Jeff Mellinger

Gold Star Peak Director

Jeff Mellinger retired from the United States Army on 1 January 2012 after serving nearly 40 years on continuous active duty.

He was drafted on 18 April 1972 at Eugene, Oregon. Following basic and advanced training at Fort Ord, California, he completed airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia. His first assignment was in the Federal Republic of Germany as a unit clerk. Upon his return from Germany in 1974, he was assigned to the 2d Battalion (Ranger), 75th Infantry, Fort Lewis, Washington. For the next five years, Jeff Mellinger served as unit clerk, battalion personnel staff NCO, machinegun squad leader, rifle squad leader, rifle platoon sergeant, and weapons platoon leader. He then performed drill sergeant duty at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and returned to the 2nd Ranger Battalion, serving again as a platoon sergeant.

Additional assignments include: Special Forces Military Freefall Instructor, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; plank holder and senior team leader, 75th Ranger Regimental Reconnaissance Detachment, Fort Benning, Georgia; Assistant Professor of Military Science, University of Alaska-Fairbanks; First Sergeant, Company C (Airborne), 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry (Manchu), Fort Wainwright, Alaska; Senior Enlisted Advisor, 41st Separate Infantry Brigade, Oregon Army National Guard; Command Sergeant Major, 3rd Battalion, 10th Infantry, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Command Sergeant Major, 1st Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia; Commandant, U.S. Army Alaska Noncommissioned Officer’s Academy, Fort Richardson, Alaska; Command Sergeant Major, U.S Army Japan and 9th Theater Support Command, Camp Zama, Japan; Command Sergeant Major, First U.S. Army, Fort Gillem, Georgia; Command Sergeant Major, Multi-National Force–Iraq from 1 August 2004 – 6 May 2007; U.S. Army Alaska, June through October 2007 (speaking to Army units and groups on his experiences in Iraq); and Command Sergeant Major, United States Army Materiel Command from November 2007 – August 2011.

After retiring from the Army, he began working in the defense industry, first with Qinetiq-North America doing business development on Talon EOD robots, gunshot detections systems, and other programs.  His last job was as a business developer for Bell Flight, working on the V-280/Future Vertical Flight Program, the aircraft selected to replace Black Hawk helicopters.

Since retiring, he spends his time volunteering with House of Heroes, a local Columbus GA area service organization that makes repairs to qualified veteran and first responder homes, spending time with family and friends, serving as a Three Rangers Foundation mentor to separating service members, and serves as an adult literacy coach and pre-K reading buddy.  Since 2018, he has been involved with planning and leading climbs of Gold Star Peak in Alaska for Gold Star and Fallen family members as well as combat veterans and catching up on all the projects he put on the shelf for so many years.

He has three grown children.  He and his wife, Kim, serve a menagerie of rescue Doberman Pinchers and a pit-bull mastiff mix.