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Colonel Stefan J. Banach
Commander, 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light)
Colonel Banach was commissioned in the Infantry in 1983. His initial
assignment was with the 2d Battalion, 505th (Abn) Infantry, 82d Airborne
Division. During this tour, he qualified as a member of the 1984 All Army
Wrestling Team and was later assigned to the 1st Ranger Battalion, Hunter Army
Airfield, Savannah, Georgia, from 1985 - 1987.
Colonel Banach attended the U.S. Army Infantry Officer Advanced Course at Fort
Benning, Georgia, in 1987, and graduated as the Distinguished Honor
Graduate. He was then assigned to the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry, 197th
Mechanized Brigade (Separate), at Fort Benning where he commanded Company B,
1st Battalion, 18th Infantry, from 1989 - 1991. His command tour included
a combat deployment to Iraq with the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) in
support of Operations Desert Shield & Desert Storm.
He later served as a Liaison Officer with the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort
Benning and as the Battalion Adjutant for 1st Ranger Battalion at Hunter Army
Airfield from 1991 - 1993. He attended the Command and General Staff
College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and was assigned to 2d Ranger Battalion at
Fort Lewis, Washington, as the Battalion Liaison Officer, Operations Officer
and Executive Officer from 1994-1997. This assignment included a
deployment to Haiti in support of "Operation Uphold Democracy".
Colonel Banach was then assigned to the United States Pacific Command in
Hawaii, where he served from June 1997 - June 1999. He commanded the 3d
Battalion, 15th Infantry (Mechanized), 3d Infantry Division, Fort Stewart,
Georgia, from July 1999 - June 2001. His battalion command tour included
a peace enforcement deployment to Bosnia in support of SFOR 8, "Operation
Joint Forge."
He commanded the 3d Ranger Battalion from June 2001 - June 2003. This
command tour included two deployments to Afghanistan and one deployment to Iraq
in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
During this assignment, he led his men during the execution of a combat
parachute assault into Afghanistan as the spearhead for the Global War on
Terrorism and participated in a second parachute assault into Iraq during the
initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003.
Colonel Banach is a graduate of the Advanced Operational Arts Studies
Fellowship at the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) at Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas and assumed command of the 2d Brigade, 25th Infantry
Division (Stryker) on 25 May 2005 at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
His awards and decorations include:
Legion of Merit Medal
Bronze Star with Valor Device
Bronze Star Medal for Service
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Joint Meritorious Unit Award
Meritorious Service Medal (Five Awards)
Army Commendation Medal (Five Awards)
Joint Achievement Medal
Army Achievement Medal
Humanitarian Service Medal (Two Awards)
Kuwaiti Liberation Medal
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal & Bronze Star Device
Global War on Terror Service and Expeditionary Medals with Arrowhead
NATO Medal.
U.S. Army Master Parachutist Badge (With Two Gold Combat Jump Stars)
U.S. Army Ranger Tab and British, Thai, South Korean, & Jordanian Jump
Wings.
Combat Infantry Badge (Two Awards)
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia -Kuwaiti Liberation Medal
Southwest Asia Service Medal
Colonel Banach was awarded the "Richard McPike Memorial Academic Excellence
Award", in 1982 as a member of the 1982 Iowa National Wrestling
Championship Team and he received the "Sport of Lincoln Award", in 2002
from the International Wrestling Institute and Museum for outstanding service
to the nation. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa
and a Masters Degree from the Command & General Staff College at Fort
Leavenworth. He is married to the former Margaret R. Gines and has three
children.
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