JOHN KUNSTBECK

An Altoona native was promoted into the Army’s general officer ranks when his family members pinned on his newly earned star and he recited the oath of office in a ceremony at Fort Eisenhower, Ga., on Jan. 21, 2025.

Brig. Gen. John Kunstbeck, who serves as the Deputy Commanding General for Operations for U.S. Army Cyber Command, was confirmed for promotion to one-star rank in March 2024. His parents and siblings still call the Altoona area home.

Kunstbeck first enlisted in the Army in 1993. He attended basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and served in the U.S. Army Reserve in Bellefonte for four years while attending college. In May 1997, he graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate from Penn State University’s ROTC program and was commissioned as a Military Intelligence officer.

During his career, Kunstbeck has served in key Army leadership and staff positions in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and the active Army.

His initial troop leading assignment was with the 513th Military Intelligence Brigade at Fort Gordon, Ga. (redesignated as Fort Eisenhower in October 2023), where he served as an interrogation platoon leader, counterintelligence company executive officer, and battalion logistics officer. As a captain, he served as the Special Security Officer and Headquarters and Headquarters Company commander at Carlisle Barracks, Penn., and as a major, he was deputy commander of the 3rd Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Civil Support Team and deputy intelligence officer for the 28th Infantry Division.

In 2012, Kunstbeck transitioned to become a Nuclear and Countering WMD (Army Functional Area 52) officer with consecutive assignments at the Defense Intelligence Agency, as a branch chief and division operations officer with the Defense Counterproliferation Office, and then in a joint assignment as the deputy division chief with the Office of Advanced Technologies Intelligence. Prior to his assignment to ARCYBER, he served as the chief of staff for the 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

His combat deployments include service with the 101st Airborne Division and the 1st Cavalry Division in Afghanistan. He has also deployed as deputy intelligence officer (J2), Joint Task Force-Bravo in Honduras, and with the 28th Infantry Division in Egypt.

Kunstbeck is a 1991 graduate of Altoona Area High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Penn State University and master’s degrees in business leadership from Duquesne University and strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. In addition, he has earned a number of awards and decorations commensurate with his time in service.

Articles and photos about recent achievements for local service men and women can be mailed to Service Notes, P.O. Box 2008, Altoona, PA 16603, or emailed to community@altoonamirror.com. For more information, call Brenda Carberry, community news coordinator, at 946-7459.