Army Maj. Gen. John W. Lubas Nominated for Third Star and XVIII Airborne Command

The nomination would move the 3rd Infantry Division commander from Fort Stewart, Georgia, to lead the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

First Published: July 17, 2026, 3:10 AM ET

Army Maj. Gen. John W. Lubas was nominated for a third star and command of one of the service’s largest warfighting formations.

The Department of War announced the nomination on July 16, 2026, elevating Lubas to lieutenant general and commanding general of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg in North Carolina according to war.gov. He now leads the 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart in Georgia, a 10,000-soldier division that recently returned from a nine-month NATO deployment.

“Our primary mission was to assure our NATO partners and allies and to deter aggression from any of our adversaries,” Lubas said of that deployment according to statesboroherald.com. “It was a really meaningful deployment.”

The move places Lubas in charge of the corps often called “America’s Contingency Corps,” the headquarters that oversees the Army’s rapid-deployment divisions. It answers first when the nation orders forces abroad. A promotion to lieutenant general lifts an officer to three-star rank, above major general and below the four-star grade held by combatant commanders and service chiefs.

Under Lubas, the 3rd Infantry Division covered ground from Estonia on the Baltic Sea to Bulgaria during Operation Atlantic Resolve. The rotation spanned nearly 1 million square miles and paired the division with soldiers from Poland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary and Slovakia according to statesboroherald.com. The division uncased its colors at Fort Stewart on July 1, marking the end of its second Atlantic Resolve rotation. Lubas earned his promotion during that deployment.

The nomination carries weight because Fort Bragg and the XVIII Airborne Corps sit at the center of American power projection. The corps controls the 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division and other formations built to move within hours of an order. An officer chosen to lead it inherits responsibility for tens of thousands of soldiers and the readiness of the Army’s quick-response force.

This nomination is one of 109 officer nominations announced so far this year, and the Army leads all services with 74. At the same point in 2025, the database recorded only 26 officer nominations. The previous announcement came 43 days earlier.

Has a 3rd Infantry Division commander taken this path before? This has happened before. The division has served as a proving ground for senior Army leaders, and its commanders have long moved into corps-level and higher assignments after leading the unit through combat rotations and overseas deployments.

The Senate must confirm the nomination before Lubas can pin on the third star and assume command. The appointment requires the advice and consent of that chamber. A date for a confirmation vote has not been announced.

The 3rd Infantry Division has fed the Army’s senior ranks since its founding in World War I, as happened before. Formed during that war, the division fought in France and held the line against the last major German push, then invaded Sicily and Italy in 1943 and entered southern France in 1944 according to statesboroherald.com. It fought Germany on every Atlantic front, from the landings in North Africa to Austria, spending 531 days in combat. Officers who commanded such a unit carried that combat pedigree into the highest posts of the service.