Brigadier General Stephen M. Rutner is currently serving as the commanding general for the Deployment Support Command in Birmingham, Alabama as of January 2020. He is dual hatted as the deputy commanding general for mobilization of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant upon graduation from Millersville University in 1987.
Brig. Gen. Rutner served on active duty in 4-64 Armor in the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Stewart, Georgia. His assignments included Armor Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer and Battalion S3 Air. After serving on active duty, Brig. Gen. Rutner transitioned to the Alabama National Guard. He served in the 31st Separate Armor Brigade as the brigade liaison officer and later moved to the 1-152nd Armor Battalion where he served as the S2 intelligence officer.
In 1997, Brig. Gen. Rutner transferred to the US Army Reserve and joined the 1189th Transportation Terminal Brigade in Charleston, South Carolina. Over the next ten years, he served in a number of positions to include Asst. S3, Vessel Officer, Terminal Officer, Vessel Chief and Pre-Stow Chief. His last position in the 1189th was as the Brigade S3 operations officer, assigned in Southwest Asia, operating multiple ports in support of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Brig. Gen. Rutner assumed command of the 1181st Transportation Terminal Battalion in October 2008. He mobilized the battalion back to Southwest Asia in 2009 where the unit earned the Meritorious Unit Commendation. Upon return, he was assigned as the chief of operations (G3) of the Deployment Support Command in Birmingham, Alabama. He then served as the commander, Army Reserve Element, Defense Logistics Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. In 2014, Brig. Gen. Rutner took command of the 1189th Transportation Brigade, in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2018, He became the deputy commanding general for the 84th Training Command, Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Brig. Gen. Rutner was the Honor Graduate of both the Armor Officer Basic and Advanced Courses. His other Military schools include the Transportation Corps Officer Advanced Course, NBC Officer Course, Junior Officer Maintenance Course, US Army Airborne School, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College.
His awards and decorations include: the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (with three Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Commendation Medal (with five Oak Leaf Clusters), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal (with one Oak Leaf Cluster), Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Army Meritorious Unit Commendation Award and various campaign and service awards.
Brig. Gen. Rutner and his wife are both professors at Texas Tech University. He is a Supply Chain Management Professor and holds an MBA in Logistics from the University of Alabama and a PhD of Business in Logistics and Transportation from the University of Tennessee. His professional writings include journal articles in over twenty civilian publications and articles in the Defense Transportation Journal and Army Logistician.