Scott Alan Spellmon (born November 2, 1963) is a retired

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

who last served as the 55th

Chief of Engineers The Chief of Engineers is a principal United States Army staff officer at The Pentagon. The Chief advises the Army on engineering matters, and serves as the Army's topographer and proponent for real estate and other related engineering programs. ...

and the commanding general of the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

Early life and education

Raised in

Bloomingdale, New Jersey Bloomingdale is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,777, an increase of 121 (+1.6%) from the 2010 Uni ...

, Spellmon graduated from Butler High School in 1982. He then attended the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1986 and commissioning into the Army Corps of Engineers. Spellmon also has received master's degrees from both the

United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army staff college in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, with a Carlisle postal address, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instru ...

and the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. Spellmon is the first person to hold the position of Chief of Engineers and commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers since October 2000 without a Professional Engineering License (P.E.), though he does hold a Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois.

Military career

In January 2020, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

nominated Spellmon to succeed Lieutenant General Todd T. Semonite as the 55th Chief of Engineers. Spellmon was confirmed by Congress and officially assumed duties on September 10, 2020. During his career LTG Spellmon served at Fort Moore (Ft. Benning), Georgia; Fort Johnson (Ft. Polk), Louisiana; Fort Cavazos (Ft. Hood), Texas; Germany; and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He also did three deployments for operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. He received the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

medal when he was wounded from the blast of an improvised explosive device in Iraq in 2005. LTG Spellmon underwent seven surgeries and skin grafts to recover from the ordeal.

Post Military career

LTG Spellmon retired in September 2024. In February 2025 LTG (Ret.) Spellmon joined SOSi as Senior Account Executive in the defense and national security sectors.

References

, - , - Living people Butler High School (New Jersey) alumni People from Bloomingdale, New Jersey United States Military Academy alumni United States Army Corps of Engineers personnel University of Illinois alumni United States Army generals United States Army Corps of Engineers Chiefs of Engineers 1963 births Military personnel from Passaic County, New Jersey United States Army personnel of the Gulf War United States Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Pending Retirement {{US-army-bio-stub