff College in 1967, he served in the Vietnam War as both an infantry battalion and brigade operations officer (S-3) with the 4th Infantry Division.
In 1970, after a tour with Headquarters, Department of the Army in Washington, D.C., he joined the 82nd Airborne Division where he commanded the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, and served as the Division operations officer (G3). Following graduation from the Army War College in 1975 and a tour in Saudi Arabia, he commanded the 1st Infantry Training Brigade at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Promoted to Brigadier General in 1980, he served first as the Chief of Staff, Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF), then headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, and later as the Assistant Division Commander of the 82d Airborne Division. After serving on the Joint Staff in Washington, D.C., as Assistant Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs, in 1984 he was promoted to Major General and appointed as Commanding General of the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.
He held this post until assigned as Commanding General, 82nd Airborne Division, in January 1987. In October 1988 he was named Commanding General, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg. As Commanding General, XVIII Airborne Corps, he was designated Commander, Joint Task Force South, and served as the operational commander of all forces employed on Operation Just Cause in Panama in December 1989.
In May 1990 he was promoted to the rank of General and became the second Commander in Chief of the United States Special Operations Command, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. As Commander in Chief, he was responsible for the readiness of all special operations forces of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, both active duty and reserve, retiring in May 1993.
During his thirty-five year career, Stiner commanded the Army's preeminent contingency strike forces; including the Joint Special Operations Command, the 82d Airborne Division and the XVIII Airborne Corps. Stiner has an extensive background in special operations. Among the many missions in which he was involved was the capture of the terrorists in the Achille Lauro hijacking, the Panama invasion and the capture of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, and all special operations activities during Operation Desert Storm.
Stiner was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 2004.[1]
Stiner co-authored the 2002 book Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces with Tom Clancy.[2] He is also a recipient of the Freedom Foundation Award and the Distinguished Alumnus award from Tennessee Technological University[3] and serves as Chairman of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.[4] Stiner has also been active teaching the joint war fighting course at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia, and works as a senior advisor for new joint war fighting experiments.[5]
An approximately 10-mile stretch of State Highway 63 between LaFollette and Speedwell, Tennessee, is named in honor of General Stiner. The Army ROTC offices at Stiner's alma mater, Tennessee Tech, have been renamed the Carl W. Stiner Leadership Center in his honor.[6]